Under FAR 13.104 it states that we "consider solicitation of at least three sources" to promote competition, but if we have a requirement that is under $25K and oral solicitations are used, what keeps a contracting professional from simply using a standing price quotation and contacting 2 other random companies and avoiding the guidelines of FAR 13.106-1{b}? I understand that most of FAR part 6 doesn't apply, but most agencies require clearance when restricting competition at any dollar value. Some of my issues are coming from acquisitions under $25K where only one quote is used to make an award, but companies that may or may not sale the products are solicited for quotes. The specialist then document the acquisition and use a "No Quote" as a quote, avoid the appearance of restricting competition, then award the contract as competitive.

If you know that is happening, and you are a supervisor, you can solve the problem.

Integrity.

Under FAR 13.104 it states that we "consider solicitation of at least three sources" to promote competition..., but if we have a requirement that is under $25K and oral solicitations are used, what keeps a contracting professional from simply using a standing price quotation and contacting 2 other random companies and avoiding the guidelines of FAR 13.106-1{b}? I understand that most of FAR part 6 doesn't apply, but most agencies require clearance when restricting competition at any dollar value. Some of my issues are coming from acquisitions under $25K where only one quote is used to make an award, but companies that may or may not sale the products are solicited for quotes. The specialist then document the acquisition and use a "No Quote" as a quote, avoid the appearance of restricting competition, then award the contract as competitive.

What you implied, but did not expressly say, was that the competition was phony, because the "contracting professional" always intended to go to a specific source and used phony documentation to show that he or she obtained competition.

Is that what you were saying?

By the way, what FAR 13.104( b ) says is that a CO should think about ("consider") soliciting quotes or offers from three sources. It doesn't say that a CO must solicit quotes or offers from three sources.

What I am saying is that in order to avoid the appearance of restricting competition, vendors are solicited to ask if they carry an item or provide a service. If they say no, then it is being considered as a "No Quote", this "No Quote" is being used as a quote to satisfy the competition requirements within the agency. The FAR allows us to solicit to a single source, but most agencies still require clearance at some level to document the competition restriction. My issue is that I cannot find any cases or precedence that states whether or not a "No Quote" is in fact a quote. This is important when dealing with reporting, it shows competitive acquisitions that may or may not actually be competitive.

I understand "consider" gives us flexibility, but when it comes to the end result, was the acquisition in fact, competitive?

If we posted a competitive solicitation to FBO and receive only one quote, we are still competitive and met the FAR requirements. In the under $25K world its not clear and I want to understand.

JDYoung,

I can't find a definition of "quotation" that would include a response of "No quote". The FAR does not define "quotation". The Government Contracts Reference Book defines "quotation" as follows:

A statement of current prices for items being procured under SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES, made in response to Standard Form 18, Request for Quotations, FAR 53.301-18, or to an oral request for quotations. FAR 13.106-1©. Quotations are also solicited from contractors holding FEDERAL SUPPLY SCHEDULE contracts when an agency is procuring services that require a STATEMENT OF WORK. FAR 8.405-2©. They are also solicited under TASK ORDER CONTRACTs and DELIVERY ORDER CONTRACTs. A quotation does not constitute a binding OFFER; therefore, issuance by the government of an order in response to a supplier's quotation does not establish a contract. FAR 13.004(a).

Merriam-Webster.com defines "quotation" as:

(1) : the naming or publishing of current bids and offers or prices of securities or commodities (2) : the bids, offers, or prices so named or published; especially : the highest bid and lowest offer for a particular security in a given market at a given time

So, while "No quote" is a response to a solicitation in the general sense, it is not a "quotation". Nice try.

Other than the phony competition practice you suggest, I don't understand your concern.

As I recall, FPDS-NG will accept a "YES" in the "COMPETED?" field and a "1" in the "NUMBER OF OFFERS" field. There is no conflict between these entries. It works above $25K and under $25K.

We solicit competitively in good faith under FAR 13.106-1( a ) -- if we do it in good faith (nothing phony) and only get one quote, and the price is reasonable, we can be happy and make the purchase order award. If the price isn't reasonable, we can negotiate it or seek other quotes, and then we can be happy and make the purchase order award.

Thanks Don, that clears it up.

So I am going to back this up for a minute and address the question in a different manner….at times agreeing with some of the posts already made and at times not.

I think buried in the question is the difference between “competition” and have a “quote” in hand to evaluate.

Additionally it seems that many responders have forgotten about FAR 13.103.

So first off by my read of the FAR in total one can consider standing price quotations for a competition (FAR 13.103) while considering other policies of FAR Part 13. FAR 13.106-1( does not apply in my view as valid reference as the original poster has already conceded that 3 quotes (2 random and one standing) has been obtained.

I understand the implication of a buyer gaming the system creating the ”appearance” situation but each buy is based on its own facts. If I as the buyer truly did make the contacts indicated and truly did get a “no quote” and truly did comply with the intent of FAR Part 13 to promote competition, notwithstanding the fact that under $25K only one quote is needed unless agency regulations say otherwise, then why isn’t getting a “no quote” competition? If someone tells me I have “no price” for that item it is still a quote.

So with regard to the OP there are many facts that are missing that one would need to consider before jumping, in my view, to “problem”, “integrity” “phony”, etc. The OP might be trying to say all these things but REALLY what are the facts such as how many times has the same three firms been submitted as quotes, what is the local area of competition and does it limit the ability of getting quotes, maybe always from the same three, and many more questions.

The mere presence (appearance of) of competition can be enough to provide competitive and reasonable pricing.

Let's hope the acquisition professionals aren't "fixing" their files.

What kind of money are we talking about? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions?

A new OFPP benchmark for the Agencies is competed actions with only one bid as shown in FPDS. The pressure is on to reduce that number. The theory is that if you only have one bid, the CO didn't try hard enough to get competition. Things like a poor requirement document , not enough time given for the proposal, too restrictive of a set aside, etc. DOD started it by their policy to not accept one bid without a J&A and make the CO find out why no one wanted to bid, correct the process and go back out for more competition. As far as I can tell they are counting simplifieds in their counts.

10.001(a )(3)(i ) says use the results of market research to “Determine if sources capable of satisfying the agency’s requirements exist”.

13.104 says “consider…at least three sources”.

In JDYoung’s scenario, “vendors are solicited to ask if they carry an item or provide a service.” This is market research, not a solicitation for quotes procedure.

“If they say no, then it is being considered as a ‘No Quote…but companies that may or may not sale the products are solicited for quotes.” A vendor that doesn’t sell/carry a product is not a source. Soliciting such a vendor for a quote would not contribute toward satisfying the FAR 13.104 requirement to consider three sources.

As I understand the scenario as presented by JDYoung, and I have seen people do this before, you have a requirement for an item and you ask vendors who you know don't sell that item if they will give you a quote, of course the vendor tells you that they don't sell the item, so you ask them to send you a "no bid" or "no quote", and you then consider that "no bid" as a quote. Here is a specific example. You have a brand name requirement for a Dell lap top. You get a quote from Dell for the lap top. You then go to 2 other vendors who ypu already know are not Dell authorized resellers, and do not sell Dell lap tops. You ask them to send you a "no bid", and then say you solicited from 3 vendors, and only got one quote.