Defense Acquisition University



Small Business Considerations Checklist DoD Acquisition StrategiesNote: General Checklist with applicability spanning a variety of acquisition types. The checklist is not all inclusive. It was created for teaching purposes for DAU Continuous Learning Module 059, Fundamentals of Small Business for the Acquisition Workforce. Updates will occur periodically and posted on the DAU Tools/Small Business website. Pre-Milestone B - Consideration of Technologies in Major Systems Programs (DoDI 5000.02)Technology Readiness Small business technologies – must survey the marketplace to learn of current or emerging technologies. May require Government – Industry technical interchange meetings to survey marketplace, assess products/capability, risk, readiness levels, etc. Technology Readiness Assessments Life Cycle Support Plan (LCSP) (small business technologies); PSM Guidebook; Performance Based Logistics GuidebookEnsure that product support strategies maximize competition and small business participation at the appropriate tiersPerformance Based Logistics may involve supply and/or services acquisitionsFeasibility of Component breakout/development (small business prime contract opportunity)Feasibility of Modular architecture -- increases competition and small business participation throughout the acquisition life cycleFeasibility of purchasing proprietary data rights to preclude vendor lock / increase competition and small business participationEmerging technologies Plans for Leveraging SBIR/STTR – Phase I/II projects funded by SBIR/STTR program funds. PMs must fund Phase III technologies. Your Component SBIR/STTR SBP can assist in getting you started.Develop acquisition strategies to Incentivize large primes to leverage SBIR/STTR—make it a solicitation requirement. Develop acquisition strategies to incentivize large primes to ‘mentor’ small businesses. This can occur through the use of the DoD-managed Mentor Protégé Program (MPP). Your Component OSBP MPP program manager can assist in getting you started.When assessing small business technologies/capabilities for use in DoD acquisitions, apply sound risk management principles-- DoD Risk, Issue, and Opportunity Management Guide. However, keep in mind that during the pre-solicitation phase, you are not working with offeror proposals and must make your preliminary assessments using marketplace research and company-provided information supplied in response to your pre-solicitation requests. Logistics considerationsProduct Support Manager Guidebook and Performance Based Logistics GuidebookGeneral Small Business Strategy Considerations (all acquisition types)NAICS Codes and associated SBA Small Business Size Standards for the acquisition. Every acquisition will have these. They are used to establish the threshold for which firms are small businesses in the designated acquisition. These codes also help when querying FPDS-NG and can be used to gather/analyze Federal or DoD procurement spend for use in decision-making such as market research to determine how many small businesses have won awards in these market sectors.The designated NAICS Code and Size Standard must be provided to industry early and will facilitate market research efforts to determine feasibility of set-asides (total – FAR 19.502-2; partial FAR 19.502.3). Supply Size Standards are employee based; Services Size Standards are revenue based. If partial set-asides apply, there are many ways to divide the set-aside portions, but they must be supported by market research results peculiar to the circumstances of acquisition. Component breakouts or Severable portions of a services acquisition – may be acquired via multiple stand-alone contracts for the single acquisitionContract Line Items (CLINs)– may use CLINs to separate the set-aside portions from the non-set-aside portions. This could be done using a single contract for the acquisition, or a MAC IDIQ arrangement. The differing strategies and solicitation/model contract terms and conditions must be carved out and explicitly written for differing portions There is parity when considering strategies for socio-economic program set-asides. Your market research and your organization’s small business goaling performance should inform your decisions. For acquisitions over the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT), however, you must first consider feasibility of a socio-economic set-asides before small business set-asides. Additionally, if requirements have been accepted into the SBA’s 8(a) Business Development program, it must remain in the 8(a) program unless SBA agrees to its release (FAR 19.203). Product Service Codes (PSCs) – Every acquisition requires one of these codes. These codes are used to define what types of goods or services you are acquiring. FPDS-NG queries can also be designed around PSC codes to gather/analyze Federal or DoD procurement spend. Use a Technical Library – make it publicly available for all interested parties to learn about the requirements; serves to level the playing field which is necessary to create a competitive environment to increase competition and small business participation Use DoD Best Practices in Subcontracting – see DAU Tools/Small Business Subcontracting Plans and Evaluation of Small Business Participation Summary Small business teaming arrangement considerations—degree of teaming, cross-teaming and/or organizational conflict of interest considerations, joint ventures, etc. See DAU Tools, Facilitating Teaming Arrangements Guidebook.Unduly Restrictive Requirements or Barriers (Impediments) to Small Business Utilization must be mitigated during acquisition planning Consolidation and/or Bundling – See FAR Part 7.107 and OSBP Benefit Analysis GuidebookCategory Management & Strategic Sourcing often involve consolidation and/or bundling. There are collaborative team tools, samples and templates on the new GSA Acquisition Gateway (see link on the DAU Tools/Small Business link. Contract types (FAR Part 16)Some contract types may be limiting for small businesses – should be looked at in conjunction with other small business strategy/considerations/findings to mitigate any risks to cash flowCost contracts may present barriers for some small businesses-- should engage DCAA early to help mitigate small business challenges in getting accounting systems properly approved Bridge contractsWhile not a ‘type’ of contract per FAR Part 16, bridge contracts occur to mitigate a ‘gap’ that occurs when a contract expires for a ‘recurring’ requirement, but the new acquisition contract is not ready to award. Bridge contracts provide a means to continue performance without interruption; they are managed/watched closely due to adverse impacts on competition and small business utilization. Use of bridge contracts requires approval of a sole source J&A to continue performance with the incumbent until a follow-on competitive award can be made. Use of bridge contracts may impact your organization’s small business goaling credit if the small business incumbent has outgrown the small business size status or graduated from the SBA 8(a) program. Under these scenario’s you would not receive small business credit during the bridge contract’s performance period. Small Business Size Status Certification/Recertification on Long Term Contracts: See FAR 52.219-28 for impacts relative to small business certification of size status. In devising acquisition strategies, you will want to mitigate these types of impacts by creating appropriate solicitation requirements that may involve creation of ‘participation decision points’ for on ramping or off ramping firms to maintain viable small business competition and goaling credit for the duration of the acquisition contract delivery or performance period. Note that use of On Ramps and Off Ramps are mandated by DPAP Peer Review policy, DFARS PGI 201.170. MAC IDIQ ArrangementsWorking with MACs adds complexity in terms of devising an appropriate acquisition strategy. This is because there is no one size fits all approach. Market research and the unique circumstances of your acquisition will determine what you need to do in crafting appropriate MAC strategies. Use of MACs are very common in both supply and service acquisitions. For Additional Small Business Guidance see: DAU Tools – Small BusinessFor Additional Just-in Time Training on Small Business see: SBA Learning Center ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download