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Task Orders under MAC IDIQ


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Basic Question: are awardees under a multiple award IDIQ contract required to submit a proposal on all task orders?

Scenario: RFP for multiple award, IDIQ contract. Ordering instructions only say that agency will follow fair opportunity requirements in FAR 16.505. Responses to questions indicate that all offerors on the IDIQ are expected to be able to perform at all anticipated locations world-wide, and to be able to meet individual requirements for all TOs, such as security, access, foreign requirements, etc. RFP also states that "Contractors can request to be placed in a dormant status if they are knowingly unable to propose for a period of time." This does not answer whether contractors can choose not to propose.

Q1: is there anything in the FAR that addresses whether MAC awardees are required to propose on all TOs. 16.505(b)(v)(4) says that contractors might need to make "informed business decisions on whether to respond to potential orders" which suggests they don't have to propose on all TOs.  16.505(b)(v)(5) states "Whether contractors could be encouraged to respond to potential orders by outreach efforts ... " which also suggests that proposing on all TOs is not mandatory.

Q2: can an agency put in the contract that all awardees must submit a proposal on all TOs? 

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Requiring contractors to submit proposals for every opportunity might not produce good results — a contractor who really didn’t want the work might triple the price. Are you wondering about requiring proposals, or credible proposals?

You awarded the multiple-award contracts expecting to get task order competition for needs at all of your world-wide sites — that is a reasonable expectation.  Would you consider a contract term expressing that contractors are expected to submit credible offers on all opportunities, and that a contractor’s failure to do so will be noted in CPARS evaluations?  And/or that the failure will be considered in future opportunities under the multiple-award contracts?

If you have prices (even capped labor rates) in your multiple-award contracts, maybe you can issue an order unilaterally to a contractor whose contract minimum has not been met.

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12 hours ago, ji20874 said:

If you have prices (even capped labor rates) in your multiple-award contracts, maybe you can issue an order unilaterally to a contractor whose contract minimum has not been met.

What would require a contractor to accept such an order?

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2 hours ago, ji20874 said:

The contract clause at FAR 52.216-22, Indefinite Quantity, para. (b).

Do you think this is a general authorization for a contracting officer to issue a unilateral order despite the requirements of FAR 16.505(b)? 

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ji20874 - contractor, not government. Trying to determine whether an awardee has the option to decline to bid on a TO, or whether an agency can insert a requirement that awardees must bid on all TOs. The RFP is ambiguous ( of course), but has some language about a 'dormant' status that suggests that you have to bid to retain a spot in the IDIQ pool. 

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7 hours ago, Retreadfed said:

Do you think this is a general authorization for a contracting officer to issue a unilateral order despite the requirements of FAR 16.505(b)? 

You need to provide a complete citation — 16.505(b) includes many subparagraphs.

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