Task:
DETERMINING ACQUISITION METHOD AND CONTRACT TYPE EXERCISE
Bob knew there were many potential training sources in the Washington, DC Metro area. There were several incumbent training contractors currently supporting the Requiring Activity-but these companies were generally technical support contractors who performed part-time training based on specific tasking from the NSA program offices.
Betty Madison just got out of a management meeting where the dismal state of their budget was the principle topic. She gave Bob the bad news. "We don't have a lot of money to do this training course, Bob, but we must get this requirement on contract by the end of the month. You will need to come up with an acquisition strategy to include contract type that will encourage efficient funds management and will motivate the contractor to watch the bottom line.
For the upcoming effort, Bob wanted to ensure that professional training and education firms with innovative ideas and state-of-art technology/training approaches would be interested in participating in the competition due to a recent Inspector General report that stated current courses lacked the quality of instruction required for NSA field officers. The competitors would need to be familiar with federal acquisitions and Bob would prefer to have instructors who had experience with managing contract efforts. Security clearances were another important issue. Whoever won the contract would need to have Top Secret cleared instructors, either before or shortly after contract award, due to the nature of and locations for the training.
Task:
You are the contracting officer for this acquisition and need to develop a viable procurement strategy. As you determine the contract type and method of acquisition keep in mind some concerns and limitations:
1. They have an aggressive schedule;
2. Limited funds; and,
3. A need for quality because of the IG report.
Address the following questions in your discussions. Be prepared to brief the rest of the class on your recommendations including rationale behind them.
1. What acquisition method will you use? Why?
2. What are the key risk areas of the effort?
3. What contract type would motivate the contractor to achieve excellence and manage funds wisely? Why?