# Presentation: 398075

*SADDLING UP: **How to Develop and Communicate Strong Government Requirements to Ensure Contractor Performance*

## Panel Members 

- Moderator - Julia Wise, OFPP
- Speakers:
- Chris Hamm, GSA
- Gregg Garrett, Acquisition Solutions, Inc.
- Leslie Deneault, DoD, DAU
- Clelia Walker, NASA

## Learning Objectives

- Learn Methods Of Determining Requirements – Chris
- Identify The Requirements Of A Good Purchase Request – Chris
- Conduct Market Research To Identify Potential Contractor Partners – Gregg
- Understand The Source Selection Process – Leslie
- Q&A – Chris, Gregg, Leslie, and Clelia

## Getting Started  with the Seven Steps Process 

**Establish the integrated project team and thoroughly discuss the requirement**
**Determine the problem – focus on what you want, not how to do it**
**Conduct effective Market Research - know all your options**
**Refine the requirement/determine performance measures**
**Depending on the requirement, use a SOO or PWS to describe the what **
**Use Best-Value Source Selection Method to select the right contractor **
**Develop a Performance-Based Contract and Manage Contract Performance**

## 1.  Defining the Requirement

- Create an Integrated Project Team! The IPT should have your technical expert, stakeholders, financial person, and acquisition.  Be sure to include contracting so that you start off on the right strategy and discuss the requirement.
- Researching the requirement to understand the market and researching the market to alternatives and contract vehicles to meet your needs.

## Defining the requirement  (cont)

- Interviewing all internal and external parties to determine the needs, desired outcome, potential solutions, obstacles.  Get Buy IN!
- Take notes during the meeting, send them out to everybody.  Documenting takes time, but eliminates the right to complain or place blame later.

## Common Mistakes

- “Let’s start with the old statement of work”
- “We really like Vendor X and can’t get along without them, so let’s just wait until it is too late and sole source it to them”
- “We are unique”
- “Contractor shall do X upon direction of the Government”

## Requirements Documents

- Writing is hard!  Very few people in most organizations have the skill and interest to write good requirements.  Find these people, praise them, and promote them so they can never leave.
- Use Templates! Most of the information about your organization remains constant.  Have a standard SOW / PWS document template that somebody has ownership and keeps up to date.
- If you don’t have one, send me an email at _[chris.hamm@gsa.gov](mailto:chris.hamm@gsa.gov)__ and I’ll send you one of ours_

## 2.  Identify the elements of  a good requirements document

- At a minimum, include this information:
- Background to include the current state or level of performance
- Scope
- Need or problem to solve
- Outcomes
- Performance measures
- Monitoring methods for the requirement
- Limitations or Constraints

- Consider a
- Statement of
- Objectives!

## Performance Measures

- People get really wrapped up in performance measures and SLAs, but this can be made simple if you want it to be.
- Think about the outcomes rather than the processes
- Use the systems that you have in place
- Only measure things that are meaningful, not things because you can
- Bad Example: Cost Savings over IGCE

## Due Diligence / Industry Days

- What if you don’t know what you want?
_**Industry Day**_:  This is our current environment and requirement, we give a presentation to interested vendors.
_**Due Diligence:**_  The Government releases a draft description of the requirement and opens up the doors to interested parties, helping each side clarify the requirement
- Industry Day is good, Due Diligence is better.  Both will increase the quality of your RFP and the contractor proposal and price.

## 3.  Conduct Market Research

- Technical
- Research to find out possible solutions and involve your team members in market research
- Research the public-sector to see what has worked for your counter-parts in other agencies
- Research your industry before structuring the acquisition
- Meet with industry one-on-one to learn about your industry. This is best performed before the actual solicitation

## Conduct Market Research

- Contractual
- Research existing contract vehicles to see if they can be used to meet your needs
- There are tons of GWACs, MACs, and GSA Schedules out there.  Generally, if you look hard enough or ask enough people, you can find somebody else has already done all of the work for you.
- Document market research in Acquisition Plan

## 4. Source Selection Process

***Preparation and Planning Phase***

***Initial Evaluation Phase***

***Award Without Discussions***

***Competitive Range Determination***

***Discussions Phase***

***Final Evaluations Phase***

***Decision Phase***

**Notes:**
The process of source selection may look a little different depending upon the organization you are in,  but it is the process of competing amoung different contractors to do the effort.  You will play an integral role in distinguishing one contractor from another.  Preparation and Planning should be larger on the screen.  This step is very important. You will use the knowledge from your market research to help write evaluation criterial. You will use that evaluation criteria to evaluate proposals.  You will help decide whether it is worthwhile to go into discussions or whether it is sufficient to award without discussions.  Then you will help write the documentation of the final decision. 
Compete the solution
Use the downselection and “due diligence.”
Use oral presentations and other opportunities to communicate.
Emphasize past performance in evaluations.
Use best value evaluation and source selection.
Assess-solutions for issues of conflict of interest

## Source Selection is a Team Process

** ****PRICE, Price Reasonableness, Most Probable Cost**

**Evaluation Team**

**Past Performance**

**Cost**
**Team**

- Core Team: SSET Chair, Factor Chiefs, Sub-Factor Chiefs, PCO, Recorder (admin)

**Notes:**
Your input will count.  You and many other experts will be asked to review proposal and evaluate them for their weaknesses and strengths.  You may be asked to look at the technical proposal or evaluate past performance reports (PRAG)  or evaluate cost.  All the input is collected from evaluators and then combined for scoring that will be briefed to an SSA (Source Selection Authourity)

Cost Team:  May evaluate whether the costs are reasonable or not and also evaluate a Most Probably Cost

## Understanding the Source Selection Process

- Select the Best Contractor
- Significant Evaluation Criteria
- Understand the risks in the work
- Understand the marketplace
- This is the job of a team of people

**Notes:**
We don’t want to train our contractors to do the work.  Nor do we have the manpower to monitor them all the time.  So start out by getting the best contractor to do the work that your money can buy.  As a team, determine the high risk areas of the project.  Is it timelines and schedule because the work supports emergency relief, is it the hazardous material that will be brought across country,  is it customer service or lack of it.  Have the contractors prove with past performance, proposal explanation, internal quality control systems, how they will decrease the risk of performing this work.  The Gov’t must understand what will differentiate the contractors and what work is really significant so they can write the evaluation criteria.  

