[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 54 (Monday, March 22, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13823-13825]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6854]
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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Test Plan of Nuclear Regulatory Commission Pursuant to the
Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994
AGENCY: Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), OMB.
ACTION: Notice of test plan submitted by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) under the authority of section 5061 of the Federal
Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 (FASA).
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SUMMARY: Section 5061 of FASA allows the Administrator of OFPP to test
alternative and innovative procurement procedures at up to six
agencies. The total estimated life cycle cost for each test may not
exceed $100,000,000. NRC has submitted a plan pursuant to section 5061
to test a focused source selection procedure. The test entails a phased
process beginning with a streamlined procedure for identifying the most
competitive sources, followed by a proposal development and evaluation
effort involving the three most promising sources. NRC's test further
involves an intense negotiation process where efforts to reach
agreement are prioritized based on the strength of the offerors'
proposals.
Widespread public notice will be provided to announce each
acquisition conducted pursuant to this test. All interested parties
will be permitted to participate in the initial phase of any such
acquisition. Each contract awarded pursuant to this test will not
exceed $5 million in total value.
EFFECTIVE DATE: The test will begin on December 17, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Susan Hopkins, Contract Policy
Analyst, Division of Contracts and Property Management, U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop T7I2, Washington, DC 20555; E-Mail:
sbh@nrc.gov; Telephone: 301-415-6514.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OFPP has authority under FASA section 5061
to conduct additional test programs. Agencies interested in
participating in a test program should contact Mr. Nathan Tash, Deputy
Associate Administrator for Procurement Innovation, Office of Federal
Procurement Policy, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20503; E-Mail:
ntash@omb.eop.gov; Telephone: 202-395-6167.
Dated: March 15, 1999.
Deidre A. Lee,
Administrator.
Attachment
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Innovation Test Plan for Focused
Source Selection Procedures (Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act
Section 5061)
I. Summary of the Test
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposes to test a focused
source selection procedure under the FASA test authority. The procedure
has three primary components. The first component entails a streamlined
process for obtaining comments through the Internet on draft statements
of work and identifying the most promising interested sources. The
second involves a proposal development and evaluation effort involving
the three most highly rated sources. The third component involves an
intense negotiation process where the focus is prioritized based on the
ranking of the offerors. The efficiency of many of these processes will
be further enhanced through the use of electronic commerce (EC).
For selected acquisitions, NRC will solicit capability statements
from all interested sources and then request full proposals only from
the three sources rated most highly based on the capability statements.
NRC will employ the Internet to issue notices, draft statements of work
(SOW) and requests for proposals, as well as to receive responses from
offerors that can provide such electronically. NRC will negotiate
solely with the highest ranked offeror and will conduct negotiations
with the second ranked offeror only if agreement cannot be reached with
the highest ranked offeror. Similarly, negotiations with the third
ranked offeror will take place only if agreement cannot be reached with
either of the two higher ranked offerors. To maintain competitive
pressure, NRC would reserve the right to reopen negotiations with any
of the three offerors after having tried to negotiate a contract with
each of them.
By initiating competitions without the submission of formal
proposals, NRC believes it will be able to reduce the burden (both on
the government and interested sources) typically assoicated with
initially determining which sources are the most competitive. Because
the down select would be mandatory, NRC believes this initial screening
process will be more effective than the advisory, multi-step process
currently authorized by FAR Part 15. NRC further believes that the
three sources selected to compete further will have a strong incentive
to perform ``due diligence'' to learn about agency needs, to develop
more innovative high value solutions that can better fit with those
needs, and to offer stronger proposals.
NRC appreciates the benefits of competition generated by
simultaneous negotiations among the most highly rated offerors. At the
same time, NRC believes it may also be possible to obtain good deals
more efficiently and effectively by prioritizing the focus of its
negotiation efforts based on the ranking of these offerors. In most
cases, NRC anticipates that it will be able to reach agreement with the
top ranked offeror without having to undertake further effort. The test
will offer NRC an opportunity to examine if and when negotiating in a
successive (versus simultaneous) manner may result in an effective use
of those resources dedicated to contract negotiations.
