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Life Cycle of
Federal Acquisition
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Federal Acquisition Life Cycle
Contractors
Government
Best value
Technical evaluations
Past Performance
Market
Research
Drivers
Implementation
Pains
Influence RFP
Awards
Opportunity
Life cycle
Demonstrations
Needs
Commitment
To Take Action
Acquisitions
“Cost realism”
Commercial/nondevelopmental items
Funding
Shared risk and
reward
Plan to Act
Contractors
Teaming
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Acquisition Cycle
• Planning Phase
– Define the requirements
• Market research
• Funding
– Determine acquisition strategy
• Continued market research
• Refinement of requirement
– Develop acquisition plan
• Address all significant issues and considerations that may influence the
RFP
• Business, management, technical, logistics, and any other risks
• Overview of source selection evaluation strategy
– Commitment to take action
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Set socio-economic goals
Consider teaming strategies
Look at shared risks and rewards
Obtain funding approval
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Acquisition Cycle, cont’d
– Develop RFP and SSP (Source Selection Process)
• RFP to establish terms and conditions
– Work requirements, instructions to offerors, basis for award
• Issue to industry in draft form for comments
• SSP developed to establish government plan for evaluation
• Acquisition Phase
– Formal issuance of RFP
• Consistent with Planning Phase
• Provides adequate time for proposal responses
– Receive and Evaluate Bids or proposals
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Orient source selection team
Request clarifications/corrections
Technical evaluations
Best value evaluation
– Review bidders past performance records
• Risk/mitigation management
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Acquisition Cycle, Cont’d
– Selection Process
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Conduct discussions and negotiations
Request final proposal revisions
Best value determination
Conduct responsibility and legal reviews
• Implementation Phase
– Award the contract
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Notify unsuccessful offerors
Debrief unsuccessful offerors
Execute contract
Deliver requirements
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Traditional Federal Purchasing Model
Federal
Buying
Characteristics
• Detailed requirements
• Highly structured RFP and proposal process
• Formal budget and procurement process
Federal Ordering
Process
• Business development activities and white papers
• The proposal machine
Federal Cycle
Time
• 6 - 24 month procurement
• 3 - 10 year contract
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Federal Acquisition Process
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Acquisition Process
• Methods
– Request for Proposal (RFP)
• RFPs are used in negotiated acquisitions to communicate
Government requirements to prospective contractors and to solicit
proposals. RFPs for competitive acquisitions shall, at a minimum,
describe the Government's requirement and anticipated terms and
conditions that will apply to the contract
– Request for Comments (RFC)
• RFCs are announcements in FedBizOpps(FBO) or other publication
requesting industry comment on draft specifications
– Request for Information (RFI)
• RFIs are announcements in the FBO or other publication requesting
information from industry about a planned acquisition.
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– Request for Quote (RFQ)
• The RFQ procedure is used to reduce the time required to solicit and
award contracts for the acquisition of commercial items. This procedure
can combine the FedBizOpps(FBO) synopsis and the issuance of the
solicitation into a single document.
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
• Vehicles
– Government Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC)
• GWACs are contracts for various information technology resources
owned by one Federal agency but which other specified Federal
agencies can use.
• Awardees are selected through the RFP process
– Spending limits are authorized by congress
– Minimum guaranteed purchases allotted to vendors under contract
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– General Services Administration (GSA) Schedules
• Characteristics:
– Commercial items and services
– Non-Mandatory
– Available to all Government funded entities
» State & Local for IT and Security
– No maximum value - Schedule order size is unlimited
– Multi-year
– Mirrors commercial buying practices
– Contracts with any reasonably priced vendor
– No ordering restrictions
– No interagency agreement
– Industrially funded
» Fee for service: imposed a .75% fee for administration of schedules
» No appropriated $ from Congress
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA)
• BPAs awarded by agencies to vendors already on the GSA Schedule
– Administrative protocol can be arranged to expedite orders
• Supplemental Agreement
– Alternative Consideration: replacing IDIQ
• Fulfills recurring needs/repetitive orders: supplies and services
• Specifications
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Estimated Volume
Designated Purchasing Offices
Requires delivery order
Can be open to multiple agencies
No maximum order limitation
• No GSA tracking of BPA spending
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– Task Order and Delivery Order
• “Task Order” means an order for services placed against an
established contract or with Government sources. “Delivery Order”
means an order for supplies placed against an established contract or
with Government sources.
