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December 28, 2020 By cs

Vendors, consultants describe an increase in ‘bullying’ tactics by GSA to get lower schedule prices

The General Services Administration’s schedules program brings in more than $38 billion in revenue each year.

It’s one of the most well-known acquisition programs in the country with a reach across more than 100 agencies, state and local governments and the private sector companies. If a company wants to play in the federal market, usually their first step is to get on the schedule.

This is why recent actions by some GSA contracting officers trying to drive down prices, particularly for services, that some say to an unreasonable level is causing so much concern and eliciting words like “bullying” and “holding hostage” from those vendors facing this pressure that has re-emerged over the last four to six months.

Multiple vendors as well as consultants, lawyers and a major GSA-focused trade association representing hundreds of schedule holders say the pendulum has swung too far in how the Federal Acquisition Service is requiring vendors to renegotiate prices, with some being reduced by as much as 40%.

“We are getting our next five years on the schedule and [were] just finishing our 10 year[s] in total. In our entire time on the schedule, we’ve never gotten an economic price adjustment so we have not increased our rates since 2009 or 2010. GSA deemed our rates fair and reasonable at the time,” said one vendor executive, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. “When we recently went to modify our schedule contract, the GSA contracting officer said our prices were no longer fair and reasonable and asked us to reduce five of our rates. That just shocked us. We have multiple blanket purchase agreements and other contracts against these rates so for us to back track was unthinkable.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/12/vendors-consultants-describe-an-increase-in-bullying-tactics-by-gsa-to-get-lower-schedule-prices/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: e-signature, eMod, eOffer, Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Schedule, MAS, modification, multiple award contract, offer, Schedules

November 10, 2020 By cs

GSA preparing switch to e-signature for Multiple Award Schedule offers and mods

Contract holders will also see new security measures being implemented in the near future for eOffer and eMod.

In less than one month, contract holders on the General Services Administration’s Multiple Award Schedule will be able to sign offers and contract modifications digitally using DocuSign. The move will come ahead of more changes that will bring additional security to two contract management portals.

On November 30, GSA will be turning on the ability to electronically sign documents in eOffer and eMod, which will become the standard method going forward. But the transition means contract holders need to prepare.

“This change to DocuSign aligns with GSA’s overall IT modernization efforts to support security and provide a solution that is legally recognized internationally,” GSA officials wrote in a post on Interact.

The post notes there will be some downtime during the transition, meaning vendors will “not be able to submit new offers and requests for modifications in eOffer and eMod” from November 25 through 29. That said, vendors will still be able to start the process for new offers and modifications—just not submit them—and will be able to work on tasks already in process.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2020/10/gsa-preparing-switch-esignature-multiple-award-schedule-offers-and-modifications/169653/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: e-signature, eOffer, Federal Supply Schedule, GSA, GSA Schedule, MAS, modification, multiple award contract, offer, Schedules

January 25, 2017 By AMK

Federal court again says DISA erred by not clarifying proposal errors

A procuring agency erred by failing to seek clarification of obvious errors in an offeror’s proposal, according to a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

In Level 3 Communications, LLC v. United States, No. 16-829 (2016), the Court held that although a Contracting Officer has discretion over whether to seek clarification of a proposal, this discretion is not unlimited. By failing to clarify obvious errors, the Contracting Officer’s decision was arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.

The decision builds on a 2013 case, BCPeabody Construction Services, Inc., No. 13-378C (2013), in which the Court reached a similar conclusion. But so far, the GAO has drawn a hard line, essentially holding that an agency’s discretion in this area is unlimited.

Under the terms of the solicitation, the Defense Systems Information Agency (DISA) sought construction and maintenance of a Structured, High Availability Telecommunications Circuit between Wiesbaden, Germany and Arifjan, Kuwait. The solicitation requested offers for a fixed-price, indefinite-term delivery order for telecommunications, installation, service, and maintenance for an estimated 60-month period.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/u-s-court-of-federal-claims/federal-court-again-says-agency-erred-by-not-clarifying-proposal-errors/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: clarification, DISA, DoD, offer, proposal evaluation

May 5, 2016 By AMK

Common feedback to unsuccessful bidders

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) allows several opportunities for the government to provide feedback to bidders during or after competitions. The post-award debriefing of offerors is one of those opportunities, and can be a very valuable tool for companies seeking feedback on their proposals.

anthony j. davisThe government is required by the FAR to provide a post-award debriefing to any offeror who requests one in writing within 3 days of notification of contract award.