II. Scope of the Test
The Division of Contracts and Property Management, Headquarters,
NRC will use focused source selection techniques to procure goods and
services, in the NRC's administrative program area. NRC decided to
focus on the administrative program area because NRC has not had the
same level of success applying existing streamlining measures to
administrative service requirements as it has to other program areas.
NRC will review procurement plans for Fiscal Year 2000 to determine
which procurements may be candidates for use of the innovation. Among
the considerations NRC will use in selecting procurements for the test,
NRC will consider the complexity of procurements and whether they
involve high proposal preparation cost that discourage capable sources
from participating. A project team of procurement policy and operations
staff from the Division of Contracts and Property Management (DCPM),
including those who participated in the development of the innovation,
will
[[Page 13824]]
make the initial review. Those procurements which are recommended for
the test program will be discussed in early planning meetings with
representatives from contracting, the requiring technical offices,
budget, and the NRC's Office of Small Business and Civil Rights. The
contracting officer will make the final selection of the procurements
for the test program.
III. Acquisition Strategy for the Test (Including a Description of (a)
How Procedures Under the Test Will Differ From Those Currently Used and
(b) the Activities Anticipated in the Various Phases of the Acquisition
Cycle Affected by the Test--e.g., Acquisition Planning,
Presolicitation, Solicitation, Evaluation, Award, Administration)
Soliciting and Making an Initial Assessment of Interested
Sources
Current process. Today, NRC publicizes notices of contracting
opportunities in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD) and invites
interested sources to obtain solicitations and submit proposals.
Offeror submissions, which include full cost and technical proposals,
are then evaluated by NRC to determine initially which sources are the
most competitive. For acquisitions of non-commercial administrative
services (e.g., research and development services), solicitations are
issued after a waiting period of 15 days. If the acquisition is in
excess of the simplified acquisition threshold, the solicitation will
provide a response time of not less than 30 days.
NRC has come to realize that there is great time and cost involved
in making an initial assessment of leading contenders based on full
cost and technical proposals. The multi-step selection process set
forth in the revised FAR Part 15 provides a helpful means for agencies
to reduce the burden associated with conducting initial screenings
(i.e., by requiring interested sources to limit their initial
submission to information on capabilities, experience, past
performance, and any additional area specified by the contracting
officer). However, Part 15 still permits a less competitive source to
require the agency to review a full proposal. This can be burdensome
and inefficient (for both parties).
Test process. Under the test, the NRC will still provide widespread
notice of its contracting opportunities. NRC will issue an abbreviated
notice with basic information about the planned procurement, make
available a draft SOW, request interested parties to provide capability
statements (e.g., past performance information and resumes) and invite
comments on the draft SOW. The posting will include simplified criteria
to be used by NRC to evaluate responses.
Specifically, interested parties will be required to provide the
following information:
(1) Name and address of company.
(2) Name, title, Internet address, telephone and fax numbers of person
providing information, and person authorizing submission of information
for the firm.
(3) EIN/TIN number.
(4) Qualifications of proposed personnel.
(5) List of (usually up to five) contracts performed by the
organizational unit of the firm/individual which is proposed to perform
the subject work for the NRC that are relevant to the proposed NRC
work. Interested parties will be asked to include:
a. contract number
b. brief description of the project
c. two contacts at the organization which awarded each contract
(6) Conceptual approach to performing the work.
(7) Additional information as necessary (e.g., conflict of interest,
type of software license).
Interested parties will be informed that their total response
excluding qualifications of proposed personnel, must not exceed text
which would fill five 8\1/2\ x 11 inch pages in WordPerfect or ASCII,
in no smaller than 10-point print. Oral presentations may be used in
lieu of written responses.
