Contracting Officer Podcast Slides Knowledge Insights From Contracting

Contracting Officer Podcast Slides Knowledge & Insights From Contracting Officers 1

Episode 020 What are Proposal Schedules? Original Air Date: March 29, 20165 Hosts: Kevin Jans & Paul Schauer 2

Formatting notes • Hyperlinks: Blue font indicates hyperlinks – presentation must be in ‘Slide Show’ mode to activate the link • Red bold font indicates a point of emphasis • Green bold font indicates CO’s personal comment or perspective 3

Introduction • How much time does Industry need to prepare and submit a proposal? • What do they do with this time? 4

FAR 5. 2 – Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions • Synopsis: • Agency must transmit a notice of proposed action (in GPE, or Government Point of Entry – currently Fed. Biz. Opps, or FBO) 15 days before solicitation or proposed sole-source RFP (FAR 5. 203(a)) • If using FAR Part 12, CO may • 1) shorten the time, or • 2) combine the synopsis and solicitation (FAR 12. 603) 5

FAR 5. 2 – Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions • RFP: • CO must give a reasonable opportunity to respond for actions estimated to be greater than $25, 000 (FAR 5. 203(b)) • CO should consider the circumstances of the individual acquisition, such as the complexity, commerciality, availability, and urgency, when establishing the solicitation response time. (FAR 5. 203(b)) • Unless under FAR 12 Commercial, agencies shall allow at least 30 days to respond to RFPs for contracts expected to exceed SAT ($150 k) 6

FAR 5. 2 – Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions • Commodity vs. System acquisition • Commodity generally means less time • Custom application might mean more time • Complex system acquisition • Lots of time, unless… • Beefy RFI, DRFP, Industry collaboration: they know exactly what you want and have been writing to that point already 7

FAR 5. 2 – Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions • Commercial/Catalog price vs. Cost Buildup • If the price is already established, less time • If Industry must submit CCPD (Certified Cost & Pricing Data), requires more time • If Industry must use many Government-supplied templates, even longer • They have to ‘shoehorn’ it in to fit the template • Hint: they have to price it twice 8

Why does Industry need more (or less) time? • How much info does the Government need? • How long have they had to ‘think’ about it? • How much are they ‘quoting’ vs. ‘creating’? • How much ‘pre-RFP time’ did they get? • When in doubt, ask: • It may be less than you think! 9

When do Proposal Schedules happen? • Acquisition Time Zones (from Podcast Episode 003) • Execution Time Zones (from Podcast Episode 084) • Requirements Zone • Kick Off Zone • Market Research Zone • Performance Zone • RFP Zone (proposal zone) • Re-compete Zone • Source Selection Zone • Wrap-up Zone 10

Why are Proposal Schedules important? • Need to understand how much work is involved when developing the schedule • Try to find the best timeframe – avoid allowing too much or too little time • Industry needs to understand the requirement and the schedule – do not waste time 11

Why Should Government Care? • Too little time means you may get • Lower quality proposals • Offerors ‘guessing’ because they do not have time to ask questions • Claims of ‘favoritism’ • Overtime work due to ‘time crunch, ’ which drives up proposal costs (that show up in overheads) • There will always be overtime, so even more due to burnout factor 12

Why Should Government Care? • Too much time means you may: • Unnecessarily delay your acquisition schedule • Add cost to proposals…. contractors will use all the time allotted whether they need it or not • Receive even more proposals because more people ‘stumble’ upon the RFP • Solution: Spend more time in Market Research (Episode 013) • Solution: Spend more time on RFI and DRFP (Episode 008) 13

Why Should Industry Care? • Too little time for the information requested leads to: • Herculean efforts: nights, weekends, holidays • Lower quality, errors, incompleteness, brain-dead employees • Increased cost due to overtime, etc. (overtime is a myth in a salaried world) • Tunnel vision that impacts the ‘rest of the business’ 14

Why Should Industry Care? • Too much time can lead to: • Overspending (will use all time available) • This is a choice, a bad one. • It is not CAUSED by too much time • It is just poor judgment – but it happens all the time • “I hope they only give us 30 days instead of 45 days so I don’t spend too much time” 15

Why Should Industry Care? • People can avoid ‘overspending’ their time, but they do not • Overthinking • Procrastination and “just one more change” • Or maybe, … really, really good proposals • Solution: Target your opportunities carefully • Do not propose above your weight class (so you know what you are signing up for) 16

Summary • FAR 5. 2 requires at least 30 days (unless FAR 12 Commercial) • Too much time causes problems, as does too little • CO must analyze to determine the best timeframe • Market Research • RFIs and Draft RFP • Industry must carefully manage the time allotted – they will use it all, but must not waste it 17

Contact us • We are on Linked. In, Twitter and Facebook • We also started the Government Contracting Network Group on Facebook. Join us there! • Send your topics to paul@Contractingofficerpodcast. com • For Community support, contact Shelley Hall at shelley. hall@skywayacquisition. com 18