Responding to agency Requests for Proposals (RFP) is an exercise in playing follow-the-leader. Contractors should take care to:
The common thread for RFPs across all procurement types is to deliver the exact information requested by the agency – and in exact format requested.
Continue reading at: The Federal Government Contracts & Procurement Blog
The General Services Administration released two pre-cursors to major acquisitions last week with the release of the draft solicitation for the $8 billion back-office cloud procurement and a request for information to expand the Centers of Excellence initiative.
The Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and GSA launched a major cloud and IT modernization effort by announcing an industry day on Feb. 26 in Washington, D.C.
And the Office of Personnel Management is exploring how to create a central portal for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program.
These are just a few of the more than 4,700 requests for proposals, RFIs and awards released on FedBizOpps.gov in the week after the partial government shutdown ended, opening up the acquisition floodgates.
Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook/2019/02/gsa-releases-new-it-modernization-rfi-in-post-shutdown-procurement-deluge/
Responding to a request for proposals is time consuming and, yes, tedious at times. However, your proposal is your opportunity to demonstrate to the government: 1) that you understand their need, and 2) that you can meet, and perhaps exceed, their expectations. Consequently, it is not enough to tell them that your business can do the job. You must provide concrete evidence that you have what it takes to meet their demands.
While reputation, prior experience, and good will may get you additional business in the private sector, this is not true in government contracting. Even companies who have exceeded performance expectations for years must provide details commensurate with the RFP in order to maintain their position as the government contractor providing the service. Finally, a key difference between private sector work and government contracting is that the government’s decision is almost always subject to scrutiny. Consequently, even if your proposal satisfies the government and you win the bid, you still run the risk of losing the award due to a properly filed protest, if the reviewing body determines you shouldn’t have received such high scores.
Below we offer some tips, based on years of defending award winners, protesting awards to others, and hands-on experience in government contacting. In our work, we have seen certain detrimental mistakes repeated – time and time again. While proposals include some subjective criteria, by implementing these tips, you can increase your chance of achieving a higher score which, in turn, increases your chances of an award, and increases your likelihood of surviving a protest later.
Keep reading this article at: https://www.bidprotestweekly.com/5-must-know-tips-for-preparing-a-bid-addressing-the-key-points-in-your-proposal-to-the-government
The Defense Department plans to issue a single award for a commercial cloud computing contract that some analysts believe could be worth as much as $10 billion over the next 10 years.
Pentagon officials released a draft request for proposal last week that coincided with an industry day regarding the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud procurement, an effort that began in September.
Companies have until March 21 to submit feedback as they position themselves to compete on what is assuredly an aggressive acquisition timeline. Pentagon officials said they plan to post the final solicitation in May before awarding a single indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract in September.
Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/03/pentagons-commercial-cloud-will-be-single-awardand-industry-isnt-happy/146482/
Government business intelligence company Onvia has released a new report addressing key changes and shifts taking place in public purchasing today.
The report — based on a survey of 668 procurement professionals and key decision makers from state, county and city agencies, including school and special districts nationwide — provides insights to businesses seeking contracts with these units of government.
In the report, agencies describe their current contracting environment as generally healthy and improving. 39% of the survey respondents expect growth in bid volumes in the next 12 months. The report notes the “recent surge in demand for infrastructure bids stemming from the $200 billion in tax initiatives for these projects approved by voters nationwide in November.”
The increase in opportunities is contrasted with agency staff’s collective recognition that the formal bid/RFP process is “one of the most challenging aspects of their job, particularly in the areas of research, planning and specifications.” State and local government procurement teams report that since last year there has been an increase in the share of procurement staff that are stretched or overworked. Onvia notes that when purchasing staffs are overworked it has a negative impact on businesses who have to navigate through poorly worded bid language, adding preparation time for bidders.
Given the current purchasing environment, Onvia’s report contains a number of meaningful observations for businesses in pursuit of contracts with state, local, and educational (SLED) institutions. Among the observations:
A free copy of the complete survey results and report can be downloaded at: https://www.onvia.com/market-research/surveys/survey-government-procurement-professionals-2017
Government contractors responding to RFPs understand the need to read the fine print.
