TArticles tagged with: Lisa Pafe

Five tips to help evaluators find key words (and winning content)

Increasingly, government evaluators rely on automation to help them efficiently review proposals

Federal Government source selection officials are very likely to review your bid electronically rather than in hard copy. Telework is here to stay, and federal proposal evaluators working from home are unlikely to print thousands of pages from multiple bids. Even in the office, printing large documents is wasteful and not environmentally friendly. In addition, over-worked government evaluators look for ways to speed the evaluation process. Increasingly, government evaluators rely on automation to help them efficiently review proposals. Whether the Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) members are using acquisition software to check compliance and document findings or simply the search and find features of MS Word or Adobe Acrobat, they must be able to find content quickly and easily. An important part of planning before you write is identifying important key words for automated content searches. Using key words is not the same as parroting back RFP requirements. It is … Continue reading Five tips to help evaluators find key words (and winning content) →

Polaris Pre-Award Protest: The New Normal for MACs?

Almost as soon as the RFP was released, the first pre-award protest quickly followed

The General Services Administration (GSA) issued the final Multiple Award Contract (MAC) RFPs for the Polaris women-owned Small Business (WOSB) and Small Business (SB) pools on March 25. This much anticipated information technology (IT) solicitation is the replacement for the Alliant 2 Small Business solicitation ($15 billion ceiling) which never made it to the final RFP. The Polaris government-wide acquisition contract (GWAC) will eventually include four different pools: SB, WOSB, historically underutilized business (HUB) zones as well as service disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB), replacing VETS 2. While 8(a) firms do not have a separate pool, they can apply for any of the Polaris pools for which they qualify as they await the STARS III RFP. Pre-Award Protests Almost as soon as the RFP was released, the first Polaris pre-award protest quickly followed. BD Squared filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on March 29 regarding provisions in … Continue reading Polaris Pre-Award Protest: The New Normal for MACs? →

NOAA’s $8B ProTech 2.0 solicitation brings the latest in streamlined acquisition

The successor to the original ProTech

When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued the final RFP for the ProTech 2.0 Satellite Domain on Dec. 2, the agency may have ruined the holidays for the small business contractors (under 1,250 employees) planning to bid. Phase One responses are due on Jan. 6, 2022. This multi-award IDIQ vehicle with an $8 billion ceiling across all domains, is the successor to the original ProTech. This is the first RFP released for the four domains: Satellite, Fisheries, Oceans, and Weather. The majority of Satellite Domain Task Orders for ProTech 1.0 are between $1 million and $10 million. NOAA will issue between 10-25 awards for the new IDIQ. But what’s really new is the focus on innovation. As NOAA previewed in their May 2021 update, they plan to speed acquisition time for all domains by using one or more procurement innovations: Advisory Down-Select Oral Presentations Confidence Ratings On-the-Spot Consensus Evaluation Streamlined … Continue reading NOAA’s $8B ProTech 2.0 solicitation brings the latest in streamlined acquisition →

How does the government evaluate a proposal PWS?

Developing a comprehensive and effective PWS is a great way to show the government that you understand the work

Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 37.602 gives the Federal Government the freedom to decide if the acquiring agency or the bidder prepares the Performance Work Statement (PWS). When the offeror prepares and submits the PWS as part of its technical proposal, often the evaluation criteria give the Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) quite a bit of leeway in evaluating the work statement. The PWS evaluation factor may use subjective words such as “exceptional understanding” and “a comprehensive and effective PWS.” What does this really mean? In a best value trade-off, government evaluators review the PWS for Strengths, Weaknesses, Deficiencies, and Risks to determine the overall score or rating. When the RFP requests that the bidder write the PWS in response to a Statement of Objectives (SOO), bidders must use these performance objectives to craft the tasks, subtasks, deliverables or work products, and performance standards. How to achieve Strengths Strengths have merit … Continue reading How does the government evaluate a proposal PWS? →