Because less detailed information is being sought, NRC will permit
response times as few as 15 days (rather than the 30 days typically
required for non-commercial goods and services above the SAT). A longer
period may be authorized by the NRC contracting officer, if warranted.
NRC will score each response based upon an evaluation of past
experience of the firm and proposed personnel in performing the same or
similar work. Only the three top ranked responses will be permitted to
proceed further in the competition. Those excluded from further
participation will save the wasted effort of developing proposals that
would not likely be selected. This process also should encourage more
participation by firms that have successfully performed in the private
sector, but because of the high cost, have not previously chosen to
compete for government contracts. NRC will save the time spent
evaluating detailed proposals when a simpler submission could
effectively permit the government to select those sources that are
likely to submit the most competitive offers.
NRC recognizes the growing benefit EC offers to improve the ease,
efficiency, and effectiveness of interactions between NRC and its
vendors.
Like other agencies, NRC has been making its notices of open market
contract opportunities above $25,000, that would otherwise be published
in the paper version of the CBD, available to the public free-of-charge
through ``CBDNet.'' Under the test, NRC will make its abbreviated
notices available through CBDNet. In addition, simultaneous to the
publication of these notices, NRC will post the draft SOW on the
``Contracting with the NRC'' Internet site. This posting will include a
``Summary Sheet for Solicitations'' with basic information about the
planned procurement and criteria for evaluating offeror's capabilities.
(As a general matter, the Internet site will provide ``help and
information'' including an explanation of the test procedures and a
glossary of terms.) Interested firms will be invited to submit
responses via the Internet, facsimile or in hard copy. Because
interested parties will be able to access a draft SOW electronically
through the NRC's Internet homepage at the same time the CBDNet notice
is posted, the 15-day waiting period described above will be
eliminated.
NRC is aware that a pilot effort is under way to test an electronic
posting system (EPS) that would distribute acquisition-related
information to industry more quickly and economically. That system is
designed to permit buyers to post solicitations and other pertinent
information, in addition to notices, directly to the Internet, thus
giving sellers access to this information through a single, government-
wide point of entry. NRC will consider migrating to EPS during the test
if it determines that EPS is capable of providing efficient and
effective access to acquisition-related information.
Issuance of Request for Proposals (RFPs), Proposal Submission,
and Evaluation
Current process. As noted above, all interested sources are offered
an opportunity to submit cost and technical proposals. This is also
true under the advisory, multi-step process currently authorized by FAR
Part 15.
Test process. Only the three top ranked respondents will be
provided an RFP (which will include the final SOW and all applicable
terms and conditions). The RFP will give each of these firms an
opportunity to submit a technical and cost proposal. The NRC
[[Page 13825]]
will score and rank these three responses using the evaluation criteria
that were included in the initial posting on the Internet.
Because only three sources will be offered the opportunity to
submit proposals, NRC believes these scores will have a strong
incentive to perform ``due diligence'' to work with NRC's integrated
product team, end-users, and others to learn about agency needs, to
more effectively and efficiently develop high value solutions that can
better fit with those needs, and to offer stronger proposals.
Negotiation and Award
Current process. Currently, if discussions are to be conducted, a
competitive range is established comprised of all of the most highly
rated proposals. Discussions are conducted by the contracting officer
with each offeror within the competitive range. The discussions are
tailored to each offeror's proposal.
Test process. NRC will negotiate with the offeror ranked highest
based on an integrated cost/technical assessment. If both parties are
unable to reach agreement, NRC may end negotiations with that firm and
begin negotiations with the next highest ranked firm. The NRC may re-
open negotiations with one or more firms if agreement cannot be reached
with one of the next highest ranked firms. If agreement cannot be
reached with any of the three firms, the solicitation will be canceled.
