TLR

Thanks for the thought provoking questions, this helps me frame the issue better.

I have a question revolving around past performance and technical evaluations. We are attempting to acquire COTS software that will need to be tailored to meet our specific needs, needs which are not uncommon and we expect other agencies have had similar needs. We are wanting to request that offerors submit three references as usual, but also request that they allow us, the contracting office, to request an on-site demonstration from the past performance references. In other words, we want to go above and beyond normal past performance evaluations and we want to see similar tailored COTS software in action at other agencies, not just a sample provided by the offeror. I cannot find where this has been done, but I am sure others have tried to do this. If someone knows a solicitation where this has been done, I would like to review the language. Also, any guidance on how you went about approaching the other agencies, and whether or not the process was a success or a failure would be great. We want to only do this for those offerors that remain in the competitive range after initial reviews by the technical evaluation team. Thanks in advance for any assistance.