Acquisition Management

Table of contents

1. Cover
2. Title Page
3. Copyright Page
4. Dedication
5. About the Author
6. Table of Contents
7. Preface
8. Acknowledgments
9. Chapter 1. Reform of the Federal Acquisition System
   1. Characteristics of the Government Market
   2. The Federal Acquisition System: The Past 50 Years
   3. The Federal Acquisition System: Viewed from the Inside Looking Out
   4. The Federal Acquisition System: Viewed from the Outside Looking In
   5. A Core Vision for the Federal Government in the 21st Century
   6. The Implementing Acquisition Vision
   7. Performance Standards: A Guide to Decisions and Evaluation
      1. Customer Satisfaction
      2. Minimizing Administrative Cost
      3. Maintaining the Public Trust and Managing Risk
      4. Fulfillment of Public Policy Objectives
   8. The Information Revolution
   9. Conclusion
10. Chapter 2. Introduction to the Federal Acquisition Process
    1. The Acquisition Process
    2. The Integrated Acquisition Team
       1. The Program Manager/Project Manager
       2. The Contracting Officer
       3. Other Government Team Members
       4. The Contractor As Member of the Integrated Acquisition Team
       5. DoD Implementation of the Integrated Acquisition Team Concept
       6. Communications Protocol
    3. Managing Risks and Opportunities
       1. Sources of Risk
       2. Managing Risk
       3. Managing Opportunities
    4. Conclusion
11. Chapter 3. Acquisition Planning
    1. Procurement Lead Time
    2. Acquisition Planning
       1. Determining Requirements
    3. Market Research: Starting the Management of Risk and Opportunities Process
       1. Genesis of Market Research
       2. The Market Research Process
       3. The Make-or-Buy Decision
    4. Proprietary Information (Intellectual Property)
       1. Patent Rights
       2. Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software
    5. Cooperative and Teaming Agreements
    6. The Acquisition Plan
    7. Contents of Written Acquisition Plans
       1. Part One: Acquisition Background and Objectives
       2. Part Two: Plan of Action
    8. Conclusion
12. Chapter 4. The Solicitation
    1. The Solicitation As Basis for Formal Contract Agreement
    2. The Solicitation As Basis for the RFP
       1. The Use of Sealed Bidding
       2. Preparing the Invitation for Bid
       3. The Two-Step Sealed Bid Procurement Process
    3. Contracting by Competitive Negotiation
       1. Preparing the Request for Proposal
       2. The Uniform Contract Format
    4. Organizational and Consultant Conflicts of Interest
    5. Pre-Qualification of Offerors
    6. Publicizing Contract Actions
    7. Types of Contract Pricing Arrangements (Contract Types)
       1. The Firm-Price Group of Pricing Arrangements
       2. The Cost-Reimbursement Group of Pricing Arrangements
       3. Selecting the Type of Contract Pricing Arrangement
    8. Contract Types for the 21st Century
       1. Indefinite-Delivery Contracts
       2. Modular Contracting
       3. Basic Agreements, Basic Ordering Agreements, and Blanket Purchase Agreements
       4. The Federal Supply Schedule Program
       5. Time-and-Materials and Labor-Hour Contracts
       6. Letter Contracts
    9. Conclusion
13. Chapter 5. Bid and Proposal Preparation
    1. Market Research and Exchanges Prior to Receipt of Solicitation
       1. Addressing Ambiguities and Other Significant Discrepancies
       2. Risk Allocation and Management
    2. Forming the Bid or Proposal Team
    3. The Bid/No-Bid Decision
    4. Pricing of the Product
    5. Bid Preparation under the Sealed Bidding Method
       1. Responsiveness
       2. Responsibility
       3. The Purchase of Supplies and Services
    6. The Two-Step Sealed Bidding Method
    7. Proposal Preparation under the Contracting by Negotiation Method
       1. Proposal Preparation Instructions
    8. Estimating the Cost of the Proposed Effort
    9. Forward Pricing Rate Agreements
    10. The Subcontract Estimating Process
    11. How Much Cost or Pricing Data Is Enough?
    12. Proposal Review and Submission
    13. Alpha Contracting—Government and Supplier Integration
    14. Oral Presentations
    15. Unsolicited Proposals
    16. Conclusion
14. Chapter 6. Source Selection, Negotiations, and Contract Award
    1. Contractor Qualifications: Part of the Process of Managing Risk
       1. Determining the Contractor’s Responsibility
       2. Debarment Actions
       3. Suspension Actions
    2. Competitive Sealed Bidding
       1. Mistakes in Bids prior to Award
       2. Cancellation of Invitations for Bids after Opening
       3. Discussion of Bids prior to Contract Award
       4. Bid Opening and Contract Award
       5. Mistakes after Award
       6. Two-Step Sealed Bidding
    3. Competitive Negotiated Procurements
       1. The Tradeoff Process
       2. The Lowest-Price Technically Acceptable Offer
       3. The Source Selection Participants
    4. The Evaluation Process
       1. Cost or Price Evaluation
       2. The Evaluation Factors and Subfactors
       3. Technical Evaluation
       4. Past Performance As an Evaluation Standard
    5. Communications Exchanges after Receipt of the Proposal
    6. Establishing the Competitive Range
    7. Notification to Unsuccessful Offerors
    8. Proposal Analysis
       1. Price Analysis
       2. Cost Analysis
       3. Cost Realism Analysis
       4. Technical Analysis
       5. Unit Prices
       6. Unbalanced Pricing
       7. Subcontracting Pricing Considerations
       8. Field Pricing Assistance
       9. Deficient Proposals
    9. Making the Source Selection Decision
    10. Discussions and Negotiations
        1. Pre-Negotiation Objectives
        2. The Negotiation Process
    11. Negotiations in the Federal Government
        1. Approaches to Negotiating
    12. Contract Award
        1. Post-Award Debriefing
    13. Protests
        1. Protests to the Buying Agency
        2. Protests to the GAO
        3. Pre-Award Protests
        4. Protesting after Contract Award
        5. The Difficulty of Prevailing in a Protest
        6. Protest Costs
    14. Conclusion
15. Chapter 7. Contract Performance
    1. The Contract
    2. Contract Administration Services
       1. Authority of Government Personnel
       2. Protecting the Public Interest
    3. Contract Audit Services
    4. Post-Award Orientation (Conference)
    5. What Does the Contract Say?
    6. Application of the Uniform Commercial Code
    7. Performance Measurement
    8. Managing Risks and Opportunities
    9. Contract Changes
       1. The Doctrine of Constructive Change
       2. The Configuration Management Process: Key to Contract Change Control
       3. Delays
       4. Negotiating Changes to Government Contracts
    10. Contractor Surveillance
        1. Production Progress Reporting
        2. Quality Assurance
        3. Managing Subcontracts
    11. Inspection and Acceptance
    12. Post-Acceptance Rights
    13. Contractor Accounting Systems and Internal Cost Controls
    14. Pricing Rate Agreements
    15. Terminations
    16. Management of Disputes
    17. Conclusion
16. Chapter 8. Contract Closeout
    1. Conclusion
17. Index