– Task Orders usually include a Statement of Work (SOW)
– Itemizes the task into labor categories and performance measurement
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
• Types of Contracts
– Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ)
• IDIQ contracts are task order contracts designed to provide
government agencies the opportunity to order product or services
through pre-awarded contract vehicles at pre-determined fixed
prices.
– An IDIQ authorizes a vendor to market their product/services but
government is under no obligation to purchase
• GSA Schedules are IDIQ contracts in the regulatory sense
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– Cost Plus Award Fee (CPAF)
• A cost-reimbursement contract that provides for a fee consisting
of
– Award fee contracts can be combined with other cost or fixed price
type contracts
– A base amount fixed at inception of the contract
– An award amount that the contractor may earn in whole or in part
during performance and that is sufficient to provide motivation for
excellence in such areas as quality, timeliness, technical ingenuity,
and cost-effective management
– Fee is determined by government based on subjective evaluation of
performance
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– Cost Plus Fixed Fee (CPFF)
• A cost-reimbursement contract provides for payment to the
contractor of a negotiated fee that is fixed at the inception of the
contract
– Cost Plus Incentive Fee (CPIF)
• A cost-reimbursement contract provides for the initially negotiated
fee to be adjusted later by a formula based on the relationship of
total allowable costs to total target cost
• Limits regarding maximum and minimum fees available
– Fees limited to 15% for R&D
– 10% for production
– Firm Fixed Price (FFP)
• A contract that provides for a price that is not subject to any
adjustment on the basis of the contractor’s cost experience in
performing the contract
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– Time and Material (TM)
• A contract that provides for acquiring supplies or services on the
basis of
– Direct labor hours at specified fixed hourly rates that include wages,
overhead, general and administrative expenses, and profit
– Materials at cost, including, if appropriate, material handling costs as
part of material costs
• The Labor Hour (LH) contract is a variation of the time-and-materials
contract, differing only in that materials are not supplied by the
contractor
– Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA)
• Expedite contracting for supplies or services when specific items,
quantities, and prices are not known at the time the agreement is
executed, but a substantial amount of the type of supplies or
services covered by the agreement is anticipated to be purchased
from the contractor."
• Used as an offer or quote for competitive acquisition
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Acquisition Process, Cont’d
– Basic Ordering Agreement, Cont’d
• For noncompetitive acquisition
– Justification required
• Use of delivery orders is not appropriate
• Acquisition through purchase order or contract
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Acquisition Dynamics
• Federal Characteristics
– The Federal buyer is a sophisticated buyer
• Product research is performed
• Purchasing vehicle preference determined
– Terms and conditions have been assessed
– Vendors on vehicles considered
• User driven through procurement process
• Factors Affecting Purchasing Decisions
– Risk factors
• Financial
– Cost overrun
• Enterprise
– Failure of project and the ripple effect
• Performance
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Acquisition Dynamics Cont’d
– Funding issues
• Is there a budget for the procurement
• Justification for procurement
– Socio-economic considerations
• Small business requirements
• Credits for meeting goals
• Decision making levels
– End user
• Application driven
– Interested in cutting edge equipment/technology
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Acquisition Dynamics, Cont’d
– Responsible party
• Interested in support, education, maintenance, warranty
– Contracting Officer
• Will commit the government to purchase
• Legal/administrative function
– Executive level
• Accountable for the success of overall program
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Contact:
The Gormley Group
[email protected]
202.833.1120
Unparalleled domain expertise with every single type of GSA and VA Schedule.