Jump to content

Notice of award


buddyandme

Recommended Posts

Question:

Is there any restriction from providing a notice of award while waiting for funds?

The situation is, an RFQ was issued for one (1) Admin support position under part 12 and will be evaluated using LPTA procedures. Funds are not currently available (subject to availability of funds) but when received at the end of the year (fall out money) award will be made.

Although an award decision has been made, the CO will not allow release of the award decision until funds have been obligated and the award is processed. Contractors who submitted quotes are now asking for the release of the apparent successful offeror so they can begin to process of preparing their candidate to transition into the position on 01 Oct 2010.

I reviewed FAR part 5 and 12 and can find nothing that prohibits the release of this information.

I see no problem with the release of the award information so long as it is noted that funds have not been obligated and performance will not commence until reciept of funds and award of the contract.

Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Question:

Is there any restriction from providing a notice of award while waiting for funds?

The situation is, an RFQ was issued for one (1) Admin support position under part 12 and will be evaluated using LPTA procedures. Funds are not currently available (subject to availability of funds) but when received at the end of the year (fall out money) award will be made.

Although an award decision has been made, the CO will not allow release of the award decision until funds have been obligated and the award is processed. Contractors who submitted quotes are now asking for the release of the apparent successful offeror so they can begin to process of preparing their candidate to transition into the position on 01 Oct 2010.

I reviewed FAR part 5 and 12 and can find nothing that prohibits the release of this information.

I see no problem with the release of the award information so long as it is noted that funds have not been obligated and performance will not commence until reciept of funds and award of the contract.

Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.

You may be able to make an award subject to the availability of funds. See FAR 32.703-2 -- Contracts Conditioned Upon Availability of Funds, to determine if it fits your circumstances.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Vern Edwards
Question:

Is there any restriction from providing a notice of award while waiting for funds?

The situation is, an RFQ was issued for one (1) Admin support position under part 12 and will be evaluated using LPTA procedures. Funds are not currently available (subject to availability of funds) but when received at the end of the year (fall out money) award will be made.

Although an award decision has been made, the CO will not allow release of the award decision until funds have been obligated and the award is processed. Contractors who submitted quotes are now asking for the release of the apparent successful offeror so they can begin to process of preparing their candidate to transition into the position on 01 Oct 2010.

A notice of award is an award. An award obligates funds. If funds are not available for an award, then you should not issue a notice of award. If you are not ready to make an award, then it might not be a good idea to announce a selection decision with award pending. What's the point? Wait until funds are available, unless, as napolik suggests, you can make an award conditioned upon availability of funds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.

A Clinician might call this "Projection." I am projecting myself into this scenario.

As I read it, Buddy's companion operates a small business. Pretty small: going after a 1 FTE contract. Been there, done that.

He's not asking, "Can we, the Government, do this ?"

He's asking, "Why doesn't the Government tell me, a bidder, what's going on with my bid ?"

First and foremost, Government Contracting officials have been conditioned to not do anything that might clue in a disappointed bidder that they were treated unfairly. Having worked more than 10 years in various contracting offices of federal agencies, I believe that there is regular arbitrary or capricious abuse of discretion, and only tight lips keep officials from being found out. That's my anecdotal experience. The bad eggs are a minority, but circling the wagons is well-imbued in the culture, especially at higher levels. While Contracting officials may believe that such an attitude minimizes risk, by covering up those abuses the culture just gets more perverse. Seen that, got the T shirt.

News flash: I have rarely heard of a Government contracting officer engage in actual negotiations on any acquisition valued in the ballpark of 1 FTE, and then only if it wasn't competitive, where there was no possible disappointed other bidder who might get their feelings hurt. The old hands here are welcome to dispel that notion, if wrong.

The key consideration for many on the Government side is not to get the best deal for both parties, it's to avoid a protest. Government folks seem not to get that protests are good. Protests usually provide clarity. They really aren't about punishment or anger, they are about fairness and consistency and the integrity of the procurement system. Well, maybe I'm too optimistic. But as long as a significant number of Contracting officials put more effort into avoiding accountability and openness than into reaching good, fair business deals, we will all, on both sides of the table, benefit from more protests.