## Understanding the Source Selection Process

- The sooner the parties come to an understanding of the requirements, the better
- Before Award
- Draft proposals
- One on one meetings
- Site surveys
- Provide as much historical data as you have
- After Award
- Post award conference

**Notes:**
Manage the expectations.  Talk to each. 
Before award:  As quickly as possible let the contractors see what you are thinking of doing.  Develop a web site where you post draft proposals.  Let the contractors comment on everything before you put out the proposal.  Don’t wait to you award to see that there are going to be problems.  Call in contractors and talk to them about the requirements as you see them.  Ask for their input. Don’t issue requirements that don’t make sense.  Let the contractors tell you what is reasonable, what is going to cost a lot of money.  They might tell you if you give them 3 months to complete, it will cost $2M but if you give them 5 months to complete it will cost $1M because they can get material and labor at a more reasonable pace and price.   For construction and services, let the contractors see the site, see the GFP and GFE.  Let them see as much as possible of the working environment.  How are they supposed to proposed the running of an IT help desk if they don’t see where they are to be working, understand the equipment, understand how many calls they would expect to get.  

After Award:  For the smallest projects, the CO needs to meet with the COR/QA and go over the contract.  We teach COR classes to people who are COR.  The first thing we ask is if they have a copy of the contact and know who their CO is.  Do you know what they say?  Almost always the answer is NO on both questions.  As complexity builds, so should the post award.  On your large complex projects, you should plan on 2-3 days of discussion.  Program Managers should meet.  Every element of the SOW and Specification should be reviewed, parties need to understand payments, schedule and milestones, incentives, Gov’t surveillance plans, contractor quality control plan

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU ARE IN TROUBLE TO START TALKING TO THE  CONTRACTOR

## Understanding the Source Selection Process

- Evaluate Risk and Associate Surveillance and Incentives to the Risk
- We can’t monitor everything
- Require and evaluate Contractors Quality Control Plan.  Put it on contract
- Adjust Gov’t surveillance to the weaknesses and high risk areas
- Use award fees and incentive fees to ensure contractor attention

**Notes:**
We can’t monitor everything.  We just don’t have enough people to monitor every move of the contractor.  So we should ensure that we evaluate a contractor quality control plan.  I recommend that it be submitted with their proposal so that it is evaluated and then put on contract.  Then after award, the Gov’t can work/re-work/ and continue to change its own surveillance plan based upon risks    We can always use award and incentive fees to ensure contractor attention.  Probably more appropriate for complex, large dollar procurements.  

## Understanding the Source Selection Process

- DOD is doing some things to improve monitoring of contractor performance
- All services contracts must have COR.
- All COR’s must be trained.
- New DFAR’s and PGI specify COR responsibility (201.602-2)
- Management review process and acquisition planning for services

**Notes:**
So is OFPP.  On 22 May, Paul Dennett signed out a policy letter that should get down into the agency’s soon.  It says “PBA training should be completed by sr managers, program/project managers, requirement personnnel, QA Specialists, COR’s, COTR’s, subject matter experts and contracting officials involved in PBA”  Training requirements will be decided at the Agency level.   

## DAU Resources

- On-Line, Free, 24/7, Self-Paced, Continuous Learning Modules: _[http://clc.dau.mil/](http://clc.dau.mil/)_
- CLC 106 COR with a Mission Focus
- CLC 013 Performance Based Services Acquisition
- CLM 013 Work Breakdown Structure
- CLE 003 Technical Reviews
- CLC 004 Market Research
- CLM 012 Scheduling
- CLC 007 Contract Source Selection
- Plus many more.....
- COR Community of Practice: _[https://acc.dau.cor](https://acc.dau.cor/)_
- Connects you with training, policy, samples, community forum

## Other Training Resources

- NCMA National Education Seminars (1-Day Training) New Seminar; “Solicitations, Bids, Proposals $ Source Selection: Building a Winning Contract” – Go to _[www.ncmahq.org](http://www.ncmahq.org/)_
- Acquisition Solutions, Inc. Training (On-Site 2-3 days with Case Studies)
-      - Conducting Market Research
- 	     - Performance-Based Acquisition
- 	     - Performance-Based Management
- 	     - Best Value Source Selection
- Other Training available via: Management Concepts, ESI International, etc.

## Other resources

- Websites
- 	     - _[www.dau.mil](http://www.dau.mil/)_
- 	     - _[www.fai.gov](http://www.fai.gov/)_
- 	     - _[www.ncmahq.org](http://www.ncmahq.org/)_
- 	     - _[www.ism.ws](http://www.ism.ws/)_
- Books
- 	     - _Performance-Based Acquisition: Pathways to Excellence_ by Gregory A. Garrett, NCMA , 2005.
- 	     - _World Class Contracting (4th Edition)_ by Gregory A. Garrett, CCH, 2007.
- 	     - _Solicitations, Bids, Proposals, & Source Selection: Building a Winning_ _Contract_ by Gregory A. Garrett and Gail A. Parrott, CCH, 2007.

## Question and Answer Session