Response to the following questions:
1. When someone first looks at the competitive discussion, they might think of two people debating about a subject, but in government acquisitions, it means something different. The competitive discussion is when a Contracting Officer talks to the contractor about the proposal that they submitted. According to it the Under Secretary of Defense of Acquisitions, Technology, and Logistics only competitive discussion should be done with contractors that are competitive. There is no need wasting time talking to a contractor that doesn't even meet the requirements. Reviews should be conducted according to the proposal submitted by the contractor. The government should give feedback on the proposal and how the contractor can approve on it to win the contract.
In the videos that we watched , they brought up some fascinating points on how acquisitions are heading into the future. One of the things that were bought up was seeing contractors face to face and going over the proposal. Just like when interviewing for a job the company will read your resume to ensure that you meet the qualifications. They will then want to set up an interview to see if you will attend their expectations. Many times, when someone talks to you face to face, they can tell that you can perform what you have on the resume or they can say that you embellished what you did in the past. When it comes to contracting just getting a proposal is long gone, and face to face discussions will continue to happen.
2. Competitive discussions are meaningful negotiations conducted as part of a competitive acquisition. The primary objective is to maximize the Government's ability to obtain the best value, based on the requirement and the evaluation factors set forth in the solicitation. They are conducted with each contractor determined to be within the competitive range. Discussions with each contractor are tailored to that contractor's proposal. Discussions consider significant weaknesses, deficiencies, and other aspects of each contractor's proposal that could be altered or explained to materially enhance the proposal's potential for contract award. At the end of each discussion, each contractor still in the competitive range must be given an opportunity to submit a final proposal revision by an established cut-off date. The final source selection decision is then based on a comparative proposal assessment against all source selection criteria established in the solicitation.
There are six areas where mistakes where there are frequently made when discussions are held. There are six important principles to follow to help with it:
1. The agency should conduct meaningful discussions
2. Agencies may not conduct misleading discussions
3. Agencies must conduct discussions equally for all contractors in the competitive range.
4. Agencies may not label communications with offerors as "clarifications" when they are really discussions.
5. Agencies may not conduct discussions with only one offeror.
6. Agencies must permit offerors to submit a final proposal revision after the discussions.