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k&subk_mgr

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Everything posted by k&subk_mgr

  1. An iBook sample of The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley about Hurricane Katrina. Think I will purchase the full version. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett on my Kindle, but haven't really dug into yet -- I don't feel invested - need to sit down and read more.
  2. Personally, I view them as interchangeable. I've never heard a distinction like you describe. My experience is that Procurement folks more often refer to "vendor", where Contracts and Subcontracts people call them "contractor/subcontractor."
  3. ERS - No, we do not issue any RFPs at this stage. Again, I can only speak to how my firm manages teaming agreements and depending on the variables as I discussed previously, my experience may or may not help you in your situation. But we do not issue RFPs when we're negotiating teaming agreements. Depending on the situation, the teaming agreement may have a very clear statement about what the teammate will be doing related to the proposed work or in some cases, it's more vague. Even without a Government RFP, we usually have a pretty clear idea about what the work will entail and know the teammate's strengths as they pertain to the work. Cost/price do not normally enter into things at this early stage, although sometimes we may negotiate a workshare for the teammate that's acceptable to both sides (obviously when I'm on the receiving end of a teaming agreement, I want a big workshare and when I'm the giver of the teaming agreement, I want to keep it as small as possible)!
  4. I think Don answered your questions well about competition and guidance on Teaming Agreements in the FAR. As to your question about how you enter Teaming Agreements long prior to the RFP -- I work for a large organization with many business development people and they use their connections to develop advance intel on upcoming procurements - frequently long in advance of RFPs or draft RFPs being issued by agencies. Many activities are continuations of services previously performed by another contractor, so there's often a lot of information out there, if you just know where to look (I do mostly services work these days). If you don't work for a firm that has these resources, I understand that you would have a more difficult time doing that, but that's what the big players do. If you waited until the RFP was issued to develop your strategy and teammates, you would basically be dead in the water at that point because all the other firms would be far ahead of you. So the answer to that is really about what resources your firm has and what kind of intel you are able to develop. That's a "real-world" answer to how you do it so far in advance.
  5. Joel - agree, I think I missed the "administration" part of the poster's question when I recommended the book - reading too fast!
  6. I don't want to give specific advice not knowing your particular situation, customer, type of work, etc. But I can offer my own experience as both a Federal prime and a subcontractor to other primes. We enter into multiple teaming agreements with other firms for most of our large pursuits (competitive or not). These teaming agreements are signed off long before RFPs are issued by the agency - usually at least a year in advance on a significant procurement. We write our proposals explaining why we chose the various firms as our teammates - for the benefits they bring to the team - and how that will help us provide the best value, best solution, best price, whatever to the Government customer and how we reviewed the subcontractor proposals and chose the one that was most advantageous (which may or may not be about the price). By selecting good partners to team with and engaging in appropriate and meaningful negotiations with those teammates -- you are competing to the best of your ability, in my opinion. (And if that's the exact language from your Prime, that's pretty poor language anyway - and besides, I thought you didn't have a contract, you're waiting for an RFP to come out?. I'd like to hear more about this language regarding "competition requirements.") I have not heard of any customer taking exception to this - non-competitive teaming agreements between firms is a pretty standard practice in my experience.
  7. For that specific purpose, I would recommend Cibinic & Nash's Cost Reimbursement Contracting, 3d edition, 2005.
  8. Thanks to both of you -- Joel, my manager is taking the same approach -- when/if we are asked to submit a plan, we will submit a generic plan saying we will not be / cannot subcontract. It's services only -- no materials.
  9. You can also use the DEAR guidance on weighted guidelines (Energy Dept). DEAR 915.4 -- here's a link: http://farsite.hill.af.mil/reghtml/regs/ot...doe/doe1toc.htm
  10. But then I found this - that's as close as I see and I believe was previously stated by whynot. I did some searching and couldn't see where GSA ever said "competitively awarded". Is there a link anywhere to the case cited in the other posts -- the ATA case? http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentVi...pe=GSA_OVERVIEW 14. When I place an order under a GSA Schedule contract, does it meet the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (CICA) requirements? In accordance with FAR 6.102(d)(3), use of the GSA Schedules Program is considered a "competitive procedure" under CICA when the GSA Schedule ordering procedures are followed?i.e., the Ordering Procedures for Supplies, and Services Not Requiring a Statement of Work (FAR 8.405-1) or the Ordering Procedures for Services Requiring a Statement of Work (FAR 8.405-2).
  11. I found this on the GSA page - it doesn't directly say "competitively awarded" -- that specific phrase. http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentVi...;contentId=8106 Ordering From Schedules Orders placed against GSA Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts, using the procedures in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.4, are considered to be issued using full and open competition (see FAR 6.102(d)(3)). Ordering activities shall not seek competition outside of GSA Schedules or synopsize the requirement. In addition, ordering activities are not required to make a separate determination of fair and reasonable pricing, except for the price evaluation required by FAR 8.405-2(d) when ordering services requiring a statement of work. By placing an order against a GSA Schedule contract using the procedures in this section, the ordering activity has concluded that the order represents the best value and results in the lowest overall cost alternative to meet the government's needs. Although GSA has already negotiated fair and reasonable pricing, ordering activities may seek additional discounts before placing an order. While the mandatory small business preference programs in FAR Part 19 do not apply to orders placed against GSA Schedule contracts, such orders may be credited toward an ordering activity's small business goals. Ordering activities may consider socioeconomic status when identifying contractors for consideration of an order (see FAR 8.405-5). Further information regarding Schedule ordering procedures is available under Basic Schedule Ordering Guidelines.
  12. Thank you Ron! That all makes sense. This is just the first time I've been unable to get a prime to back off the plan requirement when they are imposing no subcontracting on us as the sub. Usually it ends up in their boilerplate and once you point out the issue, they will remove it. You're right though, they're not asking us to prepare and submit a plan, they just want to include it in the IDIQ. I think I will table my current negotiations on that item (I have bigger award fee negotiations to worry about!) and see what happens in the future. If anyone has a differing opinion -- please let me know. Vicki
  13. ADA = Anti Deficiency Act? I assume that, but first thought of Americans with Disabilities Act, especially since you are talking about construction of a building. I do not, however, know the answer for either.
  14. My first post in the new forums -- it all looks good, by the way -- thanks, Bob! On to my question ... We will be the recipient of an IDIQ from a Prime Contractor (we are the sub) -- the draft IDIQ subcontract contains the Small Business Subcontracting Plan flowdown from the prime (52.219-9). However, we are not permitted to subcontract any of our work to a lower tier subcontractor, per other terms of the subcontract. We will be doing all the work ourselves. My company does not have a Corporate Small Business Subcontracting Plan or a DOD Comprehensive Plan. The Prime will not remove the requirement from our subcontract (which, by the way, will be awarded as $0, with funding and scope coming through individual task orders -- so it is unknown at this time whether we will get $550K of work or not). How do others handle a similar situation if the Prime cannot/will not remove the requirement? One person suggested submitting a "zero dollar" subcontracting plan if we hit the $550K threshold for submitting one -- it would be a plan but with no goals in it. Hopefully I've given enough information for responses -- if not, fire away and tell me what else you need to know!
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