THE NOTICE I NEVER KNEW
WRING IT OUT
Squeezing the meaning out of the definitions in the DFARS may be difficult, but understanding the lingo will facilitate procurement objectives, support procurement planning and enhance market research toward fulfilling mission objectives. (Getty Images/Yagi Studio)
Evaluation of the responses to that notice may assist a contract- ing officer in determining if future procurements should be set aside solely for small businesses having that capability.
In April 2018, the GAO adjudicated a protest under simi- lar circumstances where the contracting officer, after receiving responses to a sources-sought notice, set aside procurement of 50,000 gallons of diesel fuel to small disadvantaged, veteran- owned small business firms. Te protester, AeroSage LLC, complained that the sources-sought notice was a solicitation and that the contracting officer in this case didn’t consider its response. Te GAO dismissed the protest, explaining that the sources-sought notice was not a solicitation that anticipated the award of a contract. (See GAO’s decision B-415893.)
Sources-sought notices assist the government when it conducts market research and in finding interest from capable industry sources. Tey also assist the contracting officer in determining if
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a commercial item is available to satisfy a government purchase requirement.
As with the request for information, a sources-sought notice does not announce a government contract action.
Both the request for information and the sources-sought notice are pre-solicitation notices that are published before issuing a formal solicitation. Award of a sole-source contract must not be based solely on evaluation of the responses to either of these pre- solicitation notices. Otherwise, we run the risk of conducting a de facto source selection based on responses to a pre-solicita- tion notice.
For example, in 2006, the Air Force posted a pre-solicitation notice for repair of air sealing ring segments for the F-100 engine. Te contracting officer approved a justification and approval (J&A) to repair ring segments for the F-100 engine on a sole-source
Army AL&T Magazine
Spring 2020
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