**Special Achievement**

**[Armed Forces Retirement Home - RFP]{.underline}**

**#A-9-07**

*Public Buildings Service National Capital Region*

[graphic:]{.mark}

[caption: Historic AFRH Washington, DC and Facilities]{.mark}

***The Armed Forces Retirement Home needed a redevelopment project
manager. What agency did it turn to? GSA!***

The Armed Forces Retirement Home (the Home or AFRH) was established in
1851 as an independent agency to provide services to eligible members of
the Armed Forces. In recent years, the Home's financial situation began
to steadily deteriorate. To remedy the problem, the National Defense
Authorization Act of 2002 granted AFRH the authority to sell or lease
its excess property, and then use any proceeds for its operating trust
fund.

After an intensive search for the best team to lead the redevelopment
planning effort, AFRH selected GSA PBS NCR's (National Capital Region)
Real Property Disposal Division (WPR). In most projects of this
magnitude, GSA typically serves as both owner and manager. However, the
AFRH project is unique; for it, WPR serves as the redevelopment project
manager in a consulting role.

WPR began by completing a strategic analysis of alternatives and
initiating a two-phase competitive process to select entities to
undertake the redevelopment. During the first phase, a Request for
Qualifications (RFQ) to solicit qualifications and proposals, AFRH
identified three highly qualified development entities. Then in the
second phase a Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued to the three most
qualified developers.

GSA incorporated several innovative practices into the RFP evaluation
process, one of which was the use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process
(AHP) for the actual RFP evaluation process. The AHP is a powerful
decision-making process that reduces complex multi-criteria decisions to
a series of one-on-one comparisons. It helps capture both subjective and
objective evaluation measures, provides a useful mechanism for checking
the consistency of the evaluation measures and reducing bias in decision
making, and improves the analytical accuracy of the selection process.

Innovation was also displayed on this project through the use of an
organizationally diverse selection board. The board was comprised of
representatives from agencies outside GSA and AFRH, which greatly
increased the scope of organizational expertise brought to bear on the
project. In addition to a diverse board, a broad cross-segment of
internal (GSA) and private sector resources was tapped to provide the
board members technical expertise during evaluation. An example of a
combination of "One GSA" in action and the competitive sourcing concepts
enshrined in the President's Management Agenda, the GSA Small Business
Division Director and the Director of Urban Design and Planning from
Skidmore Owings & Merrill both served on technical evaluation teams.

Ultimately, the use of these innovative practices resulted in reduced
cycle time for the RFP evaluation process, a more robust and
analytically correct evaluation methodology, and the application of an
organizationally diverse body of knowledge to the evaluation process.
These innovative practices, which are easily replicable at any agency,
have resulted in high client satisfaction and a successful developer
selection process.

**Contact**

Tim Sheckler

Project Manager

U.S. General Services Administration

Property Disposal Division (WPR)

tim.sheckler@gsa.gov