Perform Post Competition Accountability

 

 

 

1. Best Practices and Lessons Learned. Agencies shall post best practices and lessons learned resulting from a streamlined or standard competition process on SHARE A-76!. An agency shall maintain the accuracy and currency of their agency’s information, including links, on SHARE A-76!
2. Execution Tracking of Streamlined and Standard Competitions. Agencies shall maintain a database to track the execution of agency streamlined and standard competitions.
3. Commercial Services Management Quarterly Report. An agency shall submit a Commercial Services Management Quarterly Report to OMB, by the end of each fiscal quarter (December, March, June, September).
4. Monitoring Performance. Regardless of the selected service provider, after implementing a performance decision, an agency shall:
   1. monitor performance for all performance periods stated in the solicitation;
   2. implement the quality assurance surveillance plan;
   3. retain the solicitation and any other documentation from the streamlined or standard competition as part of the competition file;
   4. maintain the currency of the contract file, consistent with FAR Subpart 4.8, for contracts, MEO letters of obligation, and fee-for-service agreements;
   5. record the actual cost of performance by performance period; and
   6. monitor, collect, and report performance information, consistent with FAR Subpart 42.15, for purposes of past performance evaluation in a follow-on streamlined or standard competition. To record the actual cost of performance for a specific performance period, the agency shall adjust actual costs for scope, inflation, and wage rate adjustments made during a specific performance period. The agency shall compare the actual costs to the costs recorded on SCF Lines 6 and 7 when the performance decision was made.
5. Option Years of Performance and Follow-on Competition.
   

   The CO makes option year exercise determinations for agency, public reimbursable, and private sector performance decisions in accordance with FAR 17.207. Consistent with the FAR, the CO should not approve performance periods that exceed the total number of years specified in the solicitation used in the standard competition.

   
   

   For agency or public reimbursable performance decisions, an agency will complete another streamlined or standard competition of the activity by the end of the last performance period on the SCF or SLCF unless a specific exemption is granted by the CSO (without delegation) before the end of the last performance period.

What information needs to be included in the execution tracking database? The database should, at a minimum, do the following:

1. assign a unique tracking number to each streamlined and standard competition,
2. include data fields as defined on the OMB web site.
3. track each streamlined and standard competition as events occur (real-time) from the date of public announcement through either completion of the last performance period or cancellation of the competition, and
4. retain historical records of streamlined and standard competitions after the last performance period has been completed.

What needs to be included in the Commercial Services Management Report?

The Commercial Services Management Report should include the following:

1. in-progress streamlined and standard competitions (i.e., competitions with start dates and pending performance decisions);
2. and (2) completed streamlined and standard competitions (i.e., competitions with performance decisions). The required format for these reports can be found on the OMB web site.

What if we need to terminate the contract based on failure to perform?

1. Notification. Consistent with FAR Part 49, the CO must notify a service provider (i.e., private sector contractor, public reimbursable provider, or MEO) of poor performance through cure notices and show cause notices. The CO must inform the head of the requiring activity of such notices.
2. Termination. If the CO determines that a service provider (i.e., private sector contractor, public reimbursable provider, or MEO) has failed to perform to the extent that a termination for default is justified, the CO shall issue a notice of termination, consistent with FAR Part 49. Upon terminating an MEO letter of obligation, an agency shall change the inventory coding to reflect that the activity is no longer performed by an MEO and shall perform either a streamlined or standard competition.
3. Temporary Remedies. If the CO terminates a contract, fee-for-service agreement, or MEO letter of obligation for the service provider’s failure to perform, an agency may use interim contracts, public reimbursable sources, or government personnel on an emergency basis. An agency shall not allow these temporary remedies to be used for longer than one year from the date of termination.

What if we need to terminate the contract based on reasons other than failure to perform?

If an agency determines that performance by a service provider (i.e., private sector contractor, public reimbursable, or MEO) is to be terminated for reasons other than failure to perform, the CSO (without delegation) will approve such terminations, in writing, and provide a copy to OMB before the termination. Examples of these terminations include, but are not limited to, elimination of an agency requirement through divestiture, privatization, reorganization, restructuring, national defense, or homeland security.

Can we extend the contract’s period of performance for a high performing organization?

Yes. The CSO may extend the performance period for a high performing organization if the CSO:

1. determines that continued cost savings justifies the extension;
2. documents these cost savings through the use of a COMPARE generated SCF or SLCF;
3. limits the extension to no more than 3 years after the last performance period; and
4. makes a formal announcement of the extension via FedBizOpps.gov. For private sector performance decisions, the CO shall comply with the FAR for follow-on competition.