Receive Offers and Tenders
The private sector responds as required by the solicitation.
Can other service entities respond to the solicitation?
In addition to the private sector offers, other federal agencies, also known as
a public reimbursable source, may respond to the solicitation. When responding to
another agency’s solicitation, a public reimbursable source shall develop a public
reimbursable tender that responds to the requirements of the solicitation, including
section L (Instructions, Conditions, and Notices to Offerors or Respondents) and
section M (Evaluation Factors for Award). In addition to the requirements of the
solicitation, the public reimbursable tender shall include the following:
- certified cost estimate developed in accordance with Attachment C
- quality control plan,
- phase-in plan, and
- copies of any existing, awarded contracts that are included in the tender (with
the private sector provider’s proprietary information redacted).
A public reimbursable tender may be comprised of either (1) government personnel
or (2) a mix of government personnel and existing, awarded contracts. Submission
of, and changes to, a public reimbursable tender, as well as the procurement sensitivity
of the public reimbursable tender, shall be subject to the corresponding provisions
of this attachment applicable to the agency tender (see above).
What if there is no satisfactory offer made by the public
sector or public reimbursable source?
If an agency attempts to perform a standard competition, but does not receive private
sector offers or public reimbursable tenders, determines that all offers and public
reimbursable tenders are non-responsive, or determines that prospective providers
are not responsible, the agency should take the following actions:
- Determine Reasons. The CO will consult with private sector sources to identify (a)
restrictive, vague, confusing, or misleading portions of the solicitation; (b) the
reasons provided by sources for not submitting responses; and (c) possible revisions
to the solicitation to enhance competition. The CO shall, in writing, describe the
results of these consultations and propose a course of action to the CSO.
- Required Action. The CSO will evaluate the CO’s written documentation and make a
written determination to either (a) revise the solicitation or (b) implement the
agency tender. If revising a solicitation would result in exceeding the established
time limit for the standard competition, the CSO (without delegation) should consult
with the Deputy Director for Management, OMB. The CO’s written documentation, as
well as the CSO’s decision to either revise the solicitation or implement the agency
tender, will be retained as part of the competition file.
- Revise the Solicitation. Before revising or reissuing the solicitation, the CO shall
return the sealed agency tender to the ATO. The CO will then revise and reissue
the solicitation.
- Implement the Agency Tender. If the CSO decides to implement the agency tender,
the CO shall proceed to evaluate the agency tender as required by this attachment
and the solicitation. The agency shall complete the SCF, leaving Line 7 blank, omit
the costs on lines 8-12 and annotate “agency” on Line 18. The SSA shall state, in
the certification on the SCF, that the CSO implemented the agency tender because
(1) the agency received no offers or tenders in response to the solicitation; (2)
no offers or tenders received were responsive; or (3) no prospective providers were
responsible. The SSA and CO shall sign the SCF to certify the performance decision
and retain the SCF and agency tender with the competition file. The agency shall
make a public announcement of the performance decision (at the local level and via
FedBizOpps.gov).
The CO shall make the SCF (including the documentation of no satisfactory private
sector source) available to the public, upon request. The CO shall notify the ATO
of the performance decision and the HRA shall notify directly affected employees
(and their representatives).