Agency Could Not Accept Price Above Awardee’s FSS Price, GAO Says

If you feel like prices for just about everything are going up, you’re not alone. I recently got my annual property tax bill, and the first thing I did (after recovering from a brief fainting spell) was to start Googling to find out how much I could get for one of my kidneys on the black market.

I get the feeling that my county tax assessor would consider anything less than a double digit increase to be an embarrassing professional failure. In federal government contracting, however, a contractor may not have the same leeway to raise its prices. In a recent bid protest decision, the GAO held that when an agency sought to procure services using the Federal Supply Schedule, the agency could not agree to pay a price higher than the price set forth in the offeror’s underlying FSS contract.

Continue reading

Two Bites of the Same Apple: Protester Wins Sustain on Second Name Brand or Equal Protest with an Unexpected Result

When submitting an offer, it is important to make sure that all the requirements of the solicitation are met. This is essentially Federal Government Contracting 101 and applies to any type of solicitation. In RELX, Inc., B-421597.2, 2023 CPD ¶ 262 (Comp. Gen. Nov. 17, 2023), GAO looked at this issue in the context of a lowest-price, technically acceptable (LPTA) solicitation for a brand name or better product, with an unexpected ending that the protester surely did not see coming.

Continue reading

VA SDVOSB “Rule of Two”: Contracting Officer’s Price Reasonableness Determination Need Not Defer to FSS

The VA’s “rule of two” for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses provides a powerful contracting preference. Thanks to the rule of two, the VA awarded 23.39% of prime contracting dollars to SDVOSBs in Fiscal Year 2019, compared to 4.39% governmentwide.

But the rule of two has its limits. Importantly, before issuing an SDVOSB set-aside, the Contracting Officer must have a reasonable belief that “the award can be made at a fair and reasonable price that offers best value to the United States.” And, as a powerful federal court recently held, the fact that an SDVOSB’s prices have been accepted by the GSA under the Federal Supply Schedule program does not require the VA to accept those prices as fair and reasonable in a rule of two analysis.

Continue reading

Federal Supply Schedule Acquisitions Require Price Comparisons to Determine Lowest Overall Cost, Says GAO

In a recent protest, GAO examined the rules for price evaluation and source selection methodology required under the Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) Program. At a minimum, an agency must perform price comparisons to evaluate what vendor will be lowest cost along with any additional features and benefits to the government. Because the FSS solicitation at issue failed to include proper price evaluation terms, GAO sustained a challenge to those terms.

Continue reading

GSA On Track to Release Consolidated MAS Program Schedule On First of October

This week, GSA announced it is on track to debut its Consolidated Multiple Acquisition Schedule (MAS) Program Schedule Solicitation on October 1. GSA also gave federal contractors planning to bid on the MAS a head start on the process by releasing a final draft solicitation and an updated industry FAQs sheet.

Let’s take a look at how to utilize this opportunity to prepare for the solicitation’s long-awaited debut.

Continue reading

GSA Announces Plans to Consolidate MAS Contracts and Asks for Industry Feedback

The General Services Administration is conducting market research for its planned consolidation of the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) Program. Earlier this month, GSA publicly announced the new single solicitation format, including streamlined terms and conditions, and its intention to collect feedback from government contractors in the industry.

According to GSA, the consolidation is part of its two-year modernization process for the program that began in November of 2018. The consolidated MAS solicitation is scheduled for release later this year. And if you have concerns or suggestions for GSA on this significant consolidation, there is still time for your input.

Continue reading

GAO: Federal Supply Schedule Shorter in Duration than Blanket Purchase Agreement Spells Doom for Protester

Many GAO protests can hinge on fairly minute details that render a proposal unacceptable. A recent GAO case is a reminder that a contractor’s GSA Federal Supply Schedule must have sufficient duration to cover the period of performance for a blanket purchase agreement or the contractor may be ineligible for award.

Continue reading