National Contract Management Association – Norfolk Chapter Procurement Integrity Overview

Procurement Integrity Act Law that embodies the concepts of: Authority/Contracting Officer Authority Fairness/Fair Opportunity to Compete Competition/Full and Open Addresses both: Procurement-sensitive and source selection information Government information Proprietary or business-sensitive data Contractor information

Procurement Integrity Act Prohibits seeking, releasing, or receiving such information And imposes civil and criminal penalties for violations Up to $50,000 and 5 years for Government employees Up to $500,000 and 5 years for contractor personnel Suspension/debarment of company

When does a procurement begin? To some contractors, when the Contracting Officer issues a synopsis for a forthcoming Request for Proposals (RFP) But in actuality, when the Government identifies a need or requirement When does that occur? How early can that occur? Certainly by the time the Government puts pen to paper to begin market research and building the requirements package

What’s included? At minimum, Government information regarding: Scope of work, statement of work, estimated requirements, budget information, independent Government cost estimates, acquisition plan or strategy, source selection criteria, source selection plan, identity of technical evaluation panel members For contractors: Technical proposal content Cost proposals including detailed cost information Darlene Druyun – Airbus and Boeing

When Government Members Need to be Especially Vigilant Development of requirements package Refuse offers of free help (Organizational Conflicts of Interest) While package is with the Contracting Officer in pre-solicitation, solicitation, and evaluation phases (Pre-Award) Especially while serving in a Source Selection role Technical Evaluation Panel member Best value trade-off analysis Air Force “Thundervision” case

Overarching Contracts and Task Orders Procurement Integrity tenets apply to the requirements and source selection processes for both: Establishment of the overarching IDIQ contract(s) Individual task orders under Single-Award (SA) and Multiple Award Contracts (MAC)

Additional Considerations Government role in requirements and source selection process is largely conducted in a highly integrated environment of Government and contractor employees Require OGE 450s from prospective requiring individuals and technical evaluators before appointing them in order to preclude conflicts of interest Have OGE 450s updated on an ongoing basis, especially for recurring task order development and technical evaluation teams

Fail Safe Consult contracting professionals in all phases. Refer contractor inquiries to in-house contracting professional or Contracting Officer (phase dependent). Be careful what you say and who’s around when you say it.

A Closing Thought “Hold onto your integrity, ladies and gentlemen. It’s the one thing you really need to have. If you don’t have it, that’s why you need it.” Lawrence Peter Berra