multiple award contract | The Contracting Education Academy

October 7, 2020 By cs

10 tantalizing topics testing procurement in the new fiscal year

Change is in the air.

The leaves are beginning to fall to the ground, the morning air is turning crisp, the days are getting shorter — all signaling that we are approaching the end of the government fiscal year.

The beginning of a new fiscal year provides an opportunity for reflection, during which, we can look ahead at the issues and questions that likely will shape procurement over the coming year.

With that in mind, here are 10 topics that surely will be of interest across the procurement stakeholder community.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2020/09/10-tantalizing-topics-testing-procurement-in-the-new-fiscal-year/

June 4, 2020 By cs

Federal procurement spending up $120 billion since 2015

Agencies spent more on procurement in fiscal 2019 than in any of the previous 10 years.

**Click on graphic above to see full GAO infographic.**

And no surprise, agency pending on multiple award contracts for IT and services spiked last year.

Now that all of the 2019 numbers are final, the predictions of a banner year for contractors and agencies when it came to buying products and services came true.

The Government Accountability Office found agencies spent $584 billion on procurement last year, up $20 billion over 2018 and more than $120 billion since 2015.

Bloomberg Government reported that agencies spent $448 billion on procurement in 2014 and a six-year low of $442 billion in 2015.

The Defense Department accounted for $381 billion while civilian agencies spent $205 billion.

Of that, GAO said agencies procured 83.5% of all contracts competitively, up from 64.4% in 2015. DoD continues to struggle with competition as GAO found the Pentagon’s rate dropped to 53.8% in 2019 from 55.4% in 2015.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/06/federal-procurement-spending-up-120b-since-2015/

June 3, 2020 By cs

The current approach to awarding big multiple-award contracts is broken — here’s how to fix it

It’s been awhile since I’ve jumped back on my soap box, but after the latest news of protests delaying yet another large multiple award, governmentwide contract, it’s time to bring back the call for competition at the task order level.

The General Services Administration’s Second Generation IT (2GIT) services is facing four new bid protests making 13 overall since the agency launched the effort more than a year ago.

At the same time, GSA is facing more pressure to make a decision about the Alliant 2 small business vehicle that has been on hold for more than a year and in the works for almost five years. GSA officials have said multiple times over the past few weeks that a new information about Alliant 2 small business would be forthcoming “soon,” which in government talk means anywhere from one day to six months.

These are just two of latest examples of why large multiple award contracts should just make getting on the vehicle as easy as possible and then let the real competition happen at the task order level.

Instead, agencies are dragged down by an acquisition model that is well past its prime and no longer meets the needs of today’s marketplace for many reasons.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/05/the-current-approach-to-awarding-big-multiple-award-contracts-is-broken-heres-how-to-fix-it/

April 2, 2020 By cs

What you need to know about the new small business ‘reserves’ FAR rule

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has been amended to implement regulatory changes made by the Small Business Administration, which provide a policy for partial set-asides and reserves, and for total set-asides to small businesses on multiple-award contracts.

The final rule goes into effect March 30, 2020.

As used in the new FAR rule, a “reserve” provides small businesses with opportunities to participate in federal contracts as prime contractors in circumstances where small businesses might not have otherwise been able to participate.

Reserves are applicable to Multiple-Award Contracts only and are to be used when market research indicates that a total or partial set-aside is not feasible.

The language at FAR 19.503 addresses factors the contracting officer must consider at the contract level. Multiple-award solicitations with reserves may result in contract awards to more than one small business. FAR 19.504(c)(1) addresses procedures at the order level when more than one small business receives an award under a multiple-award solicitation with a reserve.

The new rule is expected to benefit small business by removing the current requirement for small business offerors to submit an offer for both the set-aside and non-set-aside portions of a partial set-aside. That requirement was burdensome for small business concerns looking to perform only the set-aside portion(s). Now, small business offerors may submit an offer for only the set-aside portion if they are only interested in performing that portion. By allowing small business offerors to only submit an offer for the set-aside portion, the Government expects to have fewer proposals to evaluate for the non-set-aside portion of the solicitation, which would result in a reduction in burden. However, there may be additional proposals received on the set-aside portion of the solicitation from offerors that previously did not submit a proposal for the requirement because they would have had to submit a proposal for all portions of the solicitation.

Other impacts of this final rule include the following:

The rule provides contracting officers with the authority to issue orders directly to a small business under a reserve, which will increase opportunities for small business concerns awarded a contract under a multiple-award contract reserve but will result in lost opportunity for the other contractors with awards on the multiple-award contract.
The rule removes the ability of interested parties to protest sole source awards under the service-disabled veteran-owned small business program.
The rule requires certain multiple-award contracts to be assigned more than one NAICS code.
The rule requires contracting officers to specify the compliance period for the limitations on subcontracting at either the contract or order level.
The rule prohibits tiered evaluation of offers on multiple-award contracts unless the agency has statutory authority.

Applicable contract clauses governing the use of set-asides and reserves for multiple-award contracts are:

Solicitations for multiple-award contracts that are total set-asides are to include FAR clause 52.219-6.
Solicitations for multiple-award contracts that contain partial set-asides are to include FAR clause 52.219-7.
Solicitations for multiple-award contracts that contain a reserve are to include FAR clause 52.219-31.

February 12, 2020 By cs

GSA moves into phase two of its massive contract merger

The General Services administration has begun the process of altering current contracts under its Multiple Award Schedule program, as part of its ongoing initiative to take the 24 different schedules currently existing under the program and merge them into one, unified schedule.

The agency announced Jan. 31 that current schedule holders will receive notice of a “mass mod” to their contracts in the coming months, which will align their terms and conditions with the new, consolidated Multiple Award Schedule.

“We are planning for a smooth transition and federal agencies should experience no disruption to their purchasing practices during the mass mod,” said Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Julie Dunne in a news release.

“There will be no change to contract numbers, which makes the transition less burdensome overall. And, we’ve been steadily training our contracting workforce to ensure a seamless transition. Soon, we’ll have just one Schedule, with a single set of terms and conditions, making it much easier to buy and offer complete solutions.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2020/01/31/gsa-moves-into-phase-two-of-its-massive-contract-merger/

Change is in the air.

Agencies spent more on procurement in fiscal 2019 than in any of the previous 10 years.

It’s been awhile since I’ve jumped back on my soap box, but after the latest news of protests delaying yet another large multiple award, governmentwide contract, it’s time to bring back the call for competition at the task order level.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) has been amended to implement regulatory changes made by the Small Business Administration, which provide a policy for partial set-asides and reserves, and for total set-asides to small businesses on multiple-award contracts.

The General Services administration has begun the process of altering current contracts under its Multiple Award Schedule program, as part of its ongoing initiative to take the 24 different schedules currently existing under the program and merge them into one, unified schedule.

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