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Looking for Best Contract Type to Use Under an Aggressive Competition Time Frame


lawyergirl

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Hello!  

Our Government client is looking at consolidating three of its contracts into a single contract and issuing it as a competed small business set aside.   The kicker is that the client needs to obligate available funds by fiscal year end September 30.  As a result, after the RFP drops, the client is allocating 2 weeks for proposal submission and only 11 days for award.  There are many parties interested in participating in the solicitation, so this will not be an easy task for the Government in terms of review.  We are looking to hopefully suggest to our client some contracting options.  Does anyone know a contract type that might provide the most benefit and flexibility (e.g., single award BPA, single task order) given the aggressive time frame?  Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Thank you so much in advance.

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Can they issue an Invitation for bids for a single contract award - with price only factor(s) ? 

Also, does it have to be a single contract or can the government reserve the right to make one or multiple awards from the single solicitation? 

A task order would require multiple awards of a base contract then the task order(s). That doesn’t seem to be very practicable for such a short deadline. 

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4 hours ago, lawyergirl said:

There are many parties interested in participating in the solicitation, so this will not be an easy task for the Government in terms of review.

Another reason to consider price only IFB and also to allow industry to bid on one or more than one bid schedule.

This might also facilitate effective price competition.

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Can you provide more detail?  What is the contract for?  Estimated dollar value?  You mentioned BPA - is this under the SAP or covered by some contract vehicle? Is this for a commercial item?  I know you are on the contractor side but why the time crunch for receipt of offers and evaluation since there’s almost two months left in the FY?  

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4 hours ago, joel hoffman said:

Can they issue an Invitation for bids for a single contract award - with price only factor(s) ?

FAR 6.401(a)(1) seemingly suggests that IFBs take longer than other contracting methods. Based on FAR 14.202-1(a), I agree.

A bidding time (i.e., the time between issuance of the solicitation and opening of bids) of at least 30 calendar days shall be provided, when synopsis is required by subpart  5.2.

You can do a faster version of a sealed-bidding styled solicitation under FAR part 13 or 15.

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But see 5.203 (c) for commercial products (supplies) and services:

“c) Except for the acquisition of commercial products or commercial services (see  5.203(b)), agencies shall allow at least a 30-day response time for receipt of bids or proposals from the date of issuance of a solicitation, if the proposed contract action is expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold.

(d) Agencies shall allow at least a 30 day response time from the date of publication of a proper notice of intent to contract for architect-engineer services or before issuance of an order under a basic ordering agreement or similar arrangement if the proposed contract action is expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold.”

 

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@lawyergirl Any Synopsis/pre-solicitation notice should amply precede your agency’s solicitation date. If possible, they could also publish a draft of the requirements/ preliminary solicitation, etc. for information only.

I will echo formerfed’s inquiry for more details - without any idea of the scope of what your client is planning to buy, we are mostly throwing darts at a huge target (universe of acquisitions)..

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@lawyergirl Another suggestion is the requirements team could work overtime to expedite preparation and issuance of the solicitation.

Our USACE Division Commander once ordered Engineering Directorate to direct our Program A/E to work whatever overtime necessary to expedite designs for massive engineering change proposals. This was to minimize time/schedule and rework impacts to the active contracts for construction of large Chemical Weapons Disposal Plants.

Both Engineering and the A/E resented the overtime work but it was absolutely necessary. Both Engineering and the A/E had little understanding of the time impacts of ECP’s and were used to taking their sweet time in issuing designs and design revisions.

Your client might be very resistant to the idea of expediting the issuance of the solicitation or to providing advance notice/draft version for industry notice and familiarization.

Our A/E contract was cost reimbursement, long term (decades). The construction portion of the Systems contracts affected by ECP’s for the various plants were FFP, after previous CPFF contracts for the earlier plants of similar design.

This shift from CP to FP construction contracts in the on-going, evolving program required a massive mental shift and learning curve by all involved government agencies, including ours as well as the A/E and state regulatory agencies.

 

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I have read and re-read the original post and have offered my thoughts.  I am  still struggling with contract type versus solicitation/acquisition method that accomplishes the award by end of Fiscal Year.  It would seem that the client has already determined the method (SB, competition, evaluation as not being an "easy task") which leaves me in a quandry.   If method is settled on what does type of contract have to do with it?   Or in other words, if the client has solicited, evaluated, made an award decision just sign the type of contract that was anticipated at the get go.  The one exceptioin available under FAR part 16 that might, and I say might strongly, help expedite award is a Letter Contract, yet considering all the facts to date one the reason for expediting  is award by end of fiscal year as opposed to award to get the contractor working right now, Letter Contract does not seem to fit. 

