Source: https://www.acquisition.gov/gsam/05182009/html/Part515.html
Timestamp: 2015-03-04 15:15:36
Document Index: 436985741

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 515', 'art 515', 'art 105', 'art 515', 'art 2635', 'art 6701', 'art 515', 'art 105', 'art 515']

r GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION ACQUISITION MANUAL (GSAM)
r Part 515—Contracting by Negotiation
Subpart 515.2—Solicitation and Receipt of Proposals and Information
(b) Each solicitation and contract must include the two notices in paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2) of this subsection, except that acquisitions of leasehold interests in real property, must include only the notice in (b)(1):
(1) The information collection requirements contained in this solicitation/contract are either required by regulation or approved by the Office of Management and Budget pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act and assigned OMB Control No. 3090-0163.”
(2) GSA’s hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Requests for preaward debriefings postmarked or otherwise submitted after 4:30 p.m. will be considered submitted the following business day. Requests for postaward debriefings delivered after 4:30 p.m. will be considered received and filed the following business day.”
515.207 Handling proposals and information.
(a) Unclassified Proposals. In most cases, the best practice is to require offerors to submit proposals and modifications to the issuing contracting office. You may chose to use the local Business Service Center (BSC) for receipt and safeguarding of proposals. If so, make appropriate arrangements with the BSC.
(b) Classified Proposals. Handle classified proposals and quotations according to 504.4, 41 CFR Part 105-60, and GSA Freedom of Information Act procedures at http://www.gsa.gov/staff/c/ca/FOIA/FoiaProc/mainpage.html.
(c) Recording of offers. Abstracts help to summarize key aspects of proposals when you receive multiple responses to a solicitation (see FAR 4.803(a)(10)).
(1) You may use GSA or Standard Forms prescribed for abstracting bids in sealed bidding to abstract proposals or quotations in competitively negotiated procurements. You may modify the forms to include the information necessary for evaluation.
(2) Abstracts contain contractor bid or proposal information and source selection information. See FAR 15.201, 15.207, 15.306, 15.5, and 24.2 about disclosing information.
(b) You may modify the clause at 552.215-70 to define the specific area of audit (e.g., the use or disposition of Government-furnished property, compliance with the price reduction clause). Counsel and the Assistant Inspector General-Auditing or Regional Inspector General-Auditing, as appropriate, must concur in any modifications to the clause.
You may use GSA Form 1602, Notice Concerning Solicitation, to do any of the following:
(a) Describe the type of contract, the duration of the contract, and the type of supplies or services being procured.
(b) Direct the attention of prospective offerors to special requirements which, if overlooked, may result in rejection of the offer.
(c) Highlight significant changes from previous solicitations covering the same supplies or services.
(d) Include other special notices as appropriate.
Subpart 515.3—Source Selection
515.300 Scope of subpart
In addition to the policies and procedures of FAR 15.3, Appendix 515A, Source Selection Procedures, provides guidance and advice on various source selection techniques.
(a) Restrictions placed on a proposal by the submitter. If you receive a proposal with more restrictive conditions than those in the provision at FAR 52.215-1(e), ask whether the submitter is willing to accept the conditions of the paragraph at FAR 52.215-1(e). If the submitter refuses, consult with legal counsel on whether to accept the proposal as marked or return it.
(b) Actions before releasing proposals. Before releasing any proposal to an evaluator you must take all the following actions:
(1) Obtain the signed original “Conflict of Interest Acknowledgment and Nondisclosure Agreement” from each Government and nongovernment individual serving as an evaluator. Use the Acknowledgment/Agreement in Figure 515.3-1.
(i) For employees of other Executive agencies, replace the reference in paragraph (c) of the Acknowledgement/Agreement to GSA’s supplemental standards with a reference to the applicable agency.
