ARMY AL&T
To that point, the FAR encourages what it calls early exchanges of information that may take the form of pre-solicitation notices, business fairs, pre-bid or pre-proposal conferences, and the availability of draft solicitations or draft specifications for review.
basis after issuing a pre-solicitation notice, but before expressions of interest from the notice were received. Te GAO sustained the protest by Barnes Aerospace Group (B-298864.2), explaining that “agen- cies undercut their credibility when they prepare and execute sole-source J&As on the basis that there is only one responsible source available, before the time they have received expressions of interest and capa- bility from potential offerors. Te entire purpose of issuing notices seeking expres- sions of interest and capability is to avoid the need for such sole-source procure- ments, if possible.”
Te government assumes a risk by proceed- ing with an action to limit competition without considering expressions of inter- est and capability from potential offerors. First, we risk depriving our programs of industry innovation; second, we risk losing the benefits of a competitive market.
We also assume a risk when we consider issuing notice of a contract action as friv- olous or a formality.
For example, in 2018, the U.S. Depart- ment of Labor published a notice of its intent to award a sole-source contract and invited companies to submit a capability statement.
However, one day after publishing the notice, the contracting officer signed the J&A and awarded the sole-source contract.
Career Systems Development Corp. protested (B-416021.2) the sole-source contract. It stated that the Department of Labor (DOL) had failed to consider the company’s capability statement that was submitted in response to the DOL’s notice. Te DOL claimed, however, that the notice inviting firms to submit capa- bility statements was a “mere formality” and that consideration of the protest- er’s capability statement was “actually irrelevant.”
GAO disagreed, explaining that the agency’s responsibility to consider the protester’s capability statement is not a “mere formality” and determined that DOL’s actions were contrary to regula- tion, rendering the J&A and the resulting sole-source contract deficient.
CONCLUSION DFARS requires the contracting offi- cer to publish a request for information or sources sought when using the “one responsible source” exception to full and open competition. Accurate use of pre- solicitation notices—as well as a walk through the valley of the acquisition regulations to understand the nature of a synopsis, request for information, sources-sought and notice of proposed contract action—facilitates our procure- ment objectives, supports advance procurement planning and enhances market research toward fulfilling our mission objectives.
For more information on notice of a proposed contract action and its impact on competition in contracting, go to the
Procurement.Army.Mil Training Library at the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement website at https://spcs3.
kc.army.mil/asaalt/procurement/SiteP- ages/
NewTraining.aspx.
DENNIS P. LONGO is advocate for competition, task and delivery order ombudsman, and senior procurement analyst at the U.S. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. A member of the Army Acquisition Corps, he holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Baltimore, and is Level III certified in contracting. His assignments include acquisition specialist at the Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization within the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Activity and procurement analyst at the U.S. Army Legal Services Agency. He served in the Army from 1971 to 1973 at the Southern European Task Force, Italy, and was deployed to Iraq as a civilian in 2003. He authored the Defense Acquisition University Continuous Learning DOD Purchase Card Tutorial in 2003, and has been teaching courses on competition in contracting since 2004. Te first of the author’s On Contracting articles, “How to Convince the Army to Get What You Need,” appeared in the Winter 2020 edition of Army AL&T.
https://asc.ar my.mil
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