RFQ | The Contracting Education Academy

January 13, 2021 By cs

Don’t rely on automatic email response, GAO decision warns

Agencies commonly ask offerors to designate a point of contact for communications about the proposal. But what happens if the person the offeror identifies is unavailable when the agency reaches out?

A recent GAO bid protest decision is a cautionary tale and suggests some best practices for offerors.

The GAO’s decision in Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc., B-418946 (Oct. 23, 2020) involved a Navy RFQ seeking two clinical chemistry/immunoassay laboratory analyzer systems and one laboratory automation system, to provide laboratory testing of patient specimens at the Naval hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

In December 2019, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. submitted a quotation. In its quotation, Ortho-Clinical identified its Contract Manager as the company’s sole point of contact for any communications regarding the quotation.

The Navy received initial quotations from five companies, including Ortho-Clinical. After reviewing initial quotations, the Navy found that none of them, including Ortho-Clinical’s, were technically acceptable. The Navy elected to open discussions with all five companies to allow them to address the shortcomings in their initial quotations.

Keep reading this article at: https://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/proposal-points-of-contact-dont-rely-on-automatic-email-response-gao-decision-warns/

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).

The 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/

February 19, 2016 By AMK

GSA’s canceled RFQ shows growing cracks in federal contracting

Usually when an agency cancels a request for quotes under a multiple award contract, it’s not worth a notebook mention.

Hundreds or thousands of contracts are awarded and probably just as many others are canceled or postponed every week throughout the federal government, but one recent RFQ from the General Services Administration caught my attention.

An industry friend highlighted not only the frustration with the cancellation, but GSA’s inability to put this contract in place after 18 months of work despite the important role the support services that are part of the contract play in many of the administration’s management agenda initiatives.

So a little background first: The RFQ is for data analytics services in support of the Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP) and the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies (OCSIT).

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/contractsawards/2016/02/gsas-cancelled-rfq-shows-growing-cracks-federal-contracting/

July 1, 2015 By AMK

New GSA tool helps buyers search open, closed and canceled eBuy RFQs

For years, the federal acquisition community has been wishing for simpler access to the kind of information they need to make smarter purchases and save taxpayers dollars.

Now, GSA’s new “eBuy Open” is delivering that critical market research through an easy to use interactive web platform designed with their needs in mind.

The eBuy Open tool helps customers leverage best practices and lessons-learned from across the federal acquisition community. According to GSA, eBuy Open helps buyers quickly search open, closed, and canceled eBuy Requests for Quotes (RFQs) from FY14 forward, showing which agencies are requesting what products and services from GSA Schedules. Digging deeper unearths other valuable information, such as how other buyers draft their documents to get the best quotes from industry, and when specific products and services are purchased. Use of the the tool can support market research and the search for acquisition examples.

eBuy Open is now live on GSA’s Acquisition Gateway. Questions about eBuy Open or the Acquisition Gateway may be directed to: hallways_site_manager@gsa.gov

Agencies commonly ask offerors to designate a point of contact for communications about the proposal. But what happens if the person the offeror identifies is unavailable when the agency reaches out?

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).

Usually when an agency cancels a request for quotes under a multiple award contract, it’s not worth a notebook mention.

For years, the federal acquisition community has been wishing for simpler access to the kind of information they need to make smarter purchases and save taxpayers dollars.

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