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Thanks for everyone's input!  Total contract value will be approx. $14.5M after 3 separate contracts are consolidated.  This is a services contract and scope deals with meeting critical requirements for security.  It includes IT asset management lifecycle and portfolio management support, governance and management support, cyber security support, senior leader support and contract support.    I mentioned BPA above just as an example of what I meant by contract type, but I guess I am interested in what solicitation type OR contract type we could suggest as being the fastest to meet the client's intense deadline.   For example, a multi award BPA won't be suitable if ppl have to further compete for task orders. The client did not provide insight as to why the timeframe is so aggressive, even though they have until FYE.  Any additional thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

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Wow, this appears to be a technically challenging scope of work. The solicitation, short response and evaluation times don’t look reasonable to me.

i suggest expediting the preparation of the solicitation package. And, if possible, publicize a draft solicitation. 

Edited by joel hoffman
Lawyergirl clarified while I was preparing my post
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1. Can the services be ordered under an existing contract?

2. Do the services facilitate defense against or recovery from cyber attack? 

3. Assuming they proposed a fair and reasonable price, would any contractor that met general responsibility standards at FAR 9.104-1 be sufficient?

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1. Can the services be ordered under an existing contract?  No.

2. Do the services facilitate defense against or recovery from cyber attack?  Yes.

3. Assuming they proposed a fair and reasonable price, would any contractor that met general responsibility standards at FAR 9.104-1 be sufficient?  Not sure what this means.  Can you please clarify?

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13 minutes ago, lawyergirl said:

2. Do the services facilitate defense against or recovery from cyber attack?  Yes.

That's good. You can use SAP under FAR 13.500(c)(2). Is the client part of DoD?

10 minutes ago, lawyergirl said:

3. Assuming they proposed a fair and reasonable price, would any contractor that met general responsibility standards at FAR 9.104-1 be sufficient?  Not sure what this means.  Can you please clarify?

Let's say you have 10 prospective contractors that meet the general responsibility standards at FAR 9.104-1 and they have all proposed a fair and reasonable price, do you care which one gets the contract?

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14 minutes ago, lawyergirl said:

Hi Don:  Yes, client is DoD.

Good, now you only need HCA approval to use SAP (see DFARS 218.270(b)).

17 minutes ago, lawyergirl said:

I don't think the client is particularly looking at FAR 9.104-1 as part of the evaluation process, at least not that I have heard.

With very few exceptions, a precondition to any contract award is that the prospective contractor meets the standards at FAR 9.104-1. This is not about evaluation factors (although your answer will affect evaluation). If the client will be happy as long as the contractor meets the general standards of responsibility, then evaluation and award can be short and sweet. But if the client wants to apply criteria to determine which one of the multiple prospective contractors is best, then evaluation and award will take longer. 

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2 hours ago, Don Mansfield said:

Good, now you only need HCA approval to use SAP (see DFARS 218.270(b)).

With very few exceptions, a precondition to any contract award is that the prospective contractor meets the standards at FAR 9.104-1. This is not about evaluation factors (although your answer will affect evaluation). If the client will be happy as long as the contractor meets the general standards of responsibility, then evaluation and award can be short and sweet. But if the client wants to apply criteria to determine which one of the multiple prospective contractors is best, then evaluation and award will take longer. 

So are you saying approvals, process, etc. are more streamlined and efficient than going GSA FSS?  I am not looking for a why just a yes or no.

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On 8/7/2024 at 2:38 PM, lawyergirl said:

[A]fter the RFP drops, the client is allocating 2 weeks for proposal submission and only 11 days for award... Does anyone know a contract type that might provide the most benefit and flexibility (e.g., single award BPA, single task order) given the aggressive time frame?  Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Call me a skeptical pessimist, but I think that any DOD office that has to ask Wifcon Forum for suggestions about how to competitively award a $14M contract in 11 calendar days by any method permitted by FAR and DFARS has a snowball's chance in hell of doing so successfully.

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It looks like the primary objective here is obligating funds rather than using prudent contracting strategies.

Just from a program perspective, there are lots of considerations.  There are three incumbents.  Are one of more considered valuable to the program?  If so, what are those merits? Will transitioning be significant and what will be the impact of a brand new contractor?  What are plans for minimizing transition risks and how will be play in contractor selection?  Is price the primary consideration?  If not what other factors are important including past performance?  What are the benefits of consolidation of the three contracts?  How about extending the three contracts until a new competitive procurement can be conducted in a more reasonable timeframe?  

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1 minute ago, C Culham said:

This adds to my own skepticism when considering all the available contracts out there in GWACs, GSA FSS, etc.   DOD's CMSS IDIQ even.  

Exactly.  The work seems to fit lots of contracts with PM and cybersecurity as part of scope.

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