(ii) For nongovernment evaluators, substitute paragraph (c) of the Acknowledgement/Agreement with the language below and delete paragraph (h):
“(c) I have read and understand the requirements of subsection 27(a) and 27(b) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 423).”
(2) Attach to each proposal a cover page bearing the following notice:
To anyone receiving this proposal or proposal abstract:
(1) This proposal must be used and disclosed for evaluation purposes only.
(2) You must apply a copy of this Government notice to any reproduction or abstract of this proposal.
(3) You must comply strictly with any authorized restrictive notices which the submitter places on this proposal.
(4) You must not disclose this proposal outside the Government for evaluation purposes except to the extent authorized by, and in accordance with, the procedures in 48 CFR 515.305-71.
Conflict of Interest Acknowledgment and Nondisclosure Agreement
(a) To the best of my knowledge and belief, no conflict of interest exists that may either:
(1) Diminish my capacity to impartially review the proposals submitted.
(2) Or result in a biased opinion or unfair advantage.
(c) I have read and understand the requirements of the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch (5 CFR. part 2635) and Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the General Services Administration (5 CFR. part 6701).
(d) I have a continuing obligation to disclose any circumstances that may create an actual or apparent conflict of interest. If I learn of any such conflict, I will report it immediately to the Contracting Officer. I will perform no more duties related to evaluating proposals until I receive instructions on the matter.
(f) I will use my best efforts to safeguard proposal information physically. I will not disclose the contents of, nor release any information about, the proposals to anyone other than:
(1) The Source Selection Evaluation Board or other panel assembled to evaluate proposals submitted in response to the solicitation identified above.
(h) GSA Appropriations Act restriction: These restrictions are consistent with and do not supersede, conflict with, or otherwise alter the employee obligations, rights, or liabilities created by Executive Order No. 12958; section 7211 of title 5, United States Code (governing disclosures to Congress); section 1034 of title 10, United States Code, as amended by the Military Whistleblower Protection Act (governing disclosure to Congress by members of the military); section 2302(b)(8) of title 5, United States Codes, as amended by the Whistleblower Protection Act (governing disclosures of illegality, waste, fraud, abuse or public health or safety threats); the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 (50 U.S.C. 421 et seq.) (governing disclosures that could expose confidential Government agents); and the statutes which protect against disclosure that may compromise the national security, including sections 641, 793, 794, 798, and 952 of title 18, United States Code, and section 4(b) of the Subversive Activities Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 783(b). The definitions, requirements, obligations, rights, sanctions, and liabilities created by said Executive order and listed statutes are incorporated into this agreement and are controlling.
(c) Cost or price evaluation—MAS. When evaluating prices under MAS, compare an offeror’s price to GSA with its price to other customers. In this comparison, consider discounts for early payment to the extent provided in 552.232-8, Discounts for Prompt Payment.
(d) Past performance evaluation information:
(1) You must use information from the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) at www.ppirs.gov when evaluating an offeror’s past performance. In addition, you may also obtain information through:
(i) Questionnaires tailored to the circumstances of the acquisition,
(ii) Interviews with program manages and contracting officers, or
(iii) Other sources.
(2) You may obtain information to evaluate an offeror’s past performance on subcontracting plan goals and small disadvantaged business participation, monetary targets, and notifications under FAR 19.1202-4(b) from the following sources:
(ii) Information on prior contracts from contracting officers and administrative contracting officers.
(iii) Offeror’s references.
(iv) Past performance information collected under FAR 42.15 and available through PPIRS.
515.305-70 Use of outside evaluators.
(a) Conditions. To use outside evaluators, you must meet the restrictions in FAR 37.203 and 537.2.
(b) Limitations on disclosing proposal information. You may disclose proposal information outside the Government before the Government’s decision as to contract award only to the extent authorized in this section. Disclosure and handling must comply with FAR 3.1 and 503.1.
