Contracts with Educational Institutions

Question: How should Section B of the solicitation be structured for educational support services povided by a University?

Scenario: The agency intends to award a firm-fixed-price contract with University ABC to provide the infrastructure to develop, enhance and maintain a curriculum of courses that will result in the earning of a certificate or MS degree and a Ph. D degree. A draft RFP was forwarded to provide the University with an opportunity to formulate comments and questions regarding the draft RFP documents and to facilitate the proposal process by providing the requirement in advance of the Final RFP. The University responded with the following comment, “The format of the price schedule does not agree with the University budget formatting”.

Section B is structured as: CLIN 0001, Administrators (Director, Associate Director); CLIN 0002, Administrative Staff (Administrative Director, Program Coordinator); CLIN 0003, Computing Staff, (IT Systems Analyst); CLIN 0004, Survey Practicum (Practicum I & II); CLIN 0005, Faculty Resources (Full-Time, Part-Time Faculty); CLIN 0006, Junior Fellowship Program; CLIN 0007, Graduate Assistants.

Due to the fluctuating requirements that are subject to change, the C/O suggests that Section B be structured as follows:

CLIN Supplies/Services

0001 Ongoing Support Services and Infrastructure

The Contractor shall provide all requirements

as set forth in Section ____ of the SOW, in

accordance with the Contractor’s proposal.

0002 Survey Practicum

The Contractor shall provide a Practicum that

meets the base functionality and requirements

set forth in Section ____ of the SOW, in

accordance with the Contractor’s proposal.

0002A Survey Practicum (Additional Functionality)

The Contractor shall provide additional

functionality and requirements within the

scope set forth in Section ____ of the SOW,

should these requirements be requested through

a Contracting Officer’s change request.*

*The Contractor shall not exceed the base functionality described in Section ____ and the contractor’s proposal without specific authorization from the Contracting Officer. If changes are required by the Consortium, a change proposal shall be submitted that clearly notes any additional costs. This change proposal must be accepted by the Contracting Officer prior to adding additional funding to CLIN 0002A to increase the base price of the Survey Practicum.

I did not provide the full structure of Section B; I just wanted to give you an idea of how it is structured. Instead of providing a detailed basis of estimate for all requirements, the University is planning to submit a total cost for their Faculty Salaries, Other Personnel, Fringe Benefits, Practicum, Supplies, Overhead, etc.

Is this acceptable for a firm-fixed price contract. Please advise.