In the dozens of competition debriefs I’ve conducted or attended in more than a decade, I’m consistently surprised by how often we repeat the same information. The following reviews the format we use for debriefings, questions we’re frequently asked during the discussions, and some of the common feedback we seem to repeat regularly.

The Department of Defense (DoD) guidance on debriefings states the objective as: “The crux of any post award debriefing is the SSA [Source Selection Authority] award decision and whether that decision is well supported and resulted from a source selection conducted in a thorough, fair and sound manner consistent with the requirements and source-selection methodology established in the RFP [request for proposal].” The preceding quote (under section B.8.3.1) and other information about DoD source selections can be found on DAU’s Acquisition Community Connection at: https://acc.dau.mil/dodssp.

First, our standard debriefing format: The objective of this post-award debriefing is to highlight the significant elements in your proposal and to summarize the rationale for award. The ground rules are open and honest discussions within the limits of FAR 15.506.

The focus is on your proposal submission. But overall evaluated cost, task order management and technical proposal ranking for the successful bidder will be provided, including summary of the rationale for award.

Reasonable responses will be given to relevant questions about whether the source-selection procedures, applicable regulations and other applicable authorities were followed in eliminating your proposal from the competition.

You are encouraged to ask questions. Answers not provided today will be provided in writing as soon as possible. In accordance with the FAR 15.506(e), the government will not disclose:

• Trade secrets

• Privileged or confidential processes and techniques

• Commercial and financial information that is privileged or confidential

• Names of individuals providing reference information on past performance

Source Selection Process/Evaluation Factors

In this section, we read a summary of the source-selection process outlined in Sections L and M of the RFP, including the rating scheme and prioritization of factors evaluated. An example is shown below:

A color-code rating technique was used to evaluate the Management and Technical proposals. Past Performance was evaluated for an overall confidence rating and cost proposals were not given a rating. Each proposal was evaluated against the following four factors: (1) Management, (2) Technical Proposal, (3) Past Performance, and (4) Cost. Evaluation of Factors 1 and 2 focused on the strengths, weaknesses, significant weaknesses and deficiencies of the proposals. Evaluation of risk associated with the proposals for these factors are inherent in the evaluation.

As outlined within the RFP, Management and Technical are equal in importance and more important than Past Performance. When combined, these three are significantly more important than Cost.

Following the reading of our standard debriefing, we review the ratings the company in question received. In particular, we focus on the “strengths, weaknesses, significant weaknesses, and deficiencies of the proposal” that resulted in the final overall rating.

Some Common Questions and Answers

Q: Can you tell us how we might compete more favorably next time?

A: Our response to this generally is fairly standard, and tracks directly back to what we tell you in Sections L (Instructions, conditions, and notices to offerors or respondents) and M (Evaluation factors for award). First, your proposal should show that you understand the requirement, preferably without regurgitating it. Second, your proposal should demonstrate how you are going to meet the requirement. Last, but certainly not least, the higher color ratings are awarded when the proposal (1) meets requirements; (2) shows a thorough (or exceptional) approach and understanding of the requirements; (3) contains strengths which outweigh (or far outweigh) any weaknesses; (4) and when risk—not evaluated separately—of unsuccessful performance is low or very low.

Q: Why wasn’t our “concept X” evaluated as a strength?

A: The DoD source-selection procedures (https://acc.dau. mil/dodssp) define a strength as “an aspect of an offeror’s proposal that has merit or exceeds specified performance or capability requirements in a way that will be advantageous to the government during contract performance.” It is incumbent on the vendors to demonstrate their understanding of the requirement, and explain how their approaches will provide value to the government. In many cases, good ideas do not rise to the level of a strength in evaluation because: (1) the concept expressed in the proposal does provide value to the government but is part of what was asked for in the RFP (i.e., is part of how you will meet our requirements, not a way to meet them better, smarter, faster, etc.); or (2) the concept isn’t supported by or integrated with the rest of the proposal (does not track to pricing, is not supported by staffing, is not integrated with service-delivery model, etc.). For example, nearly all proposals we review include ideas such as reach-back support, a council of graybeards to provide strategic consultation, or something else intended to differentiate the proposal from others. But, without providing details on the specific, tangible outcomes (in terms of hours, work products or deliverables) that meet the definition of strength, the government will not evaluate them as strengths during a source selection.

Q: Why were we evaluated with a weakness for “Y?”

