Course Description
Learn How To:
Apply in-depth, practical knowledge of the best-value source selection process
Apply your understanding and skills in buying or selling using best-value source selection
Approach source selection based on “hands-on” experience through use of case studies, exercises, and problem solving
Interact with your acquisition colleagues effectively and appropriately
In-depth knowledge is the key to success in the government’s best-value source selection process. With in-depth knowledge, the acquisition team can plan and execute streamlined, innovative source selections that result in timely selection of high-quality contractors, and suppliers can design customer-focused, fully compliant proposals that clearly articulate their technical and cost solutions.
Source Selection Essentials: Planning, Conducting, and Debriefing concentrates on practical application of the source selection process. This is a scenario-based class where students participate in all phases of the source selection process, including development of an Acquisition Plan, preparation of performance standards, instructions to offerors, evaluation factors, evaluation of proposals for a single scenario, and debriefings.
Agenda
Building a Results-Focused Acquisition Team
• Characteristics of results-focused acquisition
• The acquisition team
• Role of the acquisition team
• Attributes of high-performance, results-focused acquisition teams
• Roles and responsibilities of the Source Selection Team (SST)
• Key challenges for the government acquisition system
• Managing risk
• Four stages of acquisition team development
Acquisition Planning and Market Research
• What is acquisition planning?
• Benefits of acquisition planning
• Source selection issues in acquisition planning
• Lowest price technically accepted (LPTA) vs. trade-off
• Acquisition documents
• Determining contract type — degrees of risk
• Market research
• Steps in the market research process
• Uses and benefits of market research
• Exchanges with industry before receipt of proposals
• Advisory multistep process
Buying Results through Performance-Based Acquisition
• Three types of orientation in defining requirements and managing effort
• Benefits of performance-based acquisition
• Statement of Objectives (SOO)
• Key steps and products in performance-based acquisition
• Putting it all together
Identifying and Developing Discriminating Evaluation Criteria
• Evaluation criteria
• Role of evaluation criteria
• Evaluation criteria requirements
• Small business evaluation
• Weighting the evaluation criteria
• Key considerations in selecting non-cost criteria
• Characteristics of high-quality criteria
• Quadrant mapping
• Criteria development process
• The source selection plan
Proposal Preparation Instructions: The Key to Efficient Competitions
• Proposal preparation instructions
• Oral presentations
• Determining what data are needed
• Best practices to consider
Writing Customer-Focused Proposals: The Contractor’s Perspective
• Are your proposals easy to evaluate?
• Making clear and obvious links between your proposal and the evaluation
criteria
• Best-value decisions are built on perceived benefits
• Addressing risk in your proposal sections
• Using your executive summary to help the source selection authority (SSA) write the decision document
• Common complaints from evaluators
Managing Successful Proposal Evaluations
• Best-value source selection: What worries government managers?
• Evaluation process
• Technical evaluation process
• Government rating approach
Past Performance and Cost Evaluation Techniques and Strategies
• Past performance information sources
• Performance risk ratings
• Tips for effective use of past performance information (PPI)
• Analyzing cost or price
• Evaluating cost
Setting the Competitive Range and Conducting Meaningful Exchanges
• Exchanges
• Clarifications and award without discussions
• Communications
• Competitive range
• Discussions
• Exchanges with offerors after receipt of proposals
• Conducting “meaningful” discussions
• Bargaining
• Limits on exchanges
• Exchanges: The contracting officer’s (CO’s) balancing act
• Final proposal revisions (FPR)
• Final proposal evaluation
Comparing Evaluation Results and Documenting the Decision
• Making the cost/technical trade-off decision
• Best-value decision
• Price premium justifications
• Weighting exercise
• Source selection decision document
• Documenting the decision
• Quantifying the price premium
• Developing SSDDs: Best practices
Delivering Effective Debriefings
• Your best line of defense
• What a debriefing is not
• Who receives a debriefing?
• When is a debriefing conducted?
• What must be presented
• What cannot be disclosed
• Debriefings: best practices
• Managing protest risk
• Frequently successful protest grounds
Comments
Course CPE28Course PDUs24Course CEUs2.4