.

Specifically addressing the Question about "Why can't they let us know, so we can bid on other year-end opportunities without over-extending ourselves," which I project is the Question you really meant to ask,

from the Government's POV, EVERY BIDDER needs to train up a person who is ready to step into that job with only a couple minutes' notice. To them, that's part of the bidder's costs in bidding. Even when 60 days pass between bid submission and award. Expect award to be made Thursday at 5 PM, and performance to start at Friday at 7:30 AM.

But here's the thing: the Government may have already given notice, indirectly, to the one who is in line for award. Has the CO contacted you to ask you to verify your bid ? If not, you may not need to have someone immediately available to fill that position. My anecdotal experience, in more than half of the awards that I won I was asked exactly that. But then, I have also been asked the same thing when my price was 5 times the Government Estimate.

If you really, really need to know, contact the CO and ask if it's too late to withdraw your bid. If you are low, and she has already asked for funds in the amount of your bid, you will probably figure that out by her reaction.

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest carl r culham

As this discussion unfolds do not forget about the preaward notificaton requirements of FAR 15.503 as they relate to small business programs. For an RFQ conducted under FAR Part 13 the notification requirements would be viewed as not applicable unless the CO, as many do, has intermixed FAR Part 13 and 15 procedures when conducting the specific solicitation.

Notifications to unsuccessful offerors.

(a) Preaward notices?

(1) Preaward notices of exclusion from competitive range. The contracting officer shall notify offerors promptly in writing when their proposals are excluded from the competitive range or otherwise eliminated from the competition. The notice shall state the basis for the determination and that a proposal revision will not be considered.

(2) Preaward notices for small business programs.

(i) In addition to the notice in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, the contracting officer shall notify each offeror in writing prior to award, upon completion of negotiations, determinations of responsibility, and, if necessary, the process in 19.304(d)?

(A) When using a small business set-aside (see Subpart 19.5);

(B) When a small disadvantaged business concern receives a benefit based on its disadvantaged status (see Subpart 19.11 and 19.1202) and is the apparently successful offeror;

© When using the HUBZone procedures in 19.1305 or 19.1307; or

(D) When using the service-disabled veteran-owned small business procedures in 19.1405.

(ii) The notice shall state?

(A) The name and address of the apparently successful offeror;

(B) That the Government will not consider subsequent revisions of the offeror?s proposal; and

© That no response is required unless a basis exists to challenge the small business size status, disadvantaged status, HUBZone status, or service-disabled veteran-owned status of the apparently successful offeror.

(iii) The notice is not required when the contracting officer determines in writing that the urgency of the requirement necessitates award without delay or when the contract is entered into under the 8(a) program (see 19.805-2).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Carl beat me to it with both thoughts I had - exclided from further copetition and the small business notice.

Since this probably is done using SAP, why not just tell the unsuccesful firm "Sorry, you didn't get it"? That's only reasonable, especially if companies have their proposed candidates lined up for other work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Vern Edwards

Keep the original question in mind: "Is there any restriction from providing a notice of award while waiting for funds?"

A notice of award is an award. It obligates the government. The original poster may have intended to ask about announcement of the apparently successful offeror, but that is not the same as a notice of award.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keep the original question in mind: "Is there any restriction from providing a notice of award while waiting for funds?"

A notice of award is an award. It obligates the government. The original poster may have intended to ask about announcement of the apparently successful offeror, but that is not the same as a notice of award.

You are correct I should have stated "announcement of the apparently successful offeror" but essentially I am referring to the award. I simply have a candidate who would like to know if they should prepare to start work on 01 Oct or not. Of course the answer is yes and all I am trying to do is to give them as much notice as possible. Since the government knows who the apparent successful offeror is, and is only waiting on funds, it would be nice if they would be as considerate of the contractors as well. Nothing I read prohibits them from releasing who the apparent successful is. In fact as Carl points out notification may be required.

For Brain,

I will take your suggestion and ask to withdraw my quote. What the Heck, it's only 1 FTE.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.

