DoD releases new Source Selection Procedures

If you have not seen the new DoD Source Selection Procedures (SSP) that were issued on March 31, 2016, then you will want to review this copy (click to download). There are some important changes that will affect how you compete to win negotiated procurements. Here are some of the highlights.

• The new procedures will apply to all negotiated procurements (FAR Part 15) with an expected contract value of $10M or greater. While there are some exceptions, such as Federal Supply Schedule buys, commercial items, and Architect-Engineer Services, use of the procedures is now encouraged on multiple award contracts for orders greater than $10M.
• For acquisitions with a total contract value of $100M or greater, the Agency head shall appoint an individual other than the Procuring Contracting Officer (PCO) to be the Source Selection Authority (SSA), thereby removing responsibility for source selection from the procurement office and placing it in the organization responsible for performing the work.
• Guidance is provided on a new evaluation methodology called Value Adjusted Total Evaluated Price (VATEP) where DoD defines its minimum (threshold) requirements in the solicitation and then encourages bidders to achieve higher (objective) performance levels and provides a defined price evaluation credit for bidders who can achieve these higher desired performance results. This evaluation methodology provides more specificity to best value tradeoffs and quantifies how much DoD is willing to pay for bidders exceeding solicitation minimum requirements.
• Proposal evaluation ratings are standardized for non-cost factors, past performance, small business subcontracting, and risk, e.g., technical evaluations will use five color scores for proposals (blue, purple, green, yellow, and red).
• Proposal evaluation strengths remain key to achieving outstanding evaluation scores, e.g., an outstanding proposal evaluation score requires a proposal with an exceptional approach and understanding of requirements, multiple evaluation strengths and low risk of unsuccessful performance.
• Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) evaluations remain part of the best value continuum, and guidance is unchanged—LPTA is appropriate for procurements where requirements are well defined, risk of unsuccessful contract performance is minimal, and there is no value, need, or willingness to pay for higher performance. Such situations would include acquisitions of commercial items or non-complex services or supplies.
• Other changes include more guidance on best value tradeoffs and LPTA source selection procedures, modified evaluation methodologies, and recommended best practices.

These new changes are effective on all source selection plans approved after May 1, 2016 so you can expect to see these changes in new DoD solicitations.

If you are interested in learning more about these changes and how they will affect your future proposals, please contact Julia Quigley at JQuigley@LohfeldConsulting.com to learn more about our 1-day, on-site training class on how the government evaluates proposals and what you need to know to maximize proposal scores.

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