Are You Ready for the PACTS III Bid Now?

The long-anticipated PACTS III request for proposal (RFP) is nearly ready for release. The government plans to hold an industry day and release the RFP at the end of August 2023. Here’s a summary of the bid and the challenges involved in bidding it based on the draft RFP.

Facts At-a-Glance

TOPIC	DESCRIPTION
Name	Program Management Administrative Clerical and Technical Services III (PACTS III)
Agency	Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
Period of performance	10 years
Industry day	August 2023 (to be determined)
RFP date	August 30, 2023
Value	$5,642,188,950
Contract type	Multiple: firm fixed price (FFP), indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ), time and materials (T&M), labor hour
NAICS	541611, Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services 541330, Engineering Services
Competition type	8(a) Set-AsideHUBZone Set-AsideService Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Set Aside
Number of winners	Multiple awards (the government estimates 5 for each functional area)
Award date	August 2024
Incumbents	39 incumbents hold PACTS II contacts, and the top five in terms of descending order of contracts won are: HSHQDC16DP2017, Information Technology Coalition, Inc. HSHQDC16DP2022, Sciolex Corporation HSHQDC16DP2026, TECHOP Solutions International Inc. HSHQDC16DP2009, Management and Technical Services Alliance, Joint Venture HSHQDC16DP2010, Old Dominion Strategies, LLC

PACTS III Overview

The PACTS III bid requires a wide variety of administrative and engineering services under three functional categories with NAICS codes listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Functional Categories Available to Bid

Number	NAICS	Functional Category Name
1	541611	Administrative Management and General Management Consulting Services
2	541610	Office Administrative Services
3	541330	Engineering Services

Timeline

This opportunity has had a long timeline, starting with releasing a special notice on January 20, 2022.

• June 22, 2023: Draft

• July 5, 2023: Questions and Answers (Q&A)

• July 7, 2023, Questions/Comments Due   

• August 2023: Industry Day, Site Visit, Meeting (estimate)

• August 30, 2023: RFP release (estimate)

• August 2024: Award Date (estimate)

Cost and Challenges to Bid

The effort to bid on PACTS III is somewhat high, depending on how well you organize your internal contract documents. Those documents should be available and handy if you have already responded to a few General Services Administration (GSA) RFPs.

Per the draft Proposal Organization Guide (Attachment 11), you must supply the information in Table 2 below to complete the proposal. You will submit a unique proposal for each functional category in Table 1 above.

Table 2: PACTS III Proposal Organization Requirements

Volume No.	Organization Required by Attachment 11	RFP Part IV Reference Section	Page Limits
I	Executive Summary	3.0	Unlimited
II	Factor 1: Technical
	Self-Scoring Sheet(s)/Workbooks(s)	4.2	Unlimited
	Experience/Past Performance Verification	4.3.1	Unlimited
	Accounting System Verification	4.3.2	Unlimited
	Facility Clearance Verification	4.3.3	5
III	Factor 2: Price
	Minimum Quantity Pricing	5.1	1
	Labor Category Pricing	5.2	1
IV	Contract Documentation	6.0	Unlimited

Evaluation Criteria Summary

Down-select Process

The government is following a continuous down-select process to identify the highest-scoring proposals for each functional area listed in Table 1. The process consists of five major steps that winnow down offerors:

1. Sort and rank proposal self-claimed proposal scores from highest to lowest.
2. Identify the highest-scoring proposals as Preliminary Qualifying Proposals (PQPs) and verify they meet all the Acceptability Review requirements. Any proposal that does not meet the Acceptability Review factors is eliminated from the competition.
3. Evaluate the self-scoring sheets (subfactors) per the evaluation criteria for each factor and subfactor.
4. Evaluate the pricing sheets for fairness and reasonableness.
5. Make a responsibility determination and validate supporting documents on an acceptable/non-acceptable basis.

Note: The government can use all information submitted in the proposal as well as any other information it obtains from its information systems and other legitimate sources to arrive at the determination.

Evaluation Criteria

Table 3 summarizes the evaluation criteria for each factor and subfactor. The government will give proposals a technical rating (acceptable/unacceptable) within each subfactor using the Measures of Merit (MoM), as summarized in Table 3.

Table 3: Evaluation Criteria for each Factor and Subfactor

Volume No.	Organization Required by Attachment 11	High-Level Summary of Evaluation Criteria and Measures of Merit (MoM)
I	Executive Summary	N/A
II	Factor 1: Technical
	Self-Scoring Sheet(s)/Workbooks(s)	Complete and accurate
	Subfactor 1.1: Experience/Past Performance Verification	Recency and relevance to PACTS III requirements and the correct mix of mentor and protegee past performance are correct
	Subfactor 1.2: Accounting System Verification	The accounting system is adequate for time and materials and labor hour contracts
	Subfactor 1.3: Facility Clearance Verification	Top-secret facility clearance is adequate, and the Defense Security Service (DSS) system verifies that all the information is correct and acceptable
III	Factor 2: Price
	Minimum Quantity Pricing	Prices are fair and reasonable
	Labor Category Pricing	Prices are fair and reasonable
IV	Contract Documentation	All document is acceptable

If you want to learn more about the PACTS III bid or how Lohfeld Consulting can help your company develop your PACTS III proposal, please contact Beth Wingate at BWingate@LohfeldConsulting.com.

By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals. As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.