Overview Of Procurement Process

1
Overview Of Procurement Process

• Bill Hatchl
• Procurement Manager
• January 2005
• http//genesis.gsfc.nasa.gov/210/con210m.htm

Procurement 101
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Evaluation

• Is the information in this presentation useful to
  you?
• What topics were not covered that you need to
  know about, or were not covered enough?
• What additional information on those topics would
  you like to learn about?
• What topics were covered that you didnt need to
  know about, or were covered too much?
• Other comments?

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Who Does Code 210.M Procurement Support?

• AETD (Code 500), IVV (Code 180), ATO (Code 408),
  Space Communications (Code 450) and OSSMA (Code
  300)
• Simplified acquisitions (lt100k)
• Larger dollar contracts, including competitive
  and sole-source
• Commercial acquisitions
• RD
• Supplies
• Services
• SBIR/STTRs
• NRAs
• Interagency agreements (with other Federal
  government agencies only)
• Requests for information/partnership opportunity
  documents

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Federal Government Procurement

• Where the seller gets to sue the buyer (thats
  us) because the seller disagrees with the buyers
  purchase decision
• Where everything is supposed to be competed, even
  when you already know of a very, very good source
• Where its deliberately made difficult to buy
  from only one company

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The Procurement Process(Dictated by statute and
regulation)

• Synopsize requirement (16 to 30 calendar days)
• Issue solicitation (Request for Proposal, Request
  for Offer, Request for Quote) (30 to 60 days)
• Proposal receipt (30 to 60 days)
• Evaluation (cost, business, technical) (45 to 90
  days)
• Contract award, including negotiations (30 to 60
  days)
• Contract administration
• Contract closeout

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Typical Contract Award Lead Times

• Commercial acquisitions
• Competitive (90205 days)
• Noncompetitive (98237 days)
• Noncommercial acquisitions
• Competitive (150325 days)
• Noncompetitive (160340 days)
• Simplified acquisitions (27 days)

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Contracting Methods

• Simplified acquisitions (not more than 100K)
• Usually takes 30 days to award
• Small contract acquisitions (not more than
  10M)
• Usually takes 4 to 6 months to award
• Large contract acquisitions (more than 10M)
• Usually takes 4 to 12 months to award
• Request for Information/Partnership Opportunity
  Document
• _Usually takes 60 days to complete
• Above timelines are approximate due to large,
  though shrinking, backlog of procurements

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Contracting Types(Selected to reflect the
burden of the risk of cost performance.)

• Fixed-price contracts
• Commercial and noncommercial clear requirements
• Cost-reimbursement contracts
• Noncommercial and vague requirements
• Incentive contracts
• Noncommercial and improved performance
• Indefinite-delivery contracts
• Commercial, noncommercial and indefinite
  requirements
• Time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts
• Commercial and noncommercial and vague
  requirements
• Least favored contract type
• Letter contracts
• Immediate performance required

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Fixed Price Contracts

• Firm fixed price, fixed price with economic price
  adjustment, fixed price incentive fee, fixed
  price award fee
• Firm fixed price
• Fixes price we pay if our specifications are
  very, very clear
• Ambiguous specifications are interpreted against
  us
• We may have to pay that fixed price for something
  that is less than you need and less than what we
  thought we were ordering

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Cost Reimbursement Contracts

• Cost Plus No Fee, Cost Plus Fixed Fee, Cost Plus
  Incentive Fee, Cost Plus Award Fee
• Contractor promises its best efforts and we
  promise to pay whatever the Contractor spends
• Initial cost is only an estimate that establishes
  a cost ceiling that the contractor cannot exceed
  without our agreement

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Justification for Other Than Full and Open
Competition (JOFOC-sole source)

• Required for sole source and limited competitions
• Must demonstrate that the source (or limited
  sources) is the only entity in the world that can
  meet your minimum requirement
• Must explain your requirement and why it is the
  minimum required
• Competition cannot be avoided because we failed
  to begin the procurement process early enough
• Such justifications must be posted on the
  worldwide web for 15 days

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Waiver of Sole Source Web Postings

• Based on unusual and compelling urgency
• Intended to be used rarely for true emergencies
• Agency will be seriously harmed (financial,
  technical, or other substantial injury) if
  competitive process is used
• Justification must include details, not just
  conclusions
• Show how we didnt dawdle in determining our
  requirements and starting the procurement process
• Show the precise and serious harm that will be
  suffered
• Provide the dates and timelines that prevent
  taking the time needed for the competitive process

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Competition Types

• Lowest price/cost responsive bid
• Winner is the lowest price bid that meets our
  minimum requirements
• Best value responsive bid
• Winner is the bid with the best value,
  considering technical merit, cost/price, and past
  performance
• Do not underestimate past performance as this
  factor can eliminate companies that have not
  successfully completed similar work
• Requires fair evaluation criteria to be developed
  in advance, included in our solicitation, and
  strictly used to evaluate the bids received

