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Found 13 results

  1. Now that you have learned about oral presentations, the second article in our three-part series will examine the multiphase downselect technique. As you learn more about the different techniques for streamlining your acquisition, remember no matter what technique you use, you should always follow your agency policies on procurement. So…what, exactly, is the multiphase downselect technique? The multiphase downselect technique consists of evaluating responses in phases, to progressively reduce the number of submissions being considered for an award. The purpose is to reduce the time and cost of selecting an awardee, both for the government and interested contractors. FAR 16.505 suggests using a multiphase downselect approach when the effort required to respond to a potential order is resource intensive, for example, when requirements are complex or will develop over time. Using the multiphase downselect technique is simple and involves two different types of downselects. Advisory, where the government advises the contract holder if they are, or are not a viable competitor, but leaves the decision to proceed up to the contractor; and Government Initiated, where contractors are told whether they can, or cannot, proceed. Each method has risks and benefits. For example, a benefit of Advisory down-selects, where contract holders can choose whether to proceed, is that contractors often choose not to proceed. This is helpful in reducing the number of protests. On the other hand, in Government initiated downselects, a potential risk, depending on the dollar value, is that you might be required to conduct debriefings and your decision is subject to protest. Multiphase is most effective if you are anticipating many responses, or when you have a complex requirement and want to reduce the cost to encourage more competition. However, this technique also can prove useful when all contractors are initially considered on price. Using the downselect technique, you can ask for rough estimates, conceptual approaches or past performance. The contractors most likely to submit the highest value solutions can be selected for one-on-one sessions with the government to increase their understanding of the requirements, provide suggestions for refining the requirements, and discuss risk mitigation As you begin the solicitation proposals, please keep the following in mind: Be clear and transparent. Clarify the phases and submission requirements. Make sure to establish evaluation criteria for each phase. Publish a notice that describes the acquisition and the criteria that will be used in each phase to allow potential responders to make informed decision about whether to participate. Identify and detail all the phases in the fair opportunity notice. NITAAC encourages streamlining the award of task or delivery orders while providing fair opportunity as part of the process defined by FAR 16.505. Our GWACs give contracting officers broad discretion in developing appropriate order placement procedures, including the multiphase downselect. Please visit the NITAAC video page or tools and templates page for more resources on acquisition techniques. Check with your agency to see if they have further guidance regarding this and other streamlined approaches. Visit our home page at nitaac.nih.gov or call us at 1-888-773-6542.
  2. I am working on a enterprise service contract follow on effort for a DoD 4th Estate agency, and looking for any enterprise service RFP's that you can share the RFP link from beta.sam.gov. The RFP can be for a multiple award IDIQ ,single awardee, or anything in between. It can be from a non DoD agency as well. The purpose of casting this wide net is to get ideas, see any innovative source selection methods etc. If your RFP/program requires fully burdened labor rates, even better! If a link isn't available from beta.sam.gov and you'd need to email me the RFP, send me a message and I will provide you with my work email. Thanks in advance!
  3. My agency currently evaluates resumes during a source selection for personnel/SETA contracts, however when it is time to award, those personnel may no longer be available. We are looking at other avenues to evaluate proposal without reviewing resumes. In your opinion, what is the best way to evaluate personnel/SETAs in a source selection without reviewing and evaluating resumes?
  4. FAR 15.101 describes how agencies can use different source selection approaches (or their combinations) to obtain best value. FAR 15.101-1 then describes the tradeoff process and 15.101-2 describes LPTA. The DoD Source Selection Procedures (which I personally find very confusing) describe VATEP (which I also find very confusing). My question is: Are there any other named/identified source selection procedures? (not including hybrids of ones already mentioned). Someone at work mentioned Highest Technical Rating at a Fair and Reasonable Price? Is that a viable approach where I work (Army)? It actually sounds closer to what our customers need than the others as they need highly experienced and specialized technical support people. thanks!
  5. Is anyone aware of the existence of any studies connecting the adjustment of key variables in the source selection process to improvements in acquisition outcomes? After digging around, so far the only one I was able to find was a DEC2015 NPS report entitled, "RELATIONSHIP OF SOURCE SELECTION METHODS TO CONTRACT OUTCOMES: AN ANALYSIS OF AIR FORCE SOURCE SELECTION." It is actually very good and useful; but it would be great if there was any more out there. Also- is anything like this being pursued as a research topic at any traditional universities? In other words, are there any non-DoD/Agency schools out there pursuing this in a traditional economics department? Operations Research? If done properly and comprehensively I could see the results of research such as this saving a lot of money and time- while improving performance.
