US Army Corps of Engineers

BUILDING STRONG

DANIEL CARRASCO
Chief, Contracting Division
Los Angeles District
October 2014
BUILDING STRONG



Solicitation Type
Award based on
Lowest Price
Invitation for Bid
( I F B )
Sealed Bid
Request for Proposals
( R F P )
Negotiated
Award based on
Best Value
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Contracting Strategy

Trend is primarily RFP
IFB equals lowest price, not necessarily best
technical approach
RFP allows for factors other than price to be
considered
Past performance/schedule
Experience/qualifications
Capability/understanding of the work
















IFB

RFP
VS
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Invitation for Bid (IFB)
FAR Part 14 - Sealed bidding is a
method of contracting that employs
competitive bids, public opening of
bids, and awards
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Invitation for Bid (IFB)
Invitations must describe the requirements of the
Government clearly, accurately, and completely.
The invitation will include and provide all
documents (whether attached or incorporated by
reference) to prospective bidders for the purpose
of bidding.
Pre-Solicitation issued 15 days prior to Solicitation.
Bids due typically 30 days after issuance.
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USACE Contract Format


Per USACE Acquisition Instruction (UAI)
14.201-1 Preparation for Bids - Construction
Contracts, the Corps of Engineers utilizes the
Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)
format.


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USACE Format (IFB)

000000 Contracting Requirements
000110 Table of Contents
001000 Solicitation, schedule
002113 Instructions to Bidders
004300 Bid Bond Form
004500 Representations and Certifications
010000 General Requirements
020000 Technical Provisions


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Helpful Tips


In preparing IFBs it is imperative that the bid
submitted meet the general requirements
requested in the solicitation

Common errors made in bid submission may
cause the bid to be non-responsive and
therefore making the bid ineligible for a contract
award.
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Common Errors

Incomplete bid schedule
Omission of the bid bond
Missing/Incomplete Representation and
Certifications (Reps/Certs)
Not providing Duns and Cage Code information
Not acknowledging or partially acknowledging
amendments
No signature or unauthorized signature on bid
Omitting phone/fax numbers on SF 1442

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Submitting a Successful Bid


Read and become familiar with the solicitation
requirements
Check and triple check bid requirements
Check pricing schedule for mathematical errors
On the pricing schedule round the cents
column up or down
Acknowledge all amendments issued after the
original solicitation has been advertised

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Request for Proposal
(RFP)

FAR 15.203 Requests for Proposals
Requests for proposals (RFPs) are used in
negotiated acquisitions to communicate
Government requirements to prospective
contractors and to solicit proposals
The Best Value Process is the most commonly
used procedure for competitive RFPs


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Request for Proposal (RFP)

Every negotiated Source Selection (RFP) must
evaluate two things:
Price or Cost
Quality of Product

Pre-Solicitation issued 15 days prior to Solicitation.
Proposals typically due 30-45 days after issuance.


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USACE Format (RFP)
000000 Contracting Requirements
000110 Table of Contents
001000 Solicitation, schedule
002116 Instructions to Proposals
002216 Supplementary Instructions
004300 Bid Bond Form
004500 Representations and Certifications
010000 General Requirements
020000 Technical Provisions


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Contracting Strategy
Lowest Price
Technically
Acceptable
COMPLEXITY

RFP Best Value Continuum
Tradeoff
Process

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Evaluation Methods Best
Value
LOWEST PRICE
TECHNICALLY
ACCEPTABLE (LPTA)
Technical proposals
evaluated on a GO-NO GO
basis.
Proposals evaluated against
solicitation requirements, not
each other.
Award made to lowest price,
acceptable offer.
TRADE OFF
More complex method.
Evaluated against solicitation
requirements.
Compare advantages/
disadvantages/ risk analysis.
Award to most advantageous
proposal (Not necessarily lowest
price).
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Lowest Price Technically
Acceptable

Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)
The lowest price technically acceptable source
selection process is appropriate when the best
value is expected to result from selection of the
technically acceptable proposal with the lowest
evaluated price
Easily defined projects will normally use Lowest
Price Technically Acceptable approach
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Lowest Price Technically
Acceptable

No Tradeoff analysis allowed.
Offeror must meet minimum technical
requirements explicitly stated in the solicitation.
This is a Pass or Fail processpay attention!

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Tradeoff Process

This process is appropriate when it may be in
the best interest of the Government to consider
award to other than the lowest priced offeror or
other than the highest technically rated offeror.

Less definitive projects require greater emphasis
on Past Performance and other technical
aspects, will normally use a Tradeoff process.

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Tradeoff Process

Permits the Government to tradeoff against price
and non-price factors to get the best value.

Allows the Government to accept a price which
is not the lowest price.

Solicitation must state the relative importance of
price vs. non-price factors.

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Tradeoff Process


A Best Value RFP must state the relative
importance of each evaluation factor and
subfactor.

Examples:
Most Important criteria
Significantly more important than
More important than
Of Equal importance
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Tradeoff Process

Evaluation Factors
Experience
Key Personnel
Past Performance
Management Approach
Small Business Participation Plan

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Tradeoff Process
Adjectival Ratings
Outstanding
Above Average (or Good)
Acceptable (or Satisfactory)
Marginal
Unacceptable




Small Business Participation Plan

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Submitting Successful
Proposals

Pay attention to the solicitation requirements.
Read and Understand the Solicitation Documents.
Pay special attention to Sections 002116, and
002216, and to any other sections indicated to
define evaluation factors or criteria.
Follow proposal preparation instructions, e.g.,
indexing, tabbing, order of presentation, number and
size of pages, size of print, etc.



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Selecting your Projects
Read the Project Description and Evaluation
Criteria select projects based on similar
attributes
For IDIQ contracts, demonstrate a variety of
experience
Projects that demonstrate teaming relationships
with your proposal team
Overall dollar value of the contract
If Small Business Set-Aside, Prime needs to
show strengths to accomplish the work (25% -
Construction, 50% - Service and 15% - Specialty
trade)

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Project Experience
Identify Key employees who worked on the
project Are they still with you?
Dont overstate your involvement in the project
Provide information in concise bullet statements
Provide all information required excessive
information beyond the requirements does not
add value


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Relevancy of Experience
Relevant does not mean same or identical
Similar to the instant acquisition to provide
indicators of performance
Consider:
Project scope or service similarity
Complexity
Contract Type
Contract Dollar Value
Major or Critical Subcontractors
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Past Experience
Use bold, highlighting, etc to focus the readers
eyes
Readability
Use of white space
Break lines into shorter segments
Watch color combinations and font size
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Resumes
Would you hire this person
based on this resume?
Address requirements in
solicitation
Dates are accurate
Document required level of
experience with dates to meet
requirements
Cross reference to past
experience sheets
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Past Performance vs.
Past Experience
Past Experience What you did
Past Performance How well you did it

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Organizational Structure
How does your team work together?
Preventing bottlenecks with subs
Lines of Communication
Who is in control
Site Safety who has authority to shut down a
project
QA & Safety should be independent of PM
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QUESTIONS?
This presentation was prepared by Daniel Carrasco, Chief, Contracting Division, Los Angeles District for USACE.
Any views expressed are those of Daniel Carrasco exclusively and do not necessarily reflect the positions of
USACE.