Contracting Officer Podcast Slides Knowledge & Insights From Contracting Officers

What is the Source Selection Decision Document? Episode 063 What is the Source Selection Decision Document? Original Air Date: Jan 24, 2016 Hosts: Kevin Jans & Paul Schauer

Formatting notes Hyperlinks: Blue font indicates hyperlinks – presentation must be in ‘Slide Show’ mode to activate the link Red bold font indicates a point of emphasis Green bold font indicates CO’s personal comment or perspective

Introduction Purpose of this podcast: Describe the Source Selection Decision The Source Selection Decision is the final step in the source selection journey. This is where the winner is picked.

When do Source Selection Decisions happen? Acquisition Time Zones (from Podcast Episode 003) Requirements Zone Market Research Zone RFP Zone Source Selection Zone (or sole source) Execution Zones: Kick Off, Transition (Ramp Up), Performance, Re-compete

FAR 15.308 – Source Selection Decision Final stage of the source selection process (before protests) Source Selection Authority (SSA) makes the final decision on who wins Comparative assessment of proposals against all source selection criteria in the solicitation If you’ve been following along: We’ve been talking about the importance of understanding the evaluation criteria This is yet another example of why proposals are so critical

FAR 15.308 – Source Selection Decision Good: Clear winner, clearly distinguished from, and rated higher than, competitors Based on technical advantage, good history and strong price Starts with a lot of cut and paste from evaluation documents Bad: Process of elimination from a field of poor proposals Messy, unclear document Led to protest

FAR 15.308 – Source Selection Decision SSA may use reports and analyses prepared by others, the Source Selection Decision shall represent the SSA’s independent judgment Decision must be documented (surprise! – SSDD) Documentation shall include the rationale for any judgments and tradeoffs made or relied on… This can be tricky: Can easily lead to protest if not careful …by the SSA, including benefits associated with additional costs There’s that “explain why” thing again

FAR 15.308 – Source Selection Decision Although the rationale must be documented, that documentation need not quantify the tradeoffs that led to the decision In other words, SSA not required to compare a 10% better speed to a 4% better price. They can just say that the increase in speed offers benefit to the government that outweighs the slight increase in price “in relative terms…” explains it

FAR 15.308 – Source Selection Decision SSDD should not be loaded with tables and statistics justifying the decision Instead, it should describe the judgment and thought process that led to the decision COs are people that are paid to think their way to solutions This document must clearly show the thinking that went into the evaluation and decision

Why are Source Selection Decisions important? It’s the final step It’s ALL ON THE LINE This document (while not required to be released) gets a LOT of attention Do it well, and it’s a smooth finish Do it wrong, and it can have a negative effect that far outweighs its size….

Why Should Government Care? It’s one of the first (if not THE first) document reviewed It can close the loop nicely It’s not something you want to be preparing for the day before award… Think about the SSDD throughout the source selection evaluation It’s your best opportunity to make the complex simple Ignore it at your peril

Why Should Industry Care? This is the final step It’s your win or loss story in (as little as) one page Since the decision is the SSA's "independent" judgment, this is the place where your careful shaping can pay off SSA reviews all the evaluation information In the case of equivalent evaluations, the SSA must pick one. Do they pick a company they've never heard of, or you?

Why Should Industry Care? If you wrote a good proposal, you’ll see quotes from it in the SSDD Remember - make it easy for the CO to cut and paste your differentiators into their document If you’re the winner, the losers may protest it because they see it differently

Summary Government team: It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it needs to tell a story that the losers understand (or they will protest until they do understand) Use it to tie a bow on the contract award… NOT to cover up the holes in the wrapping paper Industry team: It’s not going to give you all the info you want… Not designed to be a debriefing, but must present the SSA's rationale for the decision

Contact us We are on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook We also started the Government Contracting Network Group on Facebook. Join us there! Send your topics to paul@Contractingofficerpodcast.com For Community support, contact Shelley Hall at shelley.hall@skywayacquisition.com