Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 19, September 20, 2024
A. Conditions for Use.
(1) Competitive sealed proposals is the
preferred method for the procurement of professional services.
(2) For any other use of competitive sealed
proposals as a procurement method, the procurement officer shall make a
determination that:
(a) Specifications cannot
be prepared to support an award on price alone; or
(b) Competitive sealed bidding is not
practicable, or is not advantageous to the Service.
B. Request For Proposals.
(1) A request for proposals shall include:
(a) The date, time, and place for submission
of proposals;
(b) The proposal
requirements, including price proposals;
(c) The evaluation factors and relative
importance of each; and
(d) A
statement of work or scope of services required by the Service.
(2) A request for proposals may
include other information the Service reasonably determines is
necessary.
(3) The Service may
conduct preproposal conferences, and may require that attendance by offerors be
mandatory.
C. Receipt of
Proposals.
(1) A proposal, withdrawal, or
modification received after the established due date and time at the place
designated for receipt of proposals is late and may only be considered in
accordance with Regulation .07E of this chapter.
(2) The Service may not open proposals
publicly. The Service may not disclose the contents of a proposal to any person
other than a person responsible for evaluating or reviewing the proposal before
contract award. Proprietary information shall be examined by the procurement
officer to determine validity of nondisclosure. The Service may not disclose
proprietary information submitted by an offeror, except as required by
law.
(3) An offeror shall
acknowledge receipt of addenda in its proposal.
D. Proposal Evaluation.
(1) The Service shall evaluate proposals
using the evaluation factors set forth in the request for proposals.
(2) Technical and price proposals shall be
evaluated independently of one another.
(3) The Service may establish a technical
evaluation committee to evaluate proposals and make a recommendation of
contract award to the Service. The technical evaluation committee may include
members who are not employees of the Service.
E. Discussions.
(1) The Service may conduct discussions with
qualified offerors. A qualified offeror is an offeror that submits a proposal
that is determined by the procurement officer to be reasonably susceptible of
being selected for contract award.
(2) Discussions are held to:
(a) Ensure full understanding of the
Service's requirements and of the offeror's proposal and ability to
perform;
(b) Obtain the best price
for the Service; and
(c) Facilitate
arrival at a contract that is most advantageous to the Service, taking into
consideration price and other relevant evaluation factors set forth in the
request for proposals.
(3) The Service shall treat qualified
offerors fairly and equally with respect to any opportunity for discussions,
negotiations, and clarification of proposals.
F. Best and Final Offers. The procurement
officer may permit qualified offerors to revise their initial proposals by
submitting best and final offers. The Service may require more than one series
of submissions of best and final offers and discussions. If more than one
submission of best and final offers is requested, an offeror's immediate
previous offer shall be construed as its best and final offer unless the
offeror submits a timely notice of withdrawal or another best and final
offer.
G. Contract Award. Upon
completion of all discussions and negotiations, the procurement officer shall
make a determination recommending award of the contract to the responsible
offeror whose proposal is determined to be the most advantageous to the
Service. The procurement officer shall promptly notify all offerors of the
recommended contract award.
H.
Debriefing of Unsuccessful Offerors.
(1) When
a contract is to be awarded on some basis other than price alone, an
unsuccessful offeror may be debriefed upon the offeror's written request
submitted to the procurement officer within 10 days after the offeror has
knowledge that the contract is to be awarded to another offeror. Debriefings
shall be conducted by a procurement official familiar with the rationale for
the selection decision and contract award.
(2) Debriefing shall:
(a) Be limited to discussion of the
unsuccessful offeror's proposal and may not include any discussion of a
competing offeror's proposal;
(b)
Be factual and consistent with the evaluation of the unsuccessful offeror's
proposal; and
(c) Provide
information on areas in which the unsuccessful offeror's technical proposal was
considered weak or deficient.
(3) Debriefing may not include discussion or
dissemination of the thoughts, notes, or rankings of individual members of an
evaluation committee, but may include a summary of the procurement officer's
rationale for the selection decision and recommended contract award.
(4) A summary of the debriefing shall be made
a part of the contract file.