(c) Solicitation notice. Include in the solicitation a notice substantially as follows:
(2) Each evaluator will sign and provide to GSA a “Conflict of Interest Acknowledgment and Nondisclosure Agreement.” (d) Relationship to the Freedom of Information Act. Release of a proposal outside the Government for evaluation does not constitute the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552).
Limit access to Government cost estimates to Government personnel whose official duties require knowledge of the estimate. During negotiations, you may disclose part or all of the Government estimate under FAR 15.306(e) when necessary to arrive at a fair and reasonable price. After award, you may reveal the total amount of the independent Government estimate.
Subpart 515.4—Contract Pricing
515.403 Obtaining cost or pricing data.
515.403-4 Requiring cost or pricing data (10 U.S.C. 2306a and 41 U.S.C. 254b).
To determine if a contract action meets the threshold at FAR 15.403-4 for requesting cost and pricing data, consider the value of the action plus any priced options. Exercise of a priced option is not a price adjustment and does not require submission of cost and pricing data.
(a) “Field pricing assistance” is provided by the Assistant Inspector General-Auditing, or the Regional Inspector General-Auditing, as appropriate.
(b) Follow the procedures in GSA Order, Audit resolution and follow-up system, Ch. 3 (ADM P 2030.2B) for handling contract audit reports.
(a) Structured approach for determining profit or fee objectives. Base the analysis of profit factors on information available to the Government before negotiations. Obtain such information from proposals, audit data, performance reports, preaward surveys and the like. The structured approach helps establish a profit objective. It also provides a basis for documenting the objective, including an explanation of any significant departure from this objective in reaching a final agreement. Prepare documentation commensurate with the dollar value and complexity of the proposed procurement.
(v) Contracts and contract modifications of $100,000 or less in value.
(2) You may request exemptions for other contracts having unusual pricing situations where you determine the structured approach is unsuitable. Document your justification in writing. The HCA must approve all such exemptions.
(c) Other methods for exempted procurements. Under exempted procurements, you may use other methods for establishing profit objectives. In general, use methods supported in a manner similar to the structured approach (profit factor breakdown and documentation of profit objective). Exclude factors within the structured approach that do not apply to the procurement.
(d) Profit-analysis factors. Consider the following factors when you negotiate profit. Use the weight ranges listed after each factor when you use the structured approach.
(e) GSA Form 1766. You may use GSA Form 1766, Structured Approach Profit/Fee Objective, to help compute the profit objective. Measure the Contractor Effort by assigning a profit percentage within the designated weight ranges to each element of cost recognized.
(f) Facilities capital cost of money. If you allow facilities capital cost of money as an item of cost, either as a part of your price/cost objective in a firm fixed price type contract or as an allowable cost in a flexibly priced type contract, e.g., cost reimbursement or fixed price incentive type contract, reduce the profit/fee objective as follows. After you develop a dollar profit/fee amount for the requirement, subtract from that aggregate dollar profit/fee amount any dollar amount allowed for facilities capital cost of money. The remainder is the profit/fee objective.
(2) Other costs. Include all other direct costs of contractor performance under this item (e.g., travel and relocation, direct support, and consultants). When you analyze these costs, consider:
(i) Their significance.
(ii) Their nature.
(3) Contract cost risk. When you select the proper contract type, the reward for risk by contract type will usually fall into the ranges below.
(iii) Subcontracting program. The contractor’s subcontracting program may significantly impact the contractor’s risk under a contract. It could affect risk in terms of both cost and performance. Consider this in selecting a weight for cost risk. The prime contractor may effectively transfer cost risk to a subcontractor. This merits a risk evaluation below the range that would otherwise apply for the contract type proposed. However, you should not evaluate risk lower when a substantial portion of the contract cost represents subcontracts, but without any substantial transfer of contractor’s risk.
(i) Facilities. (A) To evaluate how this factor contributes to the profit objective, you need to know the level of facilities use needed for contract performance, the source of financing for the facilities, and the overall cost effectiveness of the facilities offered.
