mskitty

Traipse, Thank you for the great advise. I agree with everything you stated. mskitty

The governments estimate should have supporting documentation that identifies the market research utilized to create the estimate. Far to often we find that the end user makes one call to a vendor, aquires a price and there's your government estimate. Since the governments estimate is the bases for funding allocation (budget) for many activities the budget is unreliable on its own. Having the ability to negotiate or discuss a lower price after the close of solicitation is a tool that we should be able to utilize with boundries. I was hoping the FAR offered a more definitive answer because these negotiations or discussions are being conducted. Thank you all for your educational discussion. We (myself and fellow interns) are reading the blog. mskitty

How would you suggest we do that?

We are using 52.212-2

I want to thank all of you for the discussion. I giggle because this is how our discussions go! Jacques position is the one we face most often. The question whether we site FAR 15 or 13.5 in our solicitation is another. These are SAP solicitations that address services, supplies or both. They are most often but not always, evaluated as LPTA. When we ask what would the conditions be under FAR 15 or 13.5 that would allow us to "discuss or negotiate" with the lowest quoter, to go even lower to meet the governments budget. The answer is most often "never do it". This response doesn't answer our question, under what circumstances can we approach the lowest quoter to request that they go back and sharpen their pencil? Again, thank you all for your discussion. My fellow interns and I are looking up the FAR sections mentioned and discussing the topics you have raised among ourselves. mskitty

Here is a situation that offers lots of debate: Once a solicitation has closed, all quotes are above the allowable funding, the quoters have been evaluated based on the LPTA, can you request that the quoter reduce their price further to meet the budget? Many believe this is requesting the LPTA quoter to make additional concessions the government has no right to ask for. Would this be entering into "discussion" or "negotiation"? I think much of the confusion can be attributed to these terms as well and how we are using them in this scenerio. I hope this offers more of a focus on our debate. It gets pretty heated! mskitty

The debate is in general within the command. We work on many different types of acquistions. My interest would be focused on the acquisition of commercial items with simplified acqusition procedures through negotiations (FAR Part 15, 13.5 and 12). mskitty

I'm new to this forum and am a first year contract specialist intern. There is a debate within my command on this issue: When a solicitation closes and all prices are above the budget, is negotiations acceptable? If so at what point? Thank you for any clarification you can offer mskitty

Now, please realize that most of my perspective is that of construction contracting, and O&M or technical type services, not commodities and supplies and related services I'm new to this forum and am a first year contract specialist intern. There is a debate within my command on this very issue. When a solicitation closes and all prices are above the budget, is negotiations acceptable? If so at what point? Thank you for any clarification mskitty