  6. I am an Army Contracting Officer in charge of the source selection for the production of an Army system. Since it always looks good for the program management folks to reach out to the other services (demonstrates you understand the “big picture”), this has occurred. In this case, the USMC wants to “be part of the procurement.” On the contracting side, it has always been our position to attempt to accommodate where it makes sense and when it does not jeopardize our core objective of meeting the Army mission. Now in the current situation, the participation of the USMC is considerable. Their desired portion/impact has the following characteristics: (1) They would be getting about 55% of the produced systems; (2) They would be providing about 55% of the funding; (3) About 20% of the specifications are not shared between the Army and USMC, so the USMC systems would require adjustment; & (4) A small but critical portion of the USMC systems would require a major configuration change. Some other important factors: The Army has based its decision to move ahead with this acquisition based on the system being COTS or an NDI. This is not a designated joint program and there is no formal agreement between the Army and USMC (no MOA exists). There is also a question as to whether the major system configuration change desired by the USMC falls under COTS or NDI. As an Army contracting officer, I want to do the right thing and best serve the Warfighter (which includes marines). We are very much encouraged to do this. Alternatively, this is not just adding on a few extra systems for the USMC; this is slightly over half of the procurement. I (we) have already sketched out numerous legal/ regulatory pitfalls, etc., but I do not want to influence anyone. What does everyone think about this? What are some ideas on how to best resolve?
  7. I am a DoD KO serving a major system customer. They've been living in large sole source world since before the dawn of time. After several years of prodding, they have finally started wading into the land of competitive source selections. Well, long story short, we issued an RFI for a somewhat embryonic requirement, it is about to close, and it looks like we will be getting anywhere from 6-12 responses. Then tacked onto the end of a multi-topic customer e-mail, was something to effect of: once the RFI closes we will then "evaluate the responses", and then "perform a down-select to the best 3," and then "invite those 3 winners in to do demo's." At this point I just sat there staring at the screen... Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
  8. http://www.wifcon.com/cgen/414223.pdf I just read this protest on my lunch break and found it very odd. Correct me if I am wrong, but did the incumbent contractor just try to protest away its 'incumbent advantage'?! 1. Protest challenging the terms of the solicitation as ambiguous is denied, where the solicitation provides offerors with sufficient information to compete intelligently and on a relatively equal basis, and where the information requested, much of which is proprietary to the protester, is not necessary for offerors to be able to draft their proposals. 2. Protest arguing that the solicitation should resolve an alleged ambiguity by including the protester’s proprietary data, after the protester waives its rights in the data, is dismissed where the protester failed to establish that it is an interested party to challenge the lack of data in the absence of any competitive prejudice.
  9. I am a contracting officer assisting in the planning of a source selection for an ACAT system. As part of the source selection process, the customer is adamant about including significant field testing as part of the evaluation process. The system is highly sensitive in that just about everything could affect its performance including weather, time of day, harsh language, etc. As to be expected, everyone on my end, especially legal, is worried about risk of a protest from the losing offeror. Any ideas, useful guidance, prior examples... anything would be helpful and appreciated.
  10. On my way into work this morning, NPR aired a segment on making better predictions (http://www.npr.org/2016/09/01/492203116/want-to-make-better-predictions-researchers-explore-where-we-go-wrong). The research (http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1074/) was focused on predicting sporting events and in cases where more details were given or required to be assessed, individuals made (some) worse predictions. Disclaimer: I haven't completely read the dissertation (it's an EOFY work day and the dissertation is 200+ pgs...), but I couldn't help sharing due to its applicability to the contractor selection process, which is ultimately a predictive process itself. Assuming these issues/difficulties are also present in the contractor selection process, the large amounts information/data requested from contractors could not only be wasteful (in that it doesn't help the acquisition team make a better decision team) it might actually be harmful (in that it results in a worse prediction). Thoughts?
  11. Had you ever speculated on why April Fools’ Day seems to be such an important day for federal acquisition? After all, consider some of the regulatory and policy issuances on that day: The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) became effective on April Fools’ Day (1984). The Federal Aviation Administration became exempt from the FAR on April Fools’ Day (1996). The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) memorandum on “Protests, Claims, and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as Factors in Past Performance and Source Selection Decisions” was issued on April Fools’ Day (2002). Army Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (AFARS) Revision #25 was issued on April Fools’ Day (2010). FAR Case 2010-015 on the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program was published in the Federal Register on April Fools’ Day (2011). No doubt a little research would provide a number of additional examples. Frankly, if it were me, April Fools’ Day would probably be the last day that I would pick for issuing important regulations or policy statements. That is one day that I would avoid like the plague. [Note: The last statement is not technically correct, I would go to greater extremes to avoid the plague than to publish an acquisition policy or procedure on April Fools’ Day.] Why not just wait a day, and avoid all the innuendo and snickering? After all, consider, April has 29 other days that are perfectly