Mostly commonly, we discuss this topic in terms of pure proposal acceptability. Protest decisions from the Government Accountability Office GAO and Court of Federal Claims (COFC) make it abundantly clear that the burden falls on the contractor to follow directions and include all of the required information in all of the right places. It is for that reason (among others) that we always recommend having an outsider (be it a consultant, a lawyer, or even just another person from your company not involved in preparing the proposal) do a quality check before a proposal is submitted.
A more nuanced issue – but just as important – is understanding the RFP’s evaluation scheme. That is, not only what information must be submitted, but how that information will be weighed and measured by the Agency.
For example, in the past, we’ve looked at low-price technically acceptable (LPTA) RFPs. The basic idea on an LPTA procurement is that a contractor need only achieve a minimum passing score on its technical proposal – the Agency will not give bonus points for added bells and whistles. The much more important part of an LPTA proposal is price. Among those offerors found to be technically acceptable, the award goes to the offeror with the lowest submitted price. So, the focus on an LPTA proposal should be on getting lean (while maintaining technical acceptability) so that you can get as low as possible (or practical) on price.
Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/563830/Government+Contracts+Procurement+PPP/How+To+Approach+Best+Value+RFPs+And+Protest+Improper+Award+Decisions
An offeror’s failure to provide the type of past performance information mandated by a solicitation led to the offeror’s elimination from consideration for a major GSA contract.
A recent GAO bid protest decision highlights the importance of fully reading and adhering to a solicitation’s requirements–including those involving the type of past performance or experience information required.
GAO’s decision in Dougherty & Associates, Inc., B-413155.9 (Sept. 1, 2016) involved the GSA “HCaTS” solicitation, which contemplated the award of multiple IDIQ contracts to provide Human Capital and Training Solutions across the federal government. The solicitation was divided into two Pools based on the offeror’s small business size status. The GSA established a target of 40 awards for each Pool.
The solicitation provided for award based on best-value, and included a requirement for past experience, which stated:
Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/insufficient-experience-information-sinks-offerors-proposal/
Contractors that want to improve their proposal drafting skills (and win more contract awards) should always keep an eye on the news and learn from others’ mistakes. Understanding an agency’s award rationale can provide a competitive advantage and keep you well-positioned to receive the next contract.
And, sometimes, simply following instructions and staying within the lines can make the difference between winning and losing.
Take, for example, a recent GAO decision discussing the merits of an agency’s technical evaluation. The protest argued that the agency unreasonably overlooked technical details included in the “past performance” and “personal experience” sections of the contractor’s proposal.
Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=516702
Business intelligence firm Onvia has released the results of its first annual survey of government procurement practitioners, polling more than 500 pros from city, count and state governments, as well as school districts across the US.
For each insight gained through the survey, the report actually separates what each lesson means for both buyers and suppliers.
For instance, 42% of respondents said that on average, their requests for proposal (RFPs) don’t receive enough bidders.
According to the report, a big reason for the lack of competition was “cumbersome” or difficult regulations that scare off potential bidders, and that the largest agencies face more trouble in this area.
Keep reading this article at: http://publicspendforum.net/onvia-survey/
Visit Onvia’s site to download the report for free.
The General Services Administration first brought up the concept of having an “unpriced” schedule a year or so ago.
The idea is to evaluate vendors for their capabilities, past performance and overall skillsets, and not on their prices. And then let the price competition happen at the task order level.
This concept would be a huge change in the federal market where price has always been a factor in the evaluations of bids.
But the recent success of governmentwide multiple award contracts such as OASIS, and the acceptance of a similar approach for the recent $11.5 billion Human Capital and Training Solutions (HCaTS) procurement and the soon-to-be released solicitation for Alliant 2, there is a growing recognition that this may be the future of federal contracting for multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity vehicles.
Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2016/06/future-price-no-longer-factor-many-rfps/