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Small Business Set-asides

• Each competition must be considered for
  limitation to small businesses only
• Two qualified small businesses are sufficient to
  set aside a competition for small businesses only
• Requires us both to conduct market research to
  determine if there are two small businesses
• Default is to post your requirement on the web
  and ask small businesses to tell us their
  qualifications

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Performance Work Statement

• Should define required outcomes instead of design
  specifications
• What result we need versus how to do it
• More is better than less
• Insure that terminology is clear and has a
  commonly accepted meaning (term of art) in the
  wider technical community
• Ambiguities are construed against the drafter (i.
  e., us)

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Technical Evaluation

• Required at some level of detail for every
  contract award (more as the dollar value of the
  award increases)
• Essential requirements for a complete technical
  evaluation
• Recommends, explains, and justifies adjustments
  when required to insure product/service will
  satisfy your requirement
• Analyzes labor hours, categories, and mix of
  categories
• Analyzes other direct costs (materials,
  subcontracts, travel, etc.)
• All the above applies equally to subcontractor
  costs
• Approved by your branch manager

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Negotiation(A fair and reasonable price)

• Remember that you have a role to help negotiate a
  fair price for what you need
• Fact-finding
• Technical, resources, and contract personnel
• Used to get our questions answered during our
  evaluation
• Avoid transfusion and leveling
• Negotiations
• Same team members working towards a fair price

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Task Orders

• Performance work statement
• Solicitation, evaluation, and negotiation of
  contractor proposal
• Award of negotiated task order
• Process can be completed in 15 days
• Can issue a task order before solicitation is
  issued
• Task Order Management System (TOMS) automates
  entire process

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When Do You Need Procurement?

• When you need some thing or some person that you
  dont already have.
• If you do not have it, my office is probably
  going to have to buy it for you.
• Come early because we will need a lot of time to
  get it
• Always remember that government procurement is
  neither easy or quick

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What Does Code 210.M Procurement Do?

• Purpose
• Provide full service procurement
• support
• Plan acquisitions
• Award contracts, purchase orders, and interagency
  agreements
• Administer contracts, etc.
• Resolve contract problems (performance, cost,
  other)
• Close out physically complete contracts, etc.

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Contacts in Code 210.M
Procurement Manager
Bill Hatchl, x6843
Contracting Officers/Contract Specialists

• Diane Scheuerman, x4208
• Eric Newman, x4240
• Cathy Pierson, x5257
• Darlene Dorsey, x4242
• Jennifer Awkard, x6843
• Carol Barton, x4239

• Dave Vance, x2802
• Mayra Nieves-Torres, x0422
• Chuck Greene, x3721 (6/W125)
• Brett Gillard, x2142
• Nipa Shah, x1892
• Gerry Humphrey, x9083
• Delma Moore, 304-367-8491 (IVV/WVa)

We are located in Building 11, Room S215
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Contacts in Code 210.M

• Contract Administrator

Vacant
Simplified Acquisition Specialists
Cynthia White, x3596 (Team Leader) Sandra
Harrell, x3723 (Codes 540-544 and cell phones)
Marolyn Cross, x4782 (Code 560 and
pagers) Talaya Brooks, x6937 (Codes
552-556) Agnes Smith, x9129 (Codes 180, 300,
408, 450-454, and 500-504) (6/W125) Raymond
Jones, x3722 (Codes 550-551, and 590) Yolanda
Williams, x0689 (Codes 545-549 and 580) Rhonda
Roebuck, x8688
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How Can We Make the Process More Efficient?

• Planning
• As early as possible--
• discuss requirements with procurement
• mutually develop procurement strategy and
  schedule
• Prepare Complete Documentation
• Include all necessary documents with PR
• If sole source, ensure well-written JOFOC

Try as we may, we cannot work miracles!
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Dos and Donts

• Do--
• Meet with procurement early-on to discuss your
  requirements
• Communicate often and regularly
• Seek advice and assistance
• Ask questions if you dont understand how to put
  together a required document (i.e., JOFOC, SOW,
  evaluation criteria, etc.)
• Prepare and submit all required documentation
  promptly

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Dos and Donts

• Dont--
• tell the contractor to start work before contract
  award
• agree to any special terms and conditions of
  contracting without consulting with procurement
  first
• admit fault or liability on the part of the
  Govt. without first discussing the situation
  with procurement

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Simplified Acquisitions

• Purchases 100,000 or less must be set-aside
  totally for small businesses
• There are exceptions
• GSA supply schedules
• Lack of 1 or more small business sources
• Requires comprehensive market research to support
  this conclusion
• Sources sought web posting if market research
  inadequate, delaying the purchase
• Sole source

