Develop and Issue Solicitation

When developing and issuing a solicitation for a standard competition, the CO shall comply with the FAR and the following:

1. Review and Release of Information. An agency is encouraged to post a draft of the PWS or solicitation for public review and comment, including review and comment by directly affected employees and representatives of directly affected employees. All releases of the PWS and solicitation, including drafts, shall be by the CO.
2. FAR Provisions. The CO, in consultation with the PWS team, shall determine the acquisition strategy in accordance with FAR Part 7, which may include the use of FAR Parts 6, 14, 15, or 36. When the agency is the incumbent service provider, the CO shall comply with FAR 7.305(c) regarding the right of first refusal. The CO shall comply with FAR Subpart 22.10 to obtain the applicable wage determinations from the Department of Labor.
3. Acquisition Process and Source Selection Provisions. The CO shall identify in the solicitation whether the acquisition procedures will be sealed bid or negotiated procedures. If negotiated procedures will be used, the CO shall identify in the solicitation the type of source selection process (i.e., lowest price technically acceptable, phased evaluation, tradeoff).
4. Solicitation Provisions Unique to the Agency Tender. A solicitation shall state that the agency tender is not required to include (a) a labor strike plan; (b) a small business strategy; (c) a subcontracting plan goal; (d) participation of small disadvantaged businesses; (e) licensing or other certifications; and (f) past performance information (unless the agency tender is based on an MEO that has been implemented in accordance with this circular or a previous OMB Circular A-76).
5. Solicitation Closing Date. The date for delivery of offers and tenders shall be the same.
6. Compliance Matrix. To decrease the complexity of performing source selections, the CO may include a cross-reference compliance matrix.
7. Performance Periods. An agency shall use a minimum of three full years of performance, excluding the phase-in period, in a standard competition. An agency shall not use performance periods for the agency tender that differ from performance periods for private sector offers and public reimbursable tenders. The CSO shall obtain prior written approval from OMB to use performance periods that exceed five years (excluding the phase-in period).
8. Government-Furnished Property (GFP). The PWS team shall be responsible for determining whether the agency will make government property available to all prospective providers. Agency determinations to provide or not provide GFP shall be justified, in writing, and approved by the CSO. Consistent with FAR 45.102 and FAR Subpart 45.3, solicitations may offer the use of existing government facilities and equipment and may make such use mandatory. The determination to provide government property shall not be used to influence the outcome of the competition. The ATO, MEO team, and any individual assisting in the development of the agency tender, should not be involved in the determination to provide GFP.

1. Common Costs. The CO shall identify common costs in the solicitation.
2. Performance Bond. If an agency requires a private sector source to include a performance bond, the CO shall obtain prior written approval from the CSO. The CO shall include in the solicitation a separate CLIN for the cost of the performance bond. The CO shall exclude the cost of the performance bond from the contract price before entering the contract price on SCF Line 7.
3. Incentive Fee. In a solicitation for an incentive fee contract, the CO shall require the private sector offeror to propose a target cost and target profit or fee. The CO shall include the target cost and target profit or fee on SCF Line 7.
4. Award Fee. For solicitations with an award fee for all prospective providers, including the agency tender, the CSO shall determine if procedures are in place permitting an agency tender to receive such an award fee.
5. Phase-in Plan. The CO shall include in the solicitation a separate CLIN for a phase-in plan. Private sector, public reimbursable and agency sources shall propose a phase-in plan to replace the incumbent service provider. The CO shall designate the phase-in period as the first performance period (see Attachment C). The CLIN is limited to the phase-in costs associated with phase-in actions as documented in the phase-in plan. Phase-in plans shall include details to minimize disruption and start-up requirements. The phase-in plan shall consider recruiting, hiring, training, security limitations, and any other special considerations of the prospective providers to reflect a phase-in period of realistic length and requirements.
6. Quality Control Plan. The CO shall include in the solicitation a requirement for prospective providers to include a quality control plan in offers and tenders.

What information is available to prospective providers?

Information that is developed by the ATO or MEO team shall be considered procurement sensitive. With the exception of information related to the performance or productivity of the incumbent agency organization, historical data or other existing information that is available to the ATO or MEO team shall be made available to all prospective providers.

What evaluation factors should I use?

To the extent practicable, evaluation factors should be limited to commonly used factors (e.g., a demonstrated understanding of the government’s requirements, technical approach, management capabilities, personnel qualifications, manufacturing plan, facilities and equipment). No solicitation should include evaluation factors that could provide an unfair advantage for or inherently benefit a prospective provider, public or private.

For tradeoff source selections, the solicitation should identify the specific weight given evaluation factors and sub-factors, including cost or price. The specific weight given to cost or price shall be at least equal to all other evaluation factors combined unless quantifiable performance measures can be used to assess value and can be independently evaluated. The quality of competition will be enhanced by using, to the extent practicable, evaluation factors and sub-factors susceptible to objective measurement or evaluation. To encourage prospective providers to submit offers and tenders that fall within budgetary constraints, an agency may include a not-to-exceed cost clause in the solicitation.

What information should be in the compliance matrix?

A compliance matrix should clearly identify proposal reference information as it relates to the PWS, contract line item numbers (CLIN), solicitation sections L and M, proposal volume and section, and, if appropriate, contract data requirements list (CDRL) references. This matrix should be modified to account for proposed performance standards that differ from the requirements in a solicitation. The following is an example compliance matrix: