Agencies get a lot of discretion when it comes to evaluating proposals. We’ve explored several different cases where GAO affirmed this principle. However, this principle is not absolute. Contrary to what some might think, there are limits on an agency’s discretion when it comes to how it evaluates proposals. Recently, the Air Force was reminded of this fact in a GAO protest concerning a price evaluation. We explore that decision here.
Continue readingTag Archives: FAR 52.222-46
Compensation for Professional Employees and You: GAO Sustains Where Agency Doesn’t Explain Why Proposed Decreased Compensation is Reasonable
While the federal government uses wage determinations for many occupations that contractors must abide by, things are different with professional occupations such as physicians, accountants, engineers, and (yours truly) attorneys. Contractors generally have more leeway with regard to how they pay their professional employees on a given contract. But it’s not unlimited. This is something that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) didn’t address in its evaluation for a procurement, resulting in a successful GAO protest. In this post, we’ll look at the rules here and what went wrong.
Continue readingPrice Realism: Agency Didn’t Compare Proposed Rates To Incumbent Rates
An incumbent contractor won a protest at GAO recently where it argued that the awardee’s labor rates were too low, because they were lower than the rates the incumbent itself was paying the same people.
GAO faulted the agency for concluding that the awardee’s price was realistic without checking the proposed rates against the incumbent rates. In other words, GAO told the agency to start at the obvious place—the compensation of the current employees.