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Simplified Acquisitions

• Simplified acquisitions systemic problems
• AMS reporting increased
• Beginnings of PR backlog
• Increases effort and time to award POs
• IFM was new and had to be learned
• IFM is not as good as SPS
• No linked DGS, requiring us to generate POs from
  scratch
• No email notifications to requisitioners
• No workable interim status system
• Close down periods require hand-entering of PRs
  and POs
• Harder to use, not as complete as SPS (not a
  purchasing system, IFM purchasing module expected
  in 2006 or 2007)
• Few, if any, checks to insure that PR initiators
  provide us with complete and accurate info,
  requiring us to track it down and enter it into
  the IFM system

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Simplified Acquisitions

• Purchase Requisition Improvements
• Need to insure PRs entered into IFM include all
  necessary information
• Choosing correct P Group for non-simplified
  acquisition PRs
• Choosing the correct release strategy
• Header text tab has all essential info
• Requisitioner, Initiator, and Resources Analyst
  and their organization code(s)
• Suggested sources, including points of contact
  and phone numbers
• Item text
• PLIs include all relevant part numbers, etc.
• Item details
• Including line item description details in Item
  text tab or in an attachment
• Including all the info in the delivery address
  tab
• Remember to track PR progress through IFM release
  strategy, especially when PR rejected or hung up
  in release cycle
• Reviewing initiator or branch head in-box for
  rejected PRs

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Simplified Acquisitions

• Purchase Requisition Improvements (contd.)
• Use electronic attachments feature in IFM to
  include statements of work, sole source
  justifications, etc.
• De-commit funds after PO issued for lesser dollar
  amounts
• Sole source requires 3 elements
• Why what you want is NASAs minimum requirement
• Why your company is the only one that can satisfy
  that minimum requirement
• Demonstrate that you adequately planned this
  procurement
• Remember that you can initiate a purchase
  requisition with 0 you dont have to wait for
  the cash to get to Goddard and AETD

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• Back Up Charts

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What Does Procurement Do?

• Pre-award Activity
• Acquisition planning
• contract vehicle (simplified acquisition
  mid-range commercial, etc.)
• contract type (cost-reimbursement, fixed price,
  IDIQ)
• documentation--review and help prepare--
• sole-source justification
• statement of work
• specification
• Procurement Request (PR)
• in-house cost estimate
• evaluation criteria

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What Does Procurement Do?

• Solicitation Process
• Sole-source and competitive
• prepare solicitation document (RFO, RFP, RFQ)
• oversee proposal evaluations
• Award Contracts
• negotiate
• prepare contract file documentation
• review and approval process
• issue signed contract document

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What Does Procurement Do

• Contract Administration
• Administer contracts/purchase orders after award
  (funding, contract changes, etc.)
• Ensure that contractor adheres to terms and
  conditions
• Resolve cost and performance problems
• Invoice payment process

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Why Does It Take So Long??

• Standard Leadtimes
• based on type of type of procurement action
• Competitive vs. noncompetitive
• Commercial vs. noncommercial
• Dollar amount of requirement (simplified
  acquisition vs. mid-range vs. SEB)
• Interagency agreement
• SBIR/STTRs

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Why Does It Take So Long

• Review of PR package for completeness
• PR completed properly (all required signatures,
  routed through Accounting and AMS)?
• Sole-source (JOFOC), if necessary?
• If competitive, evaluation criteria?
• Statement of Work complete and in PBC format?
• Specification?
• Name, address, and telephone number of contractor
  if sole-source?

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Why Does It Take So Long??

• Synopsizing
• All procurements over 25k
• FAR states that they you must allow 15 days
• Only extreme situations permit waiver from this
  requirement
• Solicitation Process
• Govt requests a proposal
• Contractor(s) submits proposal(s)

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Why Does It Take So Long

• Review of Proposal
• technical
• cost
• business
• Contract Award
• Govt prepares contract for contractor signature
• After signature by contractor, Govt countersigns
  and the contract is formally awarded

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REMEMBER--

• Poor
• planning doesnt constitute
• a justification for a
• sole source!
• Cannot overemphasize the importance of early
  planning!

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Reminders

• Despite some perceptions and beliefs to the
  contrary, we are here to help!!
• Call anyone in the office at any time if you have
  any questions whatsoever. There is no such thing
  as a dumb question!
• You are not expected to know all the ins and
  outs of the procurement process thats what
  were here for.

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Success Starts With ? A Team Effort ?

• Technical and procurement personnel must work
  together as a team
• Each has a specific area of expertise
• Both are necessary to successfully procure the
  supplies and services needed to support the
  mission of AETD and Goddard

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We Can Make the Process More Efficient and
Effective!

• ? Working together as a technical and business
  team
• ? Understanding the process
• ? Initiating requirements sufficiently in
  advance
• ? Ensuring complete procurement packages

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A Final Note...

• Involve procurement early on in the planning
  process
• Always remember procurement in your planning
  process
• Early procurement planning is of paramount
  importance
• ...In other words, dont forget to include
  procurement when planning your programs and
  projects!!