Is your firm not getting sole source work from the client for which it is qualified?
All factors seem in place for a well-deserved sole source contract to your firm.
- You know the client well and have performed solidly for the client.
- The client understands that your firm is the one that has completed the work, even if your firm is a subcontractor on the project.
- The client has issued sole source awards to other smalls and socioeconomic firms previously.
- The client has a need for the type of work you have performed going forward.
- Your firm is uniquely qualified to perform the work.
And, yet despite the case you have made, the sole source award is not moving forward.
Start diligence as to why-
- Does your program lead have a strong relationship with the agency’s Contract Office?
- Have you or your program lead tried to enlist support of the agency’s Small Business office or ODSBU?
- Is the agency’s Contract Office known to present high bars to small companies in justifying set aside contracts?
- Have you greased the skids with your SBA Business Opportunity Specialist?
Once the parties agree on direction, the process becomes straightforward –
1. The Program Office submits the package to Contracts requesting sole source designation, with the following components:
The package should include:
a. Scope of Work or Objectives
i. This should be specific enough to indicate what the Program Office wants yet loose enough to give Program Office and the contractor license to add to the scope, as well as provide access to the contract by others within the agency.
ii. An initial tasking with more definition and an estimate of the cost of that tasking. Contracts at this point is more interested in establishing price reasonableness than technical capability, as the Program Office has already vouched for the technical skills of the contractor.
2. Contracts converts this package to a solicitation and issues to contractor.
3. The contractor has 10-30 days to respond to solicitation.
4. The CO negotiates with the contractor.
5. Contracts Office drafts a J&A (Justification and Authorization) and sends the J&A and completed Offer Letter to the SBA. The contractor will have alerted its SNA Business Opportunity Specialist to expect the package to expedite the process.
6. SBA approves the contract, a tripartite agreement between the contractor, the agency and SBA execute.
7. Work can then commence.
The entire process should not take more than 90 days and could be much less.
Other options for directed awards exist though are likely to require more advanced advice. As an example:
If the contractor is an 8a that holds a GSA Multiple Award Schedule, have agency Contracts office write a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) under an 8(a) sole source.
BPAs can go up to $7m under a Simplified Acquisition clause in the FAR (13.201).
LCATs approved under its GSA MAS can be accessed as can others, provided the contractor produces invoices to justify the additional positions. However, Contracts can manage this issue (lack of underpinning invoices if they are willing to use the Open Market construct under the GSA program. Open Market allows contractors to propose market rates for other positions without having the backup invoices. The BPA does not obligate the government to expend funds under it. The BPA can be used by other offices within an agency.)
In the case where Contracts will not use the Open Market option, Contracts can write a BPA under an 8a sole source, though not put it under a GSA schedule. 8(a) set aside contracts are limited to $4.5m without the use of the Simplified Acquisition clause, which expands it to $7m.
Under a BPA, the government will issue calls for specific tasking, with a limit on each call. However, multiple calls can be written at any one time.