THIRD PARTY PLANNERS

[GoGoldPA]

Has anyone ever run into a scenario whereas a third party event planner wins an award when the intent was to make an award to a hotel for a conference? My question is, under what authority would a third party be able to enter into any agreement with the hotel? I won't insult everyone's intelligence with regards to who can sign a contract, but, what the heck??? Is this common?

The KO stated that they "had" to award to a small business because the acquisition falls below the SAP...I say this is a commercial item and should be acquired using simplified acquisition procedures?

Hopefully, this scenario will prove fruitful for discussion because I'm just not getting there.

GoGold

[brian]

...

The KO stated that they "had" to award to a small business because the acquisition falls below the SAP...I say this is a commercial item and should be acquired using simplified acquisition procedures?

Go Gold,

A CO is required to set aside and award a contract to small businesses when they reasonably expect 2 or more capable small businesses to bid at a fair price. This is the rule for over the SAT, which I think is $100,000. Under that threshold, but above the Micropurchase threshold of $2,500, the rules are stated differently, but the net effect is exactly the same.

The differences are just semantic. Under the SAT, every contract is automatically set-aside, and if the CO determines that she should not expect two good bids from small businesses, then she has to get permission to "dissolve" the automatic set-aside. Over the SAT, every contract starts out as "unrestricted," but the CO has to do market research to see if it should be set-aside. If it meets the test (2 or more,) then she is required to set it aside.

I agree that this is a commercial item. Why do you say that it should have been acquired using simplified acquisition procedures ? Are you saying that setting something aside for Small Business is not using simplified acquisition procedures ? Are you saying that awarding a contract for hotel rooms and conference rooms to a broker of travel services is not using simplified acquisition procedures ? I didn't follow that part of your posting.

........

I assume you operate a hotel, and think that the award should have gone to a hotel. If I was in your industry, I'm sure I'd feel the same way. But the Government contracting person probably decided that the 3rd party bidder was able to deliver the needed services, and the price was better.

I assume that there are intangible benefits that the Government would have gained by dealing directly with a hotel, rather than going through an intermediary. In the future, you need to do a better job of explaining those benefits.

.

[formerfed]

Actually there are often a lot of benefits contracting with a conference planner. The governmnet deals with a single point of contact for everything and the planner makes all the arrangements for food, lodging, speakers and presenters, logistics, general information and attendee information, etc.

This often is done through small businesses and is on GSA Schedule.