THE MEANING OF “SHOULD”: Two Approaches. by Ralph C. Nash with an addendum by Vernon J. Edwards. 

Vern's addendum pulls no punches, as has become the norm for him. I can only hope that somebody with the power to change things is reading his words.

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OMDAC-SWACA is yet another signal display of America's bizarre acquisition “system” at work. That system is comprised of statutes, policies, regulations, processes, procedures, websites, electronic “tools,” templates, contractual “vehicles,” acquisition “universities,” and an undevelopedbut-nevertheless-certified workforce. It is a one-half trillion dollar-a-year gravitational vortex of politics, ignorance, misplaced intention, adversarial legalism, and neglect, all centered on a black hole of incompetence. Special commissions, committees, panels, and acquisition reforms have not enabled us to escape it, nor will artificial intelligence. VJE

And here comes some more:

H. R. 7900 - National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.  Passed House and crawled into the Senate awaiting further perfection.

S. 4543 - James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.  Introduced in July 2022 and ready for more perfection in the Senate.

If that doesn't register, check out this page and read some of those GOBBLERS.  Most have no chance of becoming law buy some may.

 

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the Army took 592 calendar days, more than a year and a half, to read and evaluate the five 100-page nonprice proposals and other proposal infor- mation and award a contract on December 29, 2020

I’ve witnessed as well as supported many source selections over the past several years.  While I haven’t seen 592 days for award, excessive times seem to be the norm.  Several reasons for this are:

• the best people to conduct evaluations often aren’t picked because they are too valuable in their regular jobs and can’t be spared.  
• evaluation teams are comprised to too many members
• evaluation members are still allowed or expected to do their regular jobs at the same time
• when a member is absent or takes time off, the process slows down
• teams aren’t adequately trained in the evaluation process in advance
• contracting and legal personnel aren’t available to assist in a real time mode so much of the initial evaluation must be reworked later in reviews
• no one is in charge to monitor progress and keep things moving

It’s frustrating to watch.  I can also imagine what offerors go through working around the clock putting together responses and then waiting months to hear something.  They also are expected to provide the same key personnel and perform exactly as written despite months have passed.  Also isn’t it something that contracting officers insist on maintaining a very tight schedule for submission of proposals, allow only a brief time for offeror questions and sometimes don’t respond with answers, won’t extend due dates for proposals, and yet permit several months for evaluators to do their job?

It takes all that time to evaluate 5 proposals with 100+ pages?  Then an estimate of 9-12 months to conduct discussions?

Why should DoD even put a common sense requirement in regulations that discussions should be conducted when the value is over $100 million?  Surely just a little bit of negotiations might save several million dollars and this procurement is closer to $1 billion.  It’s a shame that DoD needs to spell out every little detail in DFARS and PGI.  What happened to empowering contracting officers to make sound business decisions, accept responsibilities, and be held accountable?