A: In general, we would prefer that it never come to this. Our intent is to have significant and substantive discussions throughout our acquisitions to the broadest extent authorized. As a result of those discussions, we should at the very least have communicated to the vendors any significant deficiencies or weaknesses in their proposals and given them time to correct those deficiencies. The presence of a weakness in the final evaluation generally means (1) we don’t believe the vendor understands or recognizes the weakness we’ve pointed out and hasn’t changed its proposal to respond to it; or (2) despite the vendor’s attempt(s) to respond to the weakness, we still don’t understand how the vendor plans to address it or don’t see the staffing or other resources to resolve the matter.

Q: Wasn’t this just a Lowest Priced, Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection?

A: There is a time and place for LPTA, but the RFP will always state specifically where the evaluation falls on the best value continuum. The vast majority of our source selections are conducted as best value trade-offs. From the top down in Special Operations Research, Development and Acquisition, we’re strong believers in best value source selections and actively strive to be the best in DoD at conducting them. We focus a great deal of time and effort to ensure we have a well-trained and prepared acquisition workforce with the experience and tools to properly execute, document and communicate the source selections we make and to defend the selections in the event of any protests.

Q: Can you tell us how our cost or proposal compared with the other offerors?

A: Unfortunately, no. In most cases, we will provide the winning offeror’s total cost, and the winner’s evaluation results in terms of colors. We are prohibited by the FAR from disclosing any proprietary information (including other offerors’ costs), directly comparing vendors or providing point-bypoint comparisons.

Some Common Feedback

The evaluation team felt you spent too much of your proposal regurgitating the requirement to us. It’s sometimes a fine balance, but you need to convey to us that you understand the requirement without just reading it back to us. In addition, including examples of work on past efforts does not demonstrate your understanding of the requirement. That experience is evaluated as part of past performance.

Your pricing, staffing model or overall approach (or portions of them) did not make sense to us, were not well supported or didn’t track back clearly to your understanding of the requirement. When evaluating your proposal, we take a very structured approach. We read to understand your overall approach and understanding of the requirement, evaluate whether your proposal meets our requirements, and then identify any strengths or weaknesses of your approach. Well-written proposals lead us clearly and unambiguously through that process and are consistent throughout. An example of this is dividing a large proposal into sections by different vendor offices or organizations. This can save time by having the subject-matter expert write each proposal area, but frequently results in a disjointed proposal when the different sections are not well integrated. We recommend a detailed final review by the offeror of the entire proposal to ensure it is clear and consistent and that the data are not repeated in multiple sections.

Evaluation of past performance is based on the offeror’s recent/relevant performance record from a variety of sources. This may include information provided by the offeror, information obtained from questionnaires (internally or externally), or information obtained from any other source available to the government (Past Performance Information Retrieval System, electronic Subcontract Reporting System, etc.).

So, that’s a quick down and dirty overview of the format we use for debriefings of unsuccessful offerors, questions we’re frequently asked during the discussions, and some of the common feedback we seem to repeat regularly. Hopefully, it provides some insight into the thought patterns and work processes of the evaluation team and background for your next source selection.

The author can be contacted at anthony.davis@socom.mil.

See the full Mar.-Apr. 2016 issue of Defense AT&L magazine at: http://dau.dodlive.mil/files/2016/02/DATL-Mar_Apr_2016.pdf 

 

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: AT&L, best value, DAU, debriefing, DoD, evaluation criteria, FAR, LPTA, offer, offeror, past performance, post-award, proposal, proposal evaluation, RFP, source selection, technical evaluation

April 19, 2016 By AMK

On RFQs, government can’t have its cake and eat it too

The government wants have its cake and eat it too — by conducting competitions under the General Services Administration (GSA) multiple award schedule contracts using requests for quotations (RFQs), but not abiding by the rules in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

RFQThe government seems to think that because RFQs are different from other types of solicitations, the FAR rules don’t apply. Both the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) believe the FAR rules apply.

In Hanel Storage Systems, L.P., the GAO considered a procurement by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for vertical storage units at a VA medical center. VA issued an RFQ pursuant to GSA’s multiple award schedule — the Federal Supply Service or FSS program — and the RFQ specified that the extractor system of the storage units [was required] to be “suspended on four corners to allow for uneven loading of pans and access from end of units for service.” VA awarded the order to Kardex, but admitted that its extractor system was suspended centrally and wasnot suspended on four corners, as required by the RFQ.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/commentary/2016/04/rfqs-government-cant-cake-eat/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition, FAR, Federal Supply Schedule, FSS, GAO, GSA Schedule, MAS, multiple award contract, offer, quotation, RFQ, SAP, simplified acquisition, VA

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