NRC recognizes that the recent rewrite of FAR Part 15 will better
focus the government's resources on obtaining the best value through a
more intensive negotiation process with those that are the most highly
rated. However, NRC believes it may also be possible to obtain good
deals by focusing its negotiation efforts on one offeror at a time,
beginning with the highest technically qualified offeror--trying to
reach agreement with that offeror. To maintain competitive pressure,
NRC would reserve the right to reopen negotiations with any of the
three offerors after having tried to negotiate a contract with each of
them. If agreement can be reached with the top ranked offeror without
having to undertake further negotiation, as NRC anticipate will often
be the case, NRC believes it may save time and administrative expense
in the negotiation process without sacrifices to the value received
under the contract. The test will offer NRC an opportunity to examine
if and when negotiating in this successive (versus simultaneous) manner
may hold benefit. For comparative purposes, NRC may also conduct, where
appropriate, simultaneous discussions with the three highest ranked
offerors for selected procurements.
IV. Test Objectives and Metrics
NRC expects to achieve time savings, cost savings, and increased
customer satisfaction through use of its focused source selection
procedures.
Time savings. Time savings will be measured by comparing overall
procurement acquisition lead times (i.e., the time that elapses from
the point when the procurement request is received in the procurement
office to the time of award) experienced prior to the test versus under
the test for similarly scoped acquisitions. If practicable, NRC will
attempt to identify time savings associated with key phases of the test
(e.g., identification of the three top ranked offerors, conduct of
negotiations).
Cost savings. Value received under contracts awarded under the test
will be compared to the value received under similarly scoped contracts
awarded prior to commencement of the test. Where a close match does not
exist, a comparison of individual categories of work and cost elements
will be made where feasible.
Customer satisfaction. A customer service survey will be used to
measure customers' (i.e., program offices') satisfaction. NRC is
currently developing a survey for general use. This survey will be
reviewed to determine if it is suitable for the test or needs to be
modified. In addition, NRC will survey participating organizations to
obtain their feedback.
Small business participation. Participation by small businesses in
test procurements will be compared with small business participation in
similar procurements conducted prior to the test innovation.
Participation will be measured by evaluating the value of prime
contract awards.
V. A List of Regulations, Including Those Required by Law, for Which a
Waiver is Necessary for the Successful Completion of the Test Program
NRC seeks to waive the following regulatory requirements.
1. For those cases where non-commercial contracts will result, the
time standards set forth in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 5.203,
which implements the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41
U.S.C. 416(a)(3)) and the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e)(3)) in
order to waive the 15-day period and structure a process which allows
for flexible deadlines for preparation and submission of materials by
interested parties.
2. FAR 5.207(c)(2)(xv), which implements the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 416(b)(4)) and the Small Business Act
(15 U.S.C. 637(f)(4)) which requires that Commerce Business Daily
notices include a statement that, ``all responsible sources may submit
a bid, proposal, or quotation (as appropriate) which shall be
considered by the agency.''
3. FAR 6.003, which defines ``full and open competition'' to mean
that all responsible sources are permitted to compete, implementing the
Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 403(6)), and FAR
6.101, implementing the policy of full and open competition set forth
in the Federal Property and Administrative Procedures Act (41 U.S.C.
253).
4. FAR 15.306(d), which requires negotiations with all offerors in
the competitive range implementing the Federal Property and
Administrative Procedures Act (41 U.S.C. 253b(d)(1)(A)).
5. FAR 15.306(c) which effectively requires consideration of cost
in making down select decisions.
VI. Anticipated Impact on Small Businesses, Particularly Small
Disadvantaged Businesses (Including a Description of Actions To Be
Taken To Mitigate Any Anticipated Negative Impacts)
Small businesses may better be able to compete because they will
have an opportunity to comment on the SOW, and they will not have to
expend large amounts of resources to determine if they are among the
three most highly ranked offerors. The NRC will continue to set aside
procurements exclusively for small businesses when conditions permit
after consultation with the NRC Office of Small and Disadvantaged
Business Utilization.
[FR Doc. 99-6854 Filed 3-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-01-P