(C) You do not need to adjust the profit when a contractor who owns a large quantity of facilities will perform a contract that does not benefit from these facilities, or when a contractor’s use of its facilities has a minimum cost impact on the contract.
515.404-70 Nonprofit organizations.
(a) The structured approach for determining profit or fee objectives was designed for other than nonprofit organizations. However, if modified as below, you may use it to establish fee objectives for nonprofit organizations (See FAR 31.701). Do not apply the modifications as a deduction to historical fee levels. Instead apply them as a reduction in the fee objective calculated under the structured approach.
(b) For contracts with nonprofit organizations, subtract an adjustment of up to 3 percent from the total profit-fee objective. In developing this adjustment, consider each of the following factors:
(4) Other factors that may work to the advantage or disadvantage of the contractor as a nonprofit organization.
515.405 Price negotiation.
If a contractor insists on a price or demands a profit or fee that you consider unreasonable as outlined in FAR 15.405(d), refer the matter to one level above the contracting officer for resolution.
(a) You should use Alternate IV of the FAR provision at 52.215-20, Requirements for Cost or Pricing Data or Information Other Than Cost or Pricing Data, for MAS contracts to provide the format for submission of information other than cost or pricing data for MAS contracts. To provide uniformity in requests under the MAS program, you should insert the following in paragraph (b) of the provision:
(2) Commercial sales practices. The Offeror shall submit information in the format provided in this solicitation in accordance with the instructions at Figure 515.4-2 of the GSA Acquisition Regulation (48 CFR 515.4-2), or submit information in the Offeror’s own format.
(b) Insert the following format for commercial sales practices in the exhibits or attachments section of the solicitation and resulting contract (see FAR 12.303).
Name of Offeror SIN(s) NOTE: Please refer to Clause 552.212-70, Preparation of Offer (Multiple Award Schedule), for additional information concerning your offer. Provide the following information for each SIN (or group of SINs or SubSIN for which information is the same).
SIN $ SIN $ SIN $ (3) Based on your written discounting policies (standard commercial sales practices in the event you do not have written discounting policies), are the discounts and any concessions which you offer the Government equal to or better than your best price (discount and concessions in any combination) offered to any customer acquiring the same items regardless of quantity or terms and conditions? YES NO (See definition of “concession” and “discount” in 552.212-70.)
(4) (a) Based on your written discounting policies (standard commercial sales practices in the event you do not have written discounting policies), provide information as requested for each SIN (or group of SINs for which the information is the same) in accordance with the instructions at Figure 515.4-2, which is provided in this solicitation for your convenience. The information should be provided in the chart below or in an equivalent format developed by the offeror. Rows should be added to accommodate as many customers as required.
(c) Include the instructions for completing the commercial sales practices format in Figure 515.4-2 in solicitations issued under the MAS program.
Figure 515.4-2. Instructions for Commercial Sales Practices Format If you responded “YES” to question (3), on the COMMERCIAL SALES PRACTICES FORMAT, complete the chart in question (4)(a) for the customer(s) who receive your best discount. If you responded “NO”, complete the chart in question (4)(a) showing your written policies or standard sales practices for all customers or customer categories to whom you sell at a price (discounts and concessions in combination) that is equal to or better than the price(s) offered to the Government under this solicitation or with which the Offeror has a current agreement to sell at a discount which equals or exceeds the discount(s) offered under this solicitation. Such agreement shall be in effect on the date the offer is submitted or contain an effective date during the proposed multiple award schedule contract period. If your offer is lower than your price to other customers or customer categories, you will be aligned with the customer or category of customer that receives your best price for purposes of the Price Reductions clause at 552.238-75. The Government expects you to provide information required by the format in accordance with these instructions that is, to the best of your knowledge and belief, current, accurate, and complete as of 14 calendar days prior to its submission. You must also disclose any changes in your price list(s), discounts and/or discounting policies which occur after the offer is submitted, but before the close of negotiations. If your discount practices vary by model or product line, the discount information should be by model or product line as appropriate. You may limit the number of models or product lines reported to those which exceed 75% of actual historical Government sales (commercial sales may be substituted if Government sales are unavailable) value of the special item number (SIN).
