CHESS HAS ANOTHER MOVE
by comparing the initial bid to the lowest bid; this number does not take into account fee savings).
In addition to cost avoidance, the advantage of using CHESS’s reverse auction capability is direct Army oversight of the entire reverse auction from submission to auction close, resulting in reduced lead time from solicitation to award. Contracts avail- able through the CHESS reverse auction capability are managed by CHESS product leaders—contracts experts in the field who know the market and the customer and directly manage the administration of the contracts and relationships with both cus- tomers and vendors—and CHESS’s contracting office, Army Contracting Command – Rock Island, Illinois. Customers have direct access to the product leaders that oversee each contract should any issues arise.
CONCLUSION CHESS’s reverse auction capability is a prime example of making acquisition more efficient and economical. It provides continuous vendor competition for best value to maximize cost avoidance and support the Army’s buying power. It is a cost- effective procurement method for Army customers to meet their reverse auction goals and lower COTS IT procurement costs. Te reverse auction capability continues CHESS’s dedication to innovation and capability advancements, and to providing competitive contracts that offer economical, value-added and networthy IT products.
For more information on CHESS and the reverse auction, go to the CHESS IT e-mart at
https://chess.army.mil/ or contact the CHESS Customer Support Center at
armychess@mail.mil or 888-232-4405.
MS. STACY WATSON is the Enterprise Solutions Division
director for CHESS at Fort Belvoir. She previously served as the Women-Owned Small Business program manager for the Army Office of Small Business. She holds a B.S. in business administration with a concentration in procurement and logistics from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University. She is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps, and is Level III certified in contracting and Level II certified in program management.
MAKING IT WORK
Jerry Warden, left, and Cortland Polk, members of the CHESS technical team, discuss the reverse auction platform and its capabilities. The capability was deployed on the CHESS IT e-mart in January 2016 and has processed over 153 auctions since its inception.
OFFICIAL POLICY ENCOURAGES USE OF REVERSE AUCTIONS
The Army is increasingly encouraging the use of reverse auctions while giving contracting offices reverse auc- tion spending goals for simple, fixed-price supplies and commercial services procurements, as reverse auction policy recently issued by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement (DASA(P)) pol- icy make clear. The U.S. Government Accountability Office published a report in December 2013 noting the increased use of the reverse auction at a number of agencies, leading to the recommendation that the OFPP issue guidance to help ensure that agencies cap- ture savings. In accordance with OFPP and DASA(P), a U.S. Army Contracting Command memo released in February 2013 outlined reverse auction goals for contracting offices at the following levels:
• 25 percent use of reverse auction for continental United States (CONUS) actions that involve firm- fixed-price supplies and commercial services with a dollar value greater than $15,000 and less than or equal to $150,000.
• 10 percent of CONUS actions for supplies and commercial services that have a value greater than $150,000 and less than or equal to $6.5 million.
64
Army AL&T Magazine
January-March 2017
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