'CON 280 Exam 1 Flashcards
Give the description of the contracting officer?
- Responsible for performing all relevant contract functions, to include assisting in requirements development and market research
- Serves as the principal business advisor and principal agent for the government responsible for developing the business strategy and solicitation, conducting source selection, and administering the resultant contract and business arrangement
What is the description of the COR?
- Performance assessment personnel
- On-site technical manager responsible for assessing actual contractor performance against contract performance standards
- Provides the team with their field experience and surveillance of service contracts
- Provides guidance to the PM to ensure contract requirements are described in a manner which enables the government to assess the contractor’s work performance objectively and effectively in terms of outcome
- Serve as the “eyes and ears” of the Contracting Officer
What are the responsibilities of the PM or requiring agency?
- Ensures the technical requirements are approved and stable, establishes technical specifications
- Allocates the necessary resources including personnel, funding, and facilities to support the source selection process
- Assists in the establishment of the Source Selection Team (SST) to include serving as an advisor or member to the SSAC and/or the SSEB as needed
- Assists in the development of the evaluation criteria consistent with the technical requirements/risk
Who is the Small Business Specialist?
Principal advisor and advocate for small business engagement
Serves as the chief analyst on small business laws, regulations and command policy
Can provide insight for market research and an understanding of industry small business capability
May serve as liaison with the Small Business Administration (SBA
Describe the Source Selection Authority?
- The individual designated to make the best-value decision
- The appointment of the individual to serve as SSA shall be commensurate with the complexity and dollar value of the acquisition
- For acquisitions with a total estimated value of $100M or more, the SSA shall be an individual other than the PCO
- Responsible for the proper and efficient conduct of the source selection process in accordance with the procedures and all applicable laws and regulations
- Appoints the chairpersons for the SSEB and, when used, the SSAC
- Ensures that personnel appointed to the SST are knowledgeable of policy and procedures for source selection
- For major weapon system or major service acquisitions, ensures no senior leadership is assigned to or performs multiple leadership roles
- Ensures realistic source selection schedules and efficient and effective events
- Ensures compliance with Subsection 27(a) of the OFPP Act, 41 U.S.C., Section 423, and FAR 3.104 regarding unauthorized disclosure of contractor bid and proposal information, as well as source selection information
- Makes a determination to award without discussions or enter into discussions
- Selects the best value proposal in accordance with evaluation criteria in Section M
- Documents the rationale in the Source Selection Decision Document (SSDD)
Describe the Source Selection Advisory Council
- The SSA establishes an SSAC to gain access to functional area expertise to provide the support the SSA requires throughout the source selection process
- Organizations shall establish an SSAC for acquisitions with a total estimated value of $100M or more. An SSAC is optional for acquisitions with a total estimated value of less than $100M
- The SSA may convene the SSAC at any stage in the evaluation process
- The SSAC Chairperson appoints SSAC members, subject to SSA approval
- SSAC Members should represent the specific functional areas from which the SSA may require expertise
- Provides a written comparative analysis and recommendation to the SSA
- Provides oversight to the SSEB
- Reviews the evaluation results of the SSEB to ensure that the evaluation process follows the evaluation criteria and that the ratings are appropriately and consistently applied
- Consolidates the advice and recommendations from the SSAC into a written comparative analysis and recommendation for use by the SSA in making the best-value decision
- Ensures that minority opinions within the SSAC are documented and included within the comparative analysis
What is the Source Selection Evaluation Board?
- Frequently the SSEB Members will be organized into functional teams corresponding to the specific evaluation criteria (e.g., Technical Team, Cost Team, etc.)
- Use of non-government personnel as voting members of the SSEB is prohibited
-Government personnel assigned to the SSEB shall consider this duty their primary responsibility
The SSEB Chairperson shall:
Be responsible for the overall management of the SSEB and act as the SSEB’s interface to the SSAC (if utilized) and the SSA
Establish functional evaluation teams, as appropriate, to support an efficient source selection evaluation
Ensure the skills of the personnel, the available resources, and time assigned are commensurate with the complexity of the acquisition
Ensure members of the SSEB are trained and knowledgeable on how an evaluation is conducted
Who is designated to make the best and final decision for the source selection?
