DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez, U.S. Air Force. (Released)
By Tom Gerbe – Defense Information Analyst – BidLink.net
Small businesses have an uphill battle when trying to compete with big companies for defense contracts. Government officials know that small business participation not only helps local economies, but increases competition therefore reducing costs for the military. Undersecretary of Defense, Dr. Ashton Carter recently stated that, “Real competition is the single most powerful tool available to the department to drive productivity”. A number of initiatives are in place to promote “Real Competition”.
Twelve memoranda have been issued over the last three years from the president on down, outlining rules and methods for increasing competition in defense contracting. All of this is designed to deliver better value to the taxpayer and warfighter by improving the way the department does business. At a time when all departments are cutting expenses to reduce the deficit, program managers throughout DOD have a real motivation to act on these initiatives.
PROMOTE REAL COMPETITION
The following are recommendations from Dr. Ashton Carter on how to promote competition:
- Present a competitive strategy at each program milestone
- Remove obstacles to competition
- Allow a reasonable time to bid
- Require non-certified cost and pricing data on single offers
- Require open system architectures and set rules for acquisition of technical data
- Increase dynamic small business role in defense marketplace
Government buyers have a responsibility to promote competition wherever possible. If you know the rules, they can be convinced to un-bundle contracts, consider alternative suppliers and even set-aside contracts exclusively for small business. The key is understanding the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) and how they can be used to benefit your company.
BUNDLED CONTRACTS
In some cases, your company may produce a part which is often included in larger, long-term contracts. The Small Business Reauthorization Act of 1997 defines contract bundling as “consolidating two or more procurement requirements for goods or services previously provided or performed under separate, smaller contracts into a solicitation of offers for a single contract that is unlikely to be suitable for award to a small business concern.”
The act requires that each federal agency, to the maximum extent practicable:
- structure contracting requirements to facilitate competition by and among small business concerns, taking all reasonable steps to eliminate obstacles to their participation; and
- avoid unnecessary and unjustified bundling of contract requirements that may preclude small business participation in procurements as prime contractors.
In some cases, requirements are bundled together for years even though buyers are supposed to re-evaluate the market on a periodic basis. At the time of the initial requirement by the Government there may have been only one supplier for a part, while years later a number of small business may be able to compete. As a potential bidder on a contract, it is your responsibility to advise the buyer that you would like to compete for this business. If you are successful, buyers may un-bundle a long-term contract for many items and solicit them separately in order to promote more small business competition. The Government is required to justify contract bundling and this justification can be challenged by a prospective bidder.
COMPETITION ADVOCATE
When all else fails, each program provides a competition advocate. According to FAR 6.502 Competition advocates are responsible for promoting the acquisition of commercial items, promoting full and open competition, challenging requirements that are not stated in terms of functions to be performed. They are also responsible for challenging barriers to the acquisition of commercial items and full and open competition such as unnecessarily restrictive statements of work, unnecessarily detailed specifications, and unnecessarily burdensome contract clauses. A memorandum from the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense states a commitment to, “Reinvigorate and expand the role of the competition advocate and reinforce the importance of competition to everyone involved in the acquisition process”.
We encourage you to study the Federal Acquisition Regulations and learn your rights as a contractor. Many initiatives have been put in place to help small contractors compete. Understanding the rules is the first step toward bringing Government business to your business.
BidLink.net is a provider of defense industry information for contractors worldwide. This data includes millions of defense contracts, procurement history, part numbers and vendor details. This unique combination of resources allows BidLink to monitor and extract important information for the defense contracting industry. BidLink.net, based in Washington, D.C., provides bid search and notification services, competition analysis as well as part number (NSN) lookup to many military activities and thousands of private companies around the world.
For the news and tools to compete in the defense industry, go to www.bidlink.net.
Tweet