Mythbusters
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Dialog with Industry
Too often we see doors close with the issuance of the RFI or sources sought. This is the optimum time for those discussions with industry to be occuring. Agencies use the "we can't talk with industry" reason to close those doors for a variety of reasons, none of which benefit the government.
71 votes -
Conduct one on one meetings with interested vendors AFTER a draft solicitation is released
The formal question and answer process is meaningless. Allow industry to attend meetings with the stakeholders and contracting personnel and clarify requirements in person.
64 votes -
Eliminate Low Price Technically Acceptable Procurements.
Why bother with LPTA? Most RFPs do not set the technical bar high enough to prevent gaming and the risk of poor performance. If you want LPTA, just do an auction. Best Value affords govt. clients the ability to do cost and performance trade-offs.
45 votes -
42 votes
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Select the appropriate contract type to ensure you are properly allocating risk to each party.
“To an IDIQ program manager, all acquisitions look like a task order.” But there are a variety of acquisition paths – use consideration in selecting the best one.
38 votes -
Debriefs
Contracting officers should provide open, transparent, and honest assessments such that industry knows exactly why it lost, and lowers opportunities for protests.
Provide as much information as possible in the debrief.
36 votes -
Risk transference
Government needs to understand the risks being assumed by industry, which includes things like selecting the correct contract type for the requirement and set realistic milestones.
27 votes -
Proposal requirements
I would suggest that for smaller requirements, say less than 5 FTEs, the government develop and use simplified RFQ templates that don't require a "full blown proposal" for 1-5 FTEs. The effort to develop these responses is the same as for 25 FTEs or more, unless key personnel and resumes of available persons are required. This could be simplified to allow more responses from viable, responsible, and experienced contractors. The only exception would be mission critical support, which requires the contractor to possess the requisite experience, past performance, etc. - it's the people who perform the work when a small… more
25 votes -
Conduct Two-year Personnel Exchanges
Government employees who have never had to write a proposal or deliver products and services in the commercial world often think contractors are “out to take the Government for a ride.” Commercial employees who have never had to deal with the overwhelming weight of paperwork and bureaucracy often think Government employees are “drones.” My experience is both are wrong. Both groups want to do a good job within the constraints of their environment. Let’s exchange many employees so that both sides can have a better understanding of each other. This will make the acquisition process easier and the subsequent delivery… more
20 votes -
19 votes
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18 votes
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Align the description of supplies and...
...services (Section B) with instructions to offerors (Section L) and evaluation factors (Section M), otherwise the offerors might be wasting resources addressing something that will not be evaluated.
17 votes -
Develop a realistic milestone schedule and stick to it.
Otherwise, the offeror might have to lay off proposed personnel.
16 votes -
16 votes
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13 votes
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12 votes
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9 votes
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Cross Training With Vendors
Conduct open dialogue sessions with vendors in different socio-economic categories to understand how they review RFQs, decide to participate in a particular acquisition, how they assess risk in responding to a solicitation, and pricing strategies used for different contract types. Likewise, offer open dialogue from the Government perspective to inform vendors on what KO’s and technical teams look for in successful offers, how decisions get made in determining acquisition strategy, and how contract types are determined based on requirements. This will lead to a better understanding on both sides which can result in reduced administrative time in releasing RFQs and… more
9 votes -
Release the IGE or establish a project magnitude for all actions.
This is ONLY a good idea if the Government expects competition. If the Gov only has "y" funding for project "x", why not be honest with the contractors and let them know that information. I have not seen a logical argument against this policy expect from the creators of IGE's that do not want their pride hurt!
9 votes -
RFP practices
Best practices should be employed to ensure government receives the best proposals fro industry, and not limit itself by prescribing the work to be performed, be unrealistic about the information and limits that can be submitted, or not properly align the proposals (Section C, L, M)
8 votes
