Phase 1 -- Acquisition Planning Introduction Acquisition Planning is the process of identifying and describing requirements and determining the best method for meeting those requirements. An important step in acquisition planning is identification of the acquisition team members. For a major acquisition, participants normally include the Technical Personnel, Contracting Officer, logisticians, and financial, legal, and other experts. However, this team can be tailored to meet specific program needs. Acquisition planning focuses on the business and technical management approaches designed to achieve program objectives within specified resource constraints, and the contracting strategies necessary for implementation. Contracting processes and associated focus areas addressed are: Determination and Analysis of Need Determination and Analysis of Need is the first step in the acquisition planning process. It focuses on the forecasting and planning of the acquisition requirements, as well as developing and updating Acquisition Plans, and Justifications and Approvals, as required. Note: The Bona Fide Need Rule. One consideration in Determination and Analysis of Need is the Bona Fide Need Rule. In general, the Bona Fide Need Rule means simply that the requirement is necessary in the existing fiscal year, and cannot legitimately be procured in another fiscal year. This is often an issue at the end of a fiscal year when some requiring officials may want to “burn” funds. The Bona Fide Need Rule eliminates unnecessary spending. A common application of the rule is that an appropriation is not available for the needs of a future year. For example: As the end of a fiscal year approaches, an agency purchases a truckload of pencils when it is clear that, based on current usage, it already has in stock enough pencils to last several years. It appears that the agency is merely trying to use up its appropriation before it expires, and the purchase may violate the Bona Fide Need Rule. This does not mean that an agency may purchase only those supplies that it will actually use during the fiscal year. Agencies normally maintain inventories of common-use items. The Bona Fide Need Rule does not prevent maintaining a legitimate inventory at reasonable and historical levels, the “need” being to maintain the inventory level so as to avoid disruption of operations. The problem arises when the inventory crosses the line from reasonable to excessive. The following tables show contracting functions and Requiring Activity functions for these activities: Forecasting of Requirements
Solicitations will be published on http://www..gov and/or the local advertising website. As necessary assist in identifying sources. Identify and solicit services of technical personnel for proposal evaluation. Determine the need for amending or canceling the solicitation. Prepare and publicize in Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) and use any method of advertising as required. Provide technical inputs for preparing the FBO or other advertising methods as required. Prepare a synopsis. Provide supporting technical data. Pre-award Inquiries Contracting Functions Requiring Activity Functions Answer questions about the solicitation. Process Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. Forward pre-award and FOIA inquiries to the Contracting Office. Provide technical responses, when requested. Pre-quote/Pre-bid/Pre-proposal Conferences Contracting Functions Requiring Activity Functions Provide offerors with a public forum to review and question the solicitation, and brief the solicitation. Provide technical support for conferences. Amending and Canceling Solicitations Contracting Functions Requiring Activity Functions Determine whether to amend or cancel a solicitation. If an amendment is necessary, prepare and issue the amendment; if the decision is to cancel, cancel the solicitation. Provide technical justification for amendment or cancellation of a solicitation.
Preparing and Issuing the Award Contracting Functions Requiring Activity Functions Verify funding. Make/obtain the final source selection decision. Prepare the contract and document the recommendation for Obtain approvals for awarding the contract. Execute the contract. Notify the awardee and other parties, as required. Debrief unsuccessful offerors as requested. Review the contract technical package for compliance with requirements. Participate in debriefings as required by the contracting officer for technical support. Protests Contracting Functions Requiring Activity Functions Research and prepare positions on protests of the Respond to any protest as provided in the procedures or forums in which the protest has been filed. Provide technical responses to protests in support of Counsel and the Contracting Officer.
Approval: on the foregoing justification, I hereby approve the procurement of [describe the requirement] on other than full and open competition basis, pursuant to the authority of [include citation from above], subject to the availability of funds, and provided that the services and/or supplies described above have otherwise been authorized for acquisition. Signature: ___________________________________Date: _____________________ Name/Title: ____________________________Office: ____________________