suitable for issuing regulations, policies, procedures, guidance and information. Comparison of Major Contract Types For example, on Monday, April 25, 2016, the Defense Acquisition University/Defense Systems Management College updated the Acquisition Community Connection with a revised version of its Comparison of Major Contract Types (i.e., Comparison of Major Contract Types - April 2016). [For those who would like a direct link: https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=214513.] The new version better aligns with the terminology in the Contract Pricing Reference Guides, updates the charts on the reverse, and adds a chart on “Achieving a Reasonably Challenging but Achievable (RCA) Target Cost,” one of topics discussed extensively in the new Guidance on Using Incentive and Other Contract Types. Over the years, various versions of the “Comparison” have been fairly popular (i.e., 94,863 Page Views and 80,840 Attachments Downloaded. Although, given the number of personnel in the Defense Statutory Acquisition Workforce Contracting Career Field, 29,690 as of the 2nd quarter of 2015, those Lifetime Activity numbers may not be all that high, relatively speaking. The April Fools’ Day Announcements for 2016 So, it can be done. However, this April Fools’ Day (2016) Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) elected to issue two important pieces of procedures/guidance to the Defense Statutory Acquisition Workforce: Guidance on Using Incentive and Other Contract Types (April 1, 1016). Department of Defense Source Selection Procedures (SSP) (April 1, 1016). The Guidance Both documents have their warts. For instance, the Guidance incorrectly identifies one of the two statutory references for limitations on negotiation of price or fee. The good news is that thee one applicable to the DoD was identified correctly. Running the Spelling and Grammar checker one last time would not have been amiss. Warts aside, the results of this Better Buying Power (BBP) are somewhat disappointing. The Specific Action in the USD(AT&L) memorandum “Implementation Directive for Better Buying Power 2.0 - Achieving Greater Efficiency and Productivity in Defense Spending” was, “Director, DP will provide a draft policy guidance document on the use of incentives in contracting to the BSIG for review by July 1, 2013. The starting point for this document will be the DoD and NASA Guide, “Incentive Training (sic) Guide,” originally published in 1969.” For those of you unfamiliar with the Incentive Contracting Guide, it was the last of a number of such guides published in the 1960s. That particular version of the Guide was 252 pages. By comparison, the new Guidance is 41 pages. About 40 % of the Guidance is devoted to negotiation of fixed-price incentive (firm target) (FPIF) contracts in a sole-source environment a discussion of Reasonably Challenging but Achievable Target Cost (RCA), which go hand-in-hand. The coverage for Time and Materials/Labor Hour (T&M/LH) Contracts amounts to a paltry nine (9) lines. Ask yourself these two questions, “How many sole-source FPIF contracts does the Department award? If ‘T&M is the least preferable contract type,’ where should the emphasis have been placed?” For those of you who need guidance on structuring multiple incentive contracts the DOD and NASA Guide: Incentive Contracting Guide 1969 may be a better bet than the new Guidance. The good news is that it is still available on the Defense Acquisition University’s Acquisition Community Connection. [For those who would like a direct link: https://acc.dau.mil/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=189615.] The Procedures The updated Source Selection Procedures are more than 505 longer than the previous version. The Procedures would have benefited from fact checking, copy editing and proof reading. Another warts issue. Warts aside, for those of you who will be involved in DoD source selections that meet the thresholds in the Procedures, you will want to give it a thorough read. Among other things, you will see some new descriptions of adjectival ratings and a new source selection procedure in APPENDIX B, “TRADEOFF SOURCE SELECTION PROCESS: SUBJECTIVE TRADEOFF AND VALUE ADJUSTED TOTAL EVALUATED PRICE (VATEP) TRADEOFF.” The latter came about as the result of USD(AT&L) memorandum “Implementation Directive for Better Buying Power 2.0 - Achieving Greater Efficiency and Productivity in Defense Spending.” Under the heading of Better define value in “best value” competitions there was a Specific Action, “Director, DP will review the ‘Process Manual’ developed by the joint Service team led by the Air Force and present a recommendation for adoption with any recommended changes to the BSIG by July 1, 2013.” You need to read the entire section to understand the direction. No doubt you will see a good deal of discussion about VATEP percolating up. Understand that although the Guidance and Procedures were issued on April Fools’ Day, they are no joke. Read them carefully, and implement them wisely.
  12. "I have this friend..." who is in a source selection. Her policy people suggested a proposal elimination strategy termed: "Quick Cut". Where if a proposal does not meet a specific element up front, it is not further evaluated. For example (yes this is an unrealistic example): The proposal is for bird pevention services. The RFP states that if a proposal does not include shooting the birds, it shall not be further evaluated and it shall be considered unacceptable. This element shall be evaluated before any other subfactor, blah lah. It makes mt friend's tummy queezy just thinking about it. Has anyone heard of this before?
  13. I am curious to hear reactions to the decision by the US Court of Federal Claims (No. 13-506C) in Amazon Web Services v. US and IBM, in which the court decided that the corrective action taken by the agency upon GAO recommendation was irrational because the GAO recommendation was irrational. I am particularly interested in knowing if you think there are things the agency could have done in its contract documentation, or in presenting its arguments to the GAO, to have brought the GAO to a decision in its favor under the original bid protest. Or is this a case where there is a difference of legal opinion between the GAO and the court that would have put the agency in the middle no matter what it did in its source selection process and documentation thereof. If the latter, it surely shows that source selection is a process fraught with peril for contracting officers.
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