Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Scrapped: $24M plan to replace refrigerators on Air Force One

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The U.S. Air Force has scrapped a $24 million plan to buy new refrigerators for its presidential jets, according to Pentagon documents released Monday by Rep. Joe Coutrney.

“The Air Force, working with the White House Military Office, recently reviewed the investment for the VC-25A chiller replacement and jointly decided to terminate the effort,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a May 29 letter to the Connecticut Democrat. The VC-25A is the Air Force designation for the two Boeing 747s that take the callsign Air Force One when the president is aboard.

In December, Wilson’s service gave Boeing a contract to swap out the VC-25As’ aging chillers, the large and highly customized refrigerators that hold an extra-large supply of food for the U.S.president and staff. Defense One first reported the deal. On Feb. 8, Courtney expressed his concerns in a letter to Wilson.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/06/scrapped-24m-plan-replace-refrigerators-air-force-one/148729/

Fast acquisition and fair competition tough to balance

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As agencies face a changing threat environment and any number of crisis and emergencies, federal managers must strike a balance between how they respond with rapid contract awards while adhering to regulations for full and open competition.

Rapid acquisition should be the norm in government for both emergencies and routine procurements, given the rapid pace of technological change. With that model, agency officials have to anticipate emergencies, putting in place competitively awarded contracts that can be used in the event that a crisis occurs.

“You have some cases during a natural disaster or terrorist attack where you don’t have the time to go out to the marketplace to do a full competition. The most important thing is to provide relief for the situation,” said Stan Soloway, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, an advocacy group for the government contracting community.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/longform/government/acquisition/2015/07/14/acquisition-speed-fair-competition/30103679/

Price realism evaluation: Only if solicitation says so

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An agency awarding a fixed-price contract can only evaluate offerors’ proposals for price realism–that is, determine whether offerors’ proposed pricing is so low as to be unrealistic–if the solicitation calls for a price realism evaluation.

In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO confirmed that when a fixed-price solicitation does not advise offerors that a price realism evaluation will be conducted, the agency is not permitted to reject an offeror’s proposal because of unrealistically low pricing.

The GAO’s decision in ERIMAX, Inc., B-410682 (Jan. 22, 2015) involved a NOAA RFQ seeking the establishment of a BPA for acquisition and grant management services.  The RFQ called for vendors to submit fully-burdened hourly labor rates for labor categories provided by the agency.  Once labor rates were entered, the agency’s spreadsheet would automatically calculate total prices using the rates provided by the vendors.  The RFQ stated that proposed prices would be evaluated to determine whether they were fair and reasonable.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/price-realism-evaluation-only-if-solicitation-says-so/

 

Contracting success in a changing government environment

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Behind many contracting issues today is the implied topic of who is or isn’t winning contract awards. In the private sector, it’s rare to attribute lack of business success to the customer. Certainly in a commercial market, industry success and failure is usually laid at the feet of company management and its ability to understand and meet market needs. Not so in government contracting.

Along with well-structured protest procedures, industry can and does appeal to government legislative representatives, investigatory bodies, contracting managers, trade groups, and agency leaders concerning any real or perceived unfair treatment before, during, or after contract performance. One regularly hears rationale that the buyer, not the seller, was at fault for lost business and revenue. It’s common practice, if not encouraged by government, for industry to openly critique customer policy, processes, strategy, requirements, and staff. These critiques include time of awards; market conditions; workforce training; communication; sensitivity to private sector concerns; selection methodology; risk mitigation; receipt of external advice (program, technical, incumbents, business, legal, trade groups, etc.); past performance criteria; and more. That’s the nature of an open and fair process.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/acquisition/blog/2015/02/25/contracting-success-changing-government-environment/23993719/

The complications of cost and pricing

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One of the most controversial areas in government contracting surrounds cost and pricing: the means by which a contracting officer makes a “fair and reasonable” price determination. This can be expensive to bidders, especially if they are required to provide “certified cost and pricing data” and respond to Defense Contract Audit Agency or contracting officer questions. Recent inspector general reports have highlighted the problem.

Commercial companies don’t have similar requirements and aren’t structured for it. They maintain that creating such cost-accounting compliance would incur extra overhead costs, drive up prices, and hurt them competitively. Contractor concerns involve onerous government requirements, inapplicability, and potentially abandoning the government market.

Perhaps the biggest difference between government and commercial buying practices is symbolized in the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA). Its main intent is to ensure accuracy of a contractor’s costs before negotiating with the government and includes providing government access to all cost or pricing data the contractor used to develop its offer. If the cost rises and the bidder is found to have withheld any data, the government can get back the added costs.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20140826/BLG06/308260017/The-complications-cost-pricing

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