First Proposal In First Proposal Out

The only way I as a contractor would find this approach palatable would be if parties that bid on the first tranche were then excluded from bidding on subsequent tranches, and that parties that bid on the second tranche would be exluded from subsequent tranches, etc. The exclusion would apply regardless of whether the offeror received a contract. Otherwise, you are just offering multiple -- and expensive! -- bites at the same apple. It's a reverse pyramid scheme where the earliest bidders get the most work and the later bidders will get less work (based on an assumption regarding periods of performance) ... but the latter bidders will have to pay the same proposal preparation costs as the early bidders. Moreover, if you give offerors multiple bites at the same apple, the later bidders will have spent two or three or four times the proposal prep costs as the early offerors, and received less for it. Also, if you give bidders multiple bites you create an opportunity for them to use information from the early bids to upgrade their later bids ... which could be (potentially) an OCI issue.

If you need more contractors (as opposed to bigger contracts) then I think you are better off making all the awards at one time.

Again, a contractor's perspective, FWIW.

I like it — it is an on-ramping approach.  

Is every 40 days too fast?  You could do it every three months, every four months, every six months, or once a year.  Unsuccessful offerors can re-propose for the next time around.

If your agency has a procurement innovation lab, I hope you will raise your idea with them.

On 3/20/2019 at 11:40 AM, ji20874 said:

I like it — it is an on-ramping approach.  

Is every 40 days too fast?  You could do it every three months, every four months, every six months, or once a year.  Unsuccessful offerors can re-propose for the next time around.

If your agency has a procurement innovation lab, I hope you will raise your idea with them.

The term "on-ramp" is an interesting one to me. Clearly it's been around for a while but it doesn't seem to be a concrete/defined term. 13 CFR 125.2(e)(2)(iii) even uses quotes when talking about it. In the approach I offered it would have been a single solicitation with multiple phases of awards based on multiple submission time frames, but I don't necessarily think it needs to be a single solicitation that provides for all submission time frames. If the situation changes there may be a need for increased vendors down the road that was unforeseen at the current time (almost like an IDIQ for getting more vendors!). This would need a separate "on-ramp" after the initial solicitation. 

So how would you define on-ramp? Is it a new solicitation, an amendment to a solicitation that already had awards issued, or something else entirely? How beholden to the original solicitation would you be under an on-ramping approach?

Hmmm - Sounds like the process that the GSA FSS process uses to me.  I might add that GSA gives themselves 180 days to evaluation proposals received.

Makes me wander even further into wondering why you might not just use GSA FSS in the first place!

"This solicitation is open continuously with no closing date. The resultant contracts are awarded as Indefinite

Delivery, Indefinite Quantity; Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment. Contract periods commence on the

Date of Award through a 5-year base period with three 5-year option periods. Agency ordering procedures for

services and further information on the GSA Multiple Award Schedules program may be found at

www.gsa.gov/schedules."  Ref: Solicitation Number: FCO00CORP0000C

C Culham said:

Hmmm - Sounds like the process that the GSA FSS process uses to me.  I might add that GSA gives themselves 180 days to evaluation proposals received.

Makes me wander even further into wondering why you might not just use GSA FSS in the first place!

"This solicitation is open continuously with no closing date. The resultant contracts are awarded as Indefinite

Delivery, Indefinite Quantity; Fixed Price with Economic Price Adjustment. Contract periods commence on the

Date of Award through a 5-year base period with three 5-year option periods. Agency ordering procedures for

services and further information on the GSA Multiple Award Schedules program may be found at

www.gsa.gov/schedules."  Ref: Solicitation Number: FCO00CORP0000C

Mostly it's the use of non-commercial/cost reimbursable line items that led us this direction.