Whoa. Slow down. I said to ASK if it was too late to withdraw your bid. I didn't say to actually withdraw it.

I'm recommending jerking around the person who's jerking you around, but if you desperately need that PO, don't slit your own throat.

Obviously, up to the point of award, and sometimes even after that, you can withdraw your bid. Just say you forgot to include insurance costs or whatever.

My suggestion was based on the assumption that the CO thinks that all bidders would suck up any imaginable indignity in order to curry favor with her, in the hope it would help win a contract, even if the contractor was sure to lose money on it. CO's generally think that it is a great honor for a Contractor to have an opportunity to grovel before them. If you throw out the idea of withdrawing your bid, and you aren't in line for award anyway, you won't raise an eyebrow. But if you ARE in line for award, she will be caught off guard and gasp. That's why you gotta do this in person or over the phone. Gasps are not something that gets communicated in an email.

If her contractor who is in line for award withdraws their bid, she now has to go back to the customer and ask for more money to cover the price of the next low bidder. She already had to ask for more than was certified on the Purchase Request to meet your price because the Government Estimate was unrealistically low (happens about 30-40% of the time on small buys that are not reprocurements.)

Friend of Buddy,

there are some really smart folks here on this site for contracting advice. I'm not one of them. Take anything I say with a grain of salt.

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Vern Edwards
I will take your suggestion and ask to withdraw my quote. What the Heck, it's only 1 FTE.

You don't have to ask to withdraw a quote. A quote is not an offer. It cannot be accepted to form a contract. The government cannot award a contract by issuing a notice of award against a quote unless the quoter is willing to go along.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't have to ask to withdraw a quote. A quote is not an offer. It cannot be accepted to form a contract. The government cannot award a contract by issuing a notice of award against a quote unless the quoter is willing to go along.

It appears that you really just want to know whether or not you need to prepare for performance and that if you aren't the winner or close (in case the winner declines the award), you can concentrate on other opportunities.

Could you approach the KO from that perspective? You don't need to know who the winner is, you just need to know if you can forget about wasting effort and cost on prepping for possible performance.

I've been involved in such situations from the gov't side. it is within the realm of possibility that the KO might let you know from that perspective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

.

Whoa. Slow down. I said to ASK if it was too late to withdraw your bid. I didn't say to actually withdraw it.

I'm recommending jerking around the person who's jerking you around, but if you desperately need that PO, don't slit your own throat.

Obviously, up to the point of award, and sometimes even after that, you can withdraw your bid. Just say you forgot to include insurance costs or whatever.

My suggestion was based on the assumption that the CO thinks that all bidders would suck up any imaginable indignity in order to curry favor with her, in the hope it would help win a contract, even if the contractor was sure to lose money on it. CO's generally think that it is a great honor for a Contractor to have an opportunity to grovel before them. If you throw out the idea of withdrawing your bid, and you aren't in line for award anyway, you won't raise an eyebrow. But if you ARE in line for award, she will be caught off guard and gasp. That's why you gotta do this in person or over the phone. Gasps are not something that gets communicated in an email.

If her contractor who is in line for award withdraws their bid, she now has to go back to the customer and ask for more money to cover the price of the next low bidder. She already had to ask for more than was certified on the Purchase Request to meet your price because the Government Estimate was unrealistically low (happens about 30-40% of the time on small buys that are not reprocurements.)

Friend of Buddy,

there are some really smart folks here on this site for contracting advice. I'm not one of them. Take anything I say with a grain of salt.

Always do, and I also appreciate your sarcasm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It appears that you really just want to know whether or not you need to prepare for performance and that if you aren't the winner or close (in case the winner declines the award), you can concentrate on other opportunities.

Could you approach the KO from that perspective? You don't need to know who the winner is, you just need to know if you can forget about wasting effort and cost on prepping for possible performance.

I've been involved in such situations from the gov't side. it is within the realm of possibility that the KO might let you know from that perspective.

I took your approach at the beginning but did not get anywhere. It's not that big a deal, but its a shame that so many contracting folks simply shut the door on you if they do not have a regulation or executive memo to support thier "NO" decision.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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