August

It does not sound like the mission to be carried out in May-Sep of 2013 would be a bona fide need of FY 2012, so I would venture that it is not appropriate to extend the POP.

You must consider 37.104 in whole. The most clear distinction to me is in (a): A personal services contract is characterized by the employer-employee relationship it creates between the Government and the contractor’s personnel.

Is 52.219-6 Notice of Total Small Business Set-Aside in your solicitation? See © (1): Offers are solicited only from small business concerns. Offers received from concerns that are not small business concerns shall be considered nonresponsive and will be rejected.

"I don't see much difference between turning off the lights and taking out the recycle bin" - Really??? Come on. ji20874 - I think you may be tired, and it would be best if you reconsidered your position in the morning. You were the one who prefaced what the contractor could do with "If the contractor doesn't want to be a team player..." Don't pretend you didn't start the dispute.

I agree with ji20874's conclusion - contact the CO and let them know you've been asked to do work outside of the scope of work and inquire if the CO is planning a modification to the contract. But ji20874's commentary on office space, and birthday parties seems off base.

First, it is not always true that everybody knows everybody's business when it comes to government contracting. It depends on the arena you are working in. I've worked many procurements where contractors did not know who their competition was. So, I agree with ji20874 on that point. Second, if the rules for a timely protest on OCI were changed, and contractors were required to notify the CO when they thought there might be a competitor who might have an OCI with a particular procurement or else they couldn't protest an award about an OCI, it is easy for me to imagine how contractors could manipulate the situation and spin our COs wheels on fruitless speculative (or downright false) accusations. I like the rules the way they are.

Yes, but what is "normally"?

Sometimes that kind of overzealous behavior is seen in those who have something to hide themselves. It makes me wonder about that agent, and that IG office.

A 1982 GAO report indicates that agencies not applying the SCA to BPA orders under $2,500 have misinterpreted the SCA threshold requirement. http://www.gao.gov/assets/140/138376.pdf Thanks for all your feedback.

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I am looking for confirmation of, or arguments against the following position: The Service Contract Act does not apply to orders against Part 13 BPAs for services that are under $2,500, regardless of how many dollars are placed in orders against the BPA. A BPA is not a contract - the orders are the contracts, therefore 22.1007 applies only to the order. Thanks for your review.

There is a GAO decision that supports Vern's recommendation to instruct the offerors on how to treat SCA wages for future years in their proposal. http://www.gao.gov/assets/380/373495.pdf In the digest the decision says: 3. Under procurement for translation services covered by the Service Contract Act (SCA) that required proposals to include realistic prices for option years that allowed for any increases that may affect price, agency did not evaluate proposal prices on an equal basis to account for the real costs to the government, where the awardee’s proposed prices for Spanish linguists did not escalate for the option years and its proposal evidenced the intention of obtaining contract price increases if SCA wage determinations increased the awardee’s salary or benefit obligations for Spanish linguists, and the other offerors’ proposals (and even the awardee’s proposal for positions other than Spanish linguists) included escalating prices for the option years that apparently accounted for possible SCA increases.

Ok, I follow you Vern. Thanks.

I hate to show my ignorance - but I didn't know the government could walk away from a contract because it didn't fund it properly. What would have told me that?

The bona fide needs determination is the responsibility of the contracting agency, not the contractor.

As you've suggested, if it is not a contract requirement, a breakout of the costs that comprise the FFP cannot be required.

41.102((3) indicates Part 41 does not apply to telecommunication services or cable TV.

I was of the same understanding as jlbca. You could announce an action was set aside, but you couldn't deny a vendor an RFQ, and you were required to evaluate all quotes, even if the vendor fell outside of the "set-aside". So, what's was the point of announcing a set-aside? C Culham- were you disputing jlbca's postion? If so, I wasn't following it.

I admit I am showing my government bureaucrat side in wanting to use a SF. I just like the familiarity of them. The benefit I see of a combined synopsis/solicitation is in not having to follow the time requirements for synopsizing and soliciting seperately. Thanks for your response.

Can we use a standard form when issuing a combined synopsis/solicitation? 12.603( says not to use a SF 1449. I don't understand the prohibition. Can we us an SF 33? I'd like to attach the SF to the FBO announcement.

Ha!

I have not seen or heard those terms used in the government.

I think it's a clarification, but I'd pose the questions as: By the proposal submitted, what percentage of the work would Company Y provide? If they responded with a number under 50%, I'd ask for a breakdown of work between them and Company Y - still as a clarification.

I believe 5.203? applies to non-commercial sole source procurements, and always allow the contractor 30-days to respond to our request for proposal. But I often get the proposal in less time than 30 days, and I proceed with negotiations and award as soon as I receive the proposal.

VeryGreen - I agree with Boof that it's important to feel invested in the mission of the agency you work for. For the work environment and quality of staff, I know of no other source than word of mouth. When ever I go to a training class, I pay attention to what agencies and offices my class mates are from, and I ask them about their work place. Through classes, and through co-workers who have moved on to other agencies, I try to maintain a network that I can tap whenever I want to know about an agency or an office.