Jump to content

Pre-Award EEO Clearance/Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs


civ_1102

Recommended Posts

Does anyone have any experience regarding how long DOL typically takes to perform an EEO review? Is there any reason a request for one could not be done once a competitive range is issued or must it wait until a source selection decision is made?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know how long it takes but we recently had an agency protest because bidder said we didn't do it. Ruling was that because award was a task order against a pre-competed ID/IQ, we were not required to because the PCO of the ID/IQ had done that at time of ID/IQ award.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone have any experience regarding how long DOL typically takes to perform an EEO review? Is there any reason a request for one could not be done once a competitive range is issued or must it wait until a source selection decision is made?

I can't speak for OFCCP, but FAR 22.805(a)(6)-(8) says

(6) The contracting officer shall allow as much time as feasible before award for the conduct of necessary compliance evaluation by OFCCP. As soon as the apparently successful offeror can be determined, the contracting officer shall process a preaward clearance request in accordance with agency procedures, assuring, if possible, that the preaward clearance request is submitted to the OFCCP regional office at least 30 days before the proposed award date.

(7) Within 15 days of the clearance request, OFCCP will inform the awarding agency of its intention to conduct a preaward compliance evaluation. If OFCCP does not inform the awarding agency within that period of its intention to conduct a preaward compliance evaluation, clearance shall be presumed and the awarding agency is authorized to proceed with the award. If OFCCP informs the awarding agency of its intention to conduct a preaward compliance evaluation, OFCCP shall be allowed an additional 20 days after the date that it so informs the awarding agency to provide its conclusions. If OFCCP does not provide the awarding agency with its conclusions within that period, clearance shall be presumed and the awarding agency is authorized to proceed with the award.

(8) If the procedures specified in paragraphs (a)(6) and (a)(7) of this section would delay award of an urgent and critical contract beyond the time necessary to make award or beyond the time specified in the offer or extension thereof, the contracting officer shall immediately inform the OFCCP regional office of the expiration date of the offer or the required date of award and request clearance be provided before that date. If the OFCCP regional office advises that a preaward evaluation cannot be completed by the required date, the contracting officer shall submit written justification for the award to the head of the contracting activity, who, after informing the OFCCP regional office, may then approve the award without the preaward clearance. If an award is made under this authority, the contracting officer shall immediately request a postaward evaluation from the OFCCP regional office.

This seems to imply that you need to have identified the apparently successful offeror, thus ruling out requesting clearances for everyone in the competitive range. It also implies that OFCCP likes 30 days, but will work with you if you urgently need something sooner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knew whether a EEO Pre-award clearance is required after award of the contract. I am in a situation where my contract has been extended unexpectedly by two years. When the NTE contract values were originally established for my subs, we did not expect them to exceed $10M however due to the extensions, many subs have crossed the $10M threshold. This fact has been pointed out in a recent internal audit and the recommended solution is to send a request to the OFCCP for approval (6.5 years after the subcontracts were awarded). Has anyone else ever been in this situation?

Thanks for your time!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knew whether a EEO Pre-award clearance is required after award of the contract. I am in a situation where my contract has been extended unexpectedly by two years. When the NTE contract values were originally established for my subs, we did not expect them to exceed $10M however due to the extensions, many subs have crossed the $10M threshold. This fact has been pointed out in a recent internal audit and the recommended solution is to send a request to the OFCCP for approval (6.5 years after the subcontracts were awarded). Has anyone else ever been in this situation?

Thanks for your time!

Can you explain the bolded part? Type of contract (IDIQ base w/options etc). Why was the extention "unexpected"?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can you explain the bolded part? Type of contract (IDIQ base w/options etc). Why was the extention "unexpected"?

Hi,

The contract type is CPAF, originally awarded as one year + four option years. When the contract was coming to an end, the Government decided to extend the contract by another year due to the mission criticality and lack of planning for the follow-on. This situation happened twice (where the contract was about to end and then the Gov't decided to extend by another 12 months). Right now we are in year 6.5 of a 5 year (planned) contract. Thanks for your help!

Jimmie

PS - A friend of mine did some heavy digging and found a similar question posed and answered by Vern Edwards (revised below):

=======================

Responsibility is a contract formation term that refers to the ability of a prospective contractor to perform the contract for which it has submitted an offer; by law, a contracting officer must determine that an offeror is responsible before awarding it a contract. The concept of responsibility expressly applies to “prospective contractors”-not “current” or “existing” contractors-a limitation that is repeated throughout the applicable statutes and regulations, and that indicates that the requirement for a responsibility determination applies before award of a contract.

Consistent with this statutory and regulatory framework, once an offeror is determined to be responsible and is awarded a contract, there is no requirement that an agency make additional responsibility determinations during contract performance. E. Huttenbauer & Son, Inc., B-258018.3, Mar. 20, 1995, 95-1 CPD para. 148 at 2 (holding that a contracting officer was not required to make a new responsibility determination before deciding whether to exercise an option because the concept of responsibility has no applicability with respect to a contract once that contract has been awarded). =======================

I would apply the logic of the GAO decision to EEO clearances, as well.

From http://www.wifcon.com/discus/messages/8522/9575.html

=======================

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

The contract type is CPAF, originally awarded as one year + four option years. When the contract was coming to an end, the Government decided to extend the contract by another year due to the mission criticality and lack of planning for the follow-on. This situation happened twice (where the contract was about to end and then the Gov't decided to extend by another 12 months). Right now we are in year 6.5 of a 5 year (planned) contract. Thanks for your help!

Jimmie

PS - A friend of mine did some heavy digging and found a similar question posed and answered by Vern Edwards (revised below):

=======================

Responsibility is a contract formation term that refers to the ability of a prospective contractor to perform the contract for which it has submitted an offer; by law, a contracting officer must determine that an offeror is responsible before awarding it a contract. The concept of responsibility expressly applies to ?prospective contractors?-not ?current? or ?existing? contractors-a limitation that is repeated throughout the applicable statutes and regulations, and that indicates that the requirement for a responsibility determination applies before award of a contract.

Consistent with this statutory and regulatory framework, once an offeror is determined to be responsible and is awarded a contract, there is no requirement that an agency make additional responsibility determinations during contract performance. E. Huttenbauer & Son, Inc., B-258018.3, Mar. 20, 1995, 95-1 CPD para. 148 at 2 (holding that a contracting officer was not required to make a new responsibility determination before deciding whether to exercise an option because the concept of responsibility has no applicability with respect to a contract once that contract has been awarded). =======================

I would apply the logic of the GAO decision to EEO clearances, as well.

From http://www.wifcon.com/discus/messages/8522/9575.html

=======================

It appears that the extension is out of scope, isn't that correct? Did you have the option not to accept the extension? If so, is such an out of scope modification considered a "new contract", added to the existing contract for administrative convenience?

If it is out of scope, one cannot necessarily equate a scenario of an out of scope supplemental agreement with the situation in the above cited E. Huttenbauer & Son, Inc. (B-258018.3, Mar. 20, 1995, 95-1 CPD para. 148 at 2) , where "...a contracting officer was not required to make a new responsibility determination before deciding whether to exercise an option because the concept of responsibility has no applicability with respect to a contract once that contract has been awarded". This difference is that an option is within the scope of the original contract.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...