Is an "Evaluation Plan" required?

[govt2310]

Is an "Evaluation Plan" required? I have been part of many, many acquisitions that contained an "Evaluation Plan" document that set forth how the Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) was to go about evaluating proposals. However, when I search the FAR (FAR 7 and FAR 15), I cannot find any requirement in the FAR for an Evaluation Plan for any type/size/dollar value of procurement.

So is there any authority out there that requires an Evaluation Plan at all?

[C Culham]

In my experience you would look to agency regulation and/or policy for the requirement.

[Guest Vern Edwards]

I wrote the following for the January 2007 edition of The Nash & Cibinic Report in an article entitled: "Source Selection Plans: They Could Be Trouble":

Are Agencies Required To Prepare Source Selection Plans?

There are few published rules about source selection plans. We know that agencies have been writing them for a long time because the term appears in a 1968 GAO protest decision addressed ?To Mr. Kyros? about an Army procurement to establish a second source for M-16 rifles, Comp. Gen. Dec. B-164313, 1968 WL 3473. But the Federal Acquisition Regulation mentions ?source selection plan? only in the definition of source selection information in FAR 2.101. FAR Part 15 makes no mention of a ?source selection plan,? but rather directs the source selection authority to ensure consistency among ?the solicitation requirements, notices to offerors, proposal preparation instructions, evaluation factors and subfactors, solicitation provisions or contract clauses, and data requirements,? FAR 15.303((3), and to ensure that the agency evaluates proposals ?solely on the factors and subfactors contained in the solicitation,? FAR 15.303((4). (FAR 15.303((2) mentions an ?acquisition plan,? but that has traditionally been a separate document. See FAR Subpart 7.1.)

Before the 1997 FAR Part 15 Rewrite, FAC 97-02, 62 Fed. Reg. 51224 (Sept. 30, 1997), FAR 15.612 had required preparation of a source selection plan for ?formal? source selections, as follows:

"(a) General. A source selection plan is considered ?formal? when a specific evaluation group structure is established to evaluate proposals and select the source for contract award. This approach is generally used in high-dollar-value acquisitions and may be used in other acquisitions prescribed in agency regulations. The source selection organization typically consists of an evaluation board, advisory council, and designated source selection authority at a level above that of the contracting officer.

( Responsibilities. When using formal source selection, the agency head or a designee shall ensure that--

* * *

(3) Before conducting any presolicitation conferences (see [FAR] 15.404) or issuing the solicitation, the source selection authority approves a source selection plan.

( c) Source Selection Plan. As a minimum, the plan shall include--

(1) A description of the organization structure;

(2) Proposed presolicitation activities;

(3) A summary of the acquisition strategy;

(4) A statement of the proposed evaluation factors and any significant subfactors and their relative importance;

(5) A description of the evaluation process, methodology, and techniques to be used; and

(6) A schedule of significant milestones."

A search for ?source selection plan? in published agency FAR supplements found only one mention, in the Department of Defense FAR Supplement, at DFARS 215.303((2), which states:

"For high-dollar value and other acquisitions, as prescribed by agency procedures, the source selection authority shall approve a source selection plan before the solicitation is issued. Follow the procedures at [Procedures, Guidance, and Information] 215.303((2) for preparation of the source selection plan."

The referenced PGI states:

"The source selection plan--

(A) Shall be prepared and maintained by a person designated by the source selection authority or as prescribed by agency procedures;

( Shall be coordinated with the contracting officer and senior advisory group, if any, within the source selection organization; and

( C) Shall include, as a minimum--

(1) The organization, membership, and responsibilities of the source selection team;

(2) A statement of the proposed evaluation factors and any significant subfactors and their relative importance;

(3) A description of the evaluation process, including specific procedures and techniques to be used in evaluating proposals; and

(4) A schedule of significant events in the source selection process, including documentation of the source selection decision and announcement of the source selection decision."

(Several agencies have issued ?guides? for the preparation of source selection plans that have not been published in the Federal Register or in the Code of Federal Regulations.)

Absent a regulation requiring the preparation of a source selection plan, an agency need not do so. See CACI Field Services, Inc. v. U.S., 13 Cl. Ct. 718 (1987), a case decided when FAR 15.612 was in effect and in which the Claims Court said that an agency's preparation of a source selection plan for an ?informal? source selection was ?inconsequential? because FAR 15.612 did not apply to informal source selections. We do not know how many agencies require the preparation of source selection plans, but we think it safe to say that many if not most do so for what they consider to be large-dollar-value source selections.

[TAP]

When I see the term "Evaluation Plan", I think of acquisitions conducted under FAR Part 13 procedures or FAR Part 16 orders placed against IDIQ contracts.

SUBPART 13.1?PROCEDURES

"Formal evaluation plans and establishing a competitive range, conducting discussions, and scoring quotations or offers are not required."

SUBPART 16.5?INDEFINITE-DELIVERY CONTRACTS

"Formal evaluation plans or scoring of quotes or offers are not required."

Normally the evaluation factors for award would be contained in the RFQ or RFP itself. No formal plan required.