The SSA
What is a Request for Information?
RFIs may be used when the Government does not presently intend to award a contract, but wants to obtain price, delivery, other market information, or capabilities for planning purposes (Market Research).
Responses to these notices are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.
There is no required format for RFIs
The Contracting Officer cannot meet with a potential offeror one-on-one, but the PM can. (Myth or Reality)
MYTH
In the pre-solicitation period, a vendor who provides information risks being excluded from the resulting solicitation due to organizational conflict of interest (OCI) concerns. (Myth or Reality)
MYTH
While the PM typically talks to Industry about technical requirements, it should be the Contracting Officer ’s responsibility to get feedback on pricing, performance metrics, evaluation criteria, and other contractual issues.
(Myth or Reality)
REALITY
Industry days are of low value because vendors won’t provide useful information in front of competitors.
(Myth or Reality)
MYTH
Members of the Acquisition Team, including the Contracting Officer and PM, should try to make procurements “protest-proof”.
(Myth or Reality)
MYTH
Based on information gathered from Industry, the Acquisition Team may decide to take a different approach than the one originally planned, in order to increase competition, provide for more small business participation, achieve lower prices, or better define the technical requirements.
(Myth or Reality)
REALITY
What is the Team Charter?
High level plan on who is who! A vision statement
Gets the team focused on the objectives to be accomplished
Assigns key roles and responsibilities
Starts with the Acquisition Team’s vision statement, which should capture the high level objective of the team’s effort and should unite the team
What is the communication plan?
Lower level plan on who needs to be informed and when
A Communication Plan will help you develop and organize the communications strategy you’ll need to keep your key stakeholders, customers, and acquisition team informed as you move thru the different phases of the service acquisition process.
What is the project plan?
Lowest level plan detailing specific actions team needs to take – the worker-bee roadmap on what to do and when!
A Project Plan will help your team get organized and develop a realistic approach and schedule for completing an acquisition.
What are some potential sources of market research?
PRIMARY RESEARCH Interviews with: Industry experts (e.g. Wall Street analysts, associations, etc.) Companies/suppliers Trade associations Internal Experts Industry Engagement RFI (request for Information) Supplier perception surveys Industry days One-on-one interactions
SECONDARY RESEARCH: Wall Street Analyst reports on industries and companies Company 10K and annual reports Research providers (e.g. IBIS World, Forrester, etc.) Industry publications/journals Industry associations General news sources Internet research Government databases/tools
What should the Market Research report contain?
At a minimum:
Explain the needs driving the acquisition
Identify the team members
Discuss approach taken to conduct the research
Identify sources contacted
Summarize learning, including positives and negatives
Enable the team to make decisions concerning direction
Plus:
Be written in a clear, non-bureaucratic style
Be scoped appropriately for the size/nature of the acquisition
Be updated as the acquisition continues
Be useful to other teams with same/similar assignments
What is the current National policy on providing small business?
“It is the policy of the Government to provide maximum practicable opportunities in its acquisitions to small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran- owned small business, HUBZone small business, small disadvantaged business, and women-owned small business concerns.
What is the eligibility criteria for small business?
To be a small business it:
must be independently owned; and
can’t be dominant in its field of operation.
What are 8a companies and their qualifications?
8(a) firms are owned and controlled at least 51% by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.
8(a) Program participation is limited to nine years, after which, neither the business nor that individual will be eligible for program participation again. There are two stages in the 8(a) Program.
- Developmental stage (4 years) - Designed to help 8(a) certified firms overcome their economic disadvantage by providing business development assistance.
- Transitional stage (5 years) - Designed to help participants overcome the remaining elements of economic disadvantage and to prepare participants for leaving the 8(a) program.