(d) Insert the clause at 552.215-72, Price Adjustment—Failure to Provide Accurate Information, in solicitations and contracts under the MAS program.
(e) You should use Alternate IV of FAR 52.215-21, Requirements for Cost or Pricing Data or Information Other Than Cost or Pricing Data—Modifications, to provide for submission of information other than cost or pricing data for MAS contracts. To provide for uniformity in requests under the MAS program, you should insert the following in paragraph (b) of the clause:
(1) Information required by the clause at 552.243-72, Modifications (Multiple Award Schedule).
For purposes of determining the date of receipt of a request for a postaward debriefing, GSA’s hours of operation are 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Requests received after 4:30 p.m. will be considered received the following business day.
515.570 Release of information concerning unsuccessful offerors.
Consult FAR 24.2, 41 CFR part 105-60, and GSA Freedom of Information Act procedures at http://www.gsa.gov/staff/c/ca/FOIA/FoiaProc/mainpage.html. to determine what information you may disclose.
Coordinating offices serve as agency points of contact and establish procedures for controlling the receipt, evaluation, and timely disposition of proposals consistent with FAR 15.6.
Complete the evaluation as soon as practicable, normally within 45 calendar days. Communicate the results of the evaluation to the submitter.
When you release an unsolicited proposal for evaluation, use the “Conflict of Interest Acknowledgment and Nondisclosure Agreement” in Figure 515.3-1.
Subpart 515.70—Use of Bid Samples
515.7000 General.
Except as provided in 515.7002 and 515.7003, the policy and procedures in FAR 14.202-4 and 514.202-4 apply to negotiated acquisitions. When referring to FAR 14.202-4 and 514.202-4, the term “bid” means “offer” or “proposal.” The terms “bidder” and “invitation” or “invitation for bids” are used synonymously with “offeror” and “solicitation” or “RFP”.
515.7001 Policy.
(a) The terms “responsiveness” and “nonresponsive” do not apply to negotiated acquisitions. FAR 14.202-4(b)(2) and (4) do not apply to the use of bid samples under this subpart.
(b) Instead of FAR 14.202-4(b)(2) and (4), apply the following:
(1) Use bid samples in the technical evaluation of proposals to both:
(i) Determine the acceptability of the samples to meet GSA’s requirement.
(ii) Ensure compliance with all subjective and objective characteristics listed in the solicitation.
(2) If you conduct written or oral discussions, you may exclude a proposal from further consideration for award only if you meet all the following conditions:
(i) You discussed with the offeror any deficiencies found in the samples.
(ii) You gave the offeror an opportunity to correct those deficiencies.
(iii) The sample still fails to conform to each of the characteristics listed in the solicitation. (See FAR 15.609 and 15.610).
(a) Unsolicited samples. The reference to FAR 14.404-2(d) in FAR 14.202-4(g) does not apply. Use the following when contracting by negotiation:
“However, qualifications in the proposal that are at variance with the Government’s requirements, constitute deficiencies. Resolve these as provided in FAR 15.306."
(b) Solicitation requirements. (1) Use the clause at FAR 52.214-20. The second sentence in paragraph (c) of the clause does not apply. Substitute a sentence substantially as follows:
“Failure of the bid samples to conform to all the required characteristics listed in the solicitation constitutes a deficiency in the proposal (see FAR 15.306).”
(2) In addition to listing subjective characteristics that you cannot adequately describe in the specification, you may list and evaluate objective characteristics. To include objective characteristics, you must determine that examination of such characteristics is essential to the acquisition of an acceptable product. Base your determination on past experience or other valid considerations.