Factors Affecting Best Value Determination

Once the technical requirements and performance outcomes are known, ordering activities can consider the factors that are most critical to arriving at the desired solution. In addition to price, these critical factors become the evaluation criteria when awarding orders. Because RFQs must include evaluation criteria, it is important that ordering activities consider these factors when determining requirements.

The benefits of making a best value selection decision can result in improved mission performance and lower life-cycle costs, while encouraging Schedule contractors to provide their best supplies and services to the government. Ordering activities should consider:

• Item characteristics:
  • Which commercial services/supplies match most closely with the identified activity requirement?
  • Is there an apparent trade-off between service/supply features and price?
• Past performance:
  • Does available information indicate that Schedule contractors or other available sources have significantly different past performance records?
  • Does available information indicate that specialized performance experience will significantly improve a contractor’s chance of success in meeting the requirement?
• Warranty:
• Do Schedule contractors or other suppliers offer warranties?
• Do available warranties protect customers from significant risk?
• Are the warranties offered by Schedule contractors comparable to those offered by other sources in the market?
• If warranties are offered, does the activity have the administrative tracking and logistics capabilities necessary to take advantage of them?
• Ownership costs:
• What installation costs are associated with the various supplies that meet identified requirements?
• What is the reliability of the various supplies that meet identified requirements (e.g., average time between failures)?
• What are the historical repair costs for the various supplies?
• What are the historical routine maintenance costs for the various supplies?
• What are the disposal costs associated with the various supplies?
• Maintenance availability:
• Is continuing maintenance required for the supply to meet activity requirements?
• Do Schedule contractors or the suppliers provide maintenance for the identified supply?
• Do Schedule contractors or other suppliers provide maintenance in the area(s) where the supply is most likely to be used?
• If the Schedule contractor is not the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), is there an agreement in place that will ensure services provided by the Schedule contractor will not void the warranty?
• Useful life:
• How long are available supplies expected to remain useful?
• Are there any significant differences in useful life between supplies?
• Environmental and energy efficiency:
• Do supplies offered by Schedule contractors or other suppliers have significantly different percentages of recovered materials?
• Are some services or supplies environmentally preferable to others?
• Do available services or supplies generate hazardous waste?
• Do available services or supplies meet government-prescribed energy efficiency standards?
• Does information (e.g., the government-mandated energy use and efficiency labels on air conditioners and refrigerators) indicate that supplies have significantly different energy requirements?
• Technical qualifications:
• Are there significant differences in provider/supplier technical qualifications?
• If for services, is the proposed labor mix likely to result in successful performance?
• If the requirement is performance-based, has the contractor proposed appropriate performance standards and a quality assurance plan that measures the right things in order to ensure success?
• Are there unique or specialized qualifications required to meet the activity requirement?
• Are there any significant differences between the technical qualifications of Schedule contractors and other firms in the industry?
• Training and customer support issues:
  • Is training or other customer support important to the user of the supply or service?
  • Do Schedule contractors or other suppliers offer customers significantly different levels of training or other customer support?
• Transportation costs:
• If items are priced other than free on board (FOB) destination, will the transportation cost be significantly different for shipments from different sellers?
• Administrative costs:
• Will the administrative costs of contracting with one prospective contractor likely be different from contracting with another? In other words, will it cost more in time and/or money to contract with one seller than it will to contract with another?
• Will the administrative costs of contracting with a Schedule contractor likely be different from those associated with other commercial suppliers? (Normally administrative costs are much lower for Schedule orders.)
• Delivery and performance terms:
• Can Schedule contractors meet activity delivery or performance requirements?
• Is the delivery or performance available from Schedule contractors significantly different from the delivery or performance available from other sources?

NUTS AND BOLTS TIP

Meeting Special Requirements

An example of a requirements change consideration is if a requiring activity has requested a “desk, computer, 26" x 48", walnut.” During market research, the purchaser could not find a firm that offers a walnut computer desk with a 26" x 48" work surface. However, the purchaser found several that offer walnut computer desks with a 30" x 48" work surface as well as a variety of other dimensions. The person responsible for acquiring the desk could get a local craftsman or even a large manufacturer to custom-build a desk with the required work surface dimensions, but the price would be substantially higher than the price for an off-the-shelf desk. If space or other factors do not preclude using a desk with a 30" depth, the best interest of the government would generally be served by modifying the requirement. It would likely be more advantageous to identify a range of acceptable sizes. However, if there are factors that make the 26" depth essential, the requirement should not be modified.