Sample Page

Below is a sample page from our Subscriber Section 
SUBSCRIBE NOW to get full access!

 

BID BASICS

The government uses many different types of bids based on the type of product or service being solicited and the dollar amount of the total bid. When you download the bid from Fed Biz Ops, it will give you some keys to what amount of effort will be needed to submit.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF BIDS

Some of the types of bids we will be reviewing are:
Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
Invitation for Bid
Request for Quotation
Request for Proposal 

IFB vs RFQ

When the government knows what they want and doesn't need a lot of technical data, they put out a simple bid or quote. Let's say they need a thousand cases of Charmin toilet paper. They don't need a contractor to write a long technical document or send product specifications, they just need a price. This is where an Invitation for Bid or Request for Quote is used. And on the cover page of the solicitation document, it will specifically say it's just a bid. But what are the differences between these two types of bid?

An Invitation for Bid once submitted and accepted may become a binding contract. All the contracting officer would need to do is sign off on the cover page of the IFB and it becomes a contract.

A Request for Quote is not a binding offer. When the government puts out an RFQ, they will need to generate a separate contract, usually in the form of a Standard Form 26. Once this is countersigned by the government, that becomes the actual contract.

RFQ vs RFP

Once the requirement the CO is procuring becomes more complex, it may require a response from the offerer that does need technical discussions or narratives on how you will accomplish what is shown in the scope of work. When a procurement needs this level of technical discussion, it elevates to a Request for Proposal. The government will provide direction on what to include in your response.  

COMBINED SYNOPSIS/SOLICITATIONS

Going in the other direction, if a requirement is smaller, the contracting officer may just put a notice out on Fed Biz Opps called a Combined Synopsis/Solicitation which will include all clauses, specifications, quantity, and response criteria. This confuses many since they are expecting to download a bid package to fill out. In this case, there is no bid package and the dilemma of many small businesses not familiar with the process is how to respond. In all Combined Synopsis/Solicitations, one FAR clause is included - FAR 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerers. In this FAR clause, it provides directions on how to submit a response to a contracting officer when there is no bid package. FAR 52.212-1 identifies 11 elements that need to be included in your response:

(b) Submission of offers. Submit signed and dated offers to the office specified in this solicitation at or before the exact time specified in this solicitation. Offers may be submitted on the SF 1449, letterhead stationery, or as otherwise specified in the solicitation. As a minimum, offers must show:

(1) The solicitation number;

(2) The time specified in the solicitation for receipt of offers;

(3) The name, address, and telephone number of the offerer;

(4) A technical description of the items being offered in sufficient detail to evaluate compliance with the requirements in the solicitation. This may include product literature, or other documents, if necessary;

(5) Terms of any express warranty;

(6) Price and any discount terms;

(7) “Remit to” address, if different than mailing address;

(8) A completed copy of the representations and certifications at FAR 52.212-3 (see FAR 52.212-3(b) for those representations and certifications that the offerer shall complete electronically);

(9) Acknowledgment of Solicitation Amendments;

(10) Past performance information, when included as an evaluation factor, to include recent and relevant contracts for the same or similar items and other references (including contract numbers, points of contact with telephone numbers and other relevant information); and

(11) If the offer is not submitted on the SF 1449, include a statement specifying the extent of agreement with all terms, conditions, and provisions included in the solicitation. Offers that fail to furnish required representations or information, or reject the terms and conditions of the solicitation may be excluded from consideration.  

If you include these 11 items on a letterhead responding to the Combined Synopsis/Solicitation, you are in compliance. One other great thing about a Combined Synopsis/Solicitation is that the response can usually be emailed or faxed to the contracting officer so it's a lot easier to submit a bid once you've completed it.

UNIFORM CONTRACT FORMAT

To facilitate reading a Government proposal, many of those proposals use what is called the Uniform Contract Format. In this convention of putting a proposal together, a Contracting Officer will put the exact same data under headers going from A to M. The actual sections are shown below:

 

UNIFORM CONTRACT FORMAT
SECTION TITLE
PART 1 THE SCHEDULE
A SOLICITATION/CONTRACT FORM
B SUPPLIES OR SERVICES AND PRICES/COST
C DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATION/WORK STATEMENT
D PACKAGING AND MARKING
E INSPECTION AND ACCEPTANCE
F DELIVERIES OR PERFORMANCE
G CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION DATA
H SPECIAL CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS
PART II CONTRACT CLAUSES
I CONTRACT CLAUSES
PART III LIST OF DOCUMENTS, EXHIBITS, AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES
J CONTRACT CLAUSES
PART IV REPRESENTATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONS
K REPRESENTATIONS, CERTIFICATIONS AND OTHER STATEMENTS OF OFFERER
L INSTRUCTIONS, CONDITIONS, AND NOTICES OF OFFERERS
M EVALUATION FACTORS FOR AWARD

 

 When you have a bid that uses the Uniform Contract Format, you can always be assured the Scope of Work is always going to be under Section C and the Instructions on putting the bid together will be under Section L. Finally, the Evaluations factors the government will use in awarding under this solicitation will be under Section M. I highlighted those three sections on purpose as they are the keys on how to read a bid quickly to assist in your Bid/No Bid determination.

USING CLM TO READ A BID PACKAGE

With the above information, now you can see that certain key sections of a bid package can be read quickly to determine your bid/no-bid decision. Using the acronym pertaining to the key three sections, we can now 'CLM' a bid or, we read the scope first to find out what the Government wants, we then go to the instructions on how to put it together and find other directions from the government and finally, we see the evaluation factors or 'hot buttons' to determine the award. The rest of the bid can be reviewed after your initial CLM review.

But consider this, not all bid packages use the Uniform Contract Format so what do you do then? Same thing as before. Train yourself to skim a bid package to see where the Statement of Work or Scope of Work or Performance Work Statement is. That is the section that relates to the C in our acronym. After finding that and deciding you are capable of performing what the government needs, then again skim the bid package to find instructions for submission - or the L in our acronym. After reviewing those, we finally do a third skim of the bid package to find how these bids are going to be evaluated to determine the awardee.

BID/NO BID DETERMINATION

After reviewing the CLM sections of a bid and determining this is something you can bid on, the next question is should you bid. This is the bid/no bid decision and I want to be very clear that in most situations, the best decision is no bid. That is very hard for many companies since they want to have as many bids in the pipeline as possible. But the key factor is not the quantity of bids submitted but the submission of bids that have a higher PW - probability of win. With that in mind, we have to make a quick decision on the bid/no bid determination. Time is a finite asset and must be used judiciously. So the bid/no bid decision must be made in the most efficient manner.

When compiling a list of potential bids, you will find many that you can go after. But there must be a downselect process to get to the ones that are both biddable and winnable.  In downselecting as is shown in the diagram on the right, you will take all the opportunities available - micropurchase, RFQs, RFPs, Combined Synopsis/Solicitations, subcontracting opportunities - and put them in the hopper. As you apply qualification criteria to them, you determine that some are no bid situations. Your list becomes smaller as you continue to cull the list until finally you arrive at the opportunities that have a higher probability of win. These are the ones you go after. 

The steps you go through on each bid are the same and should become second nature quickly. After reviewing the bid via CLM, then you begin to identify potential discriminators. Those discriminators define your bid/no bid parameters. Combined in the bid/no bid is probability of win, assessment on the return on your investment and what impact this bid will have on the company's strategic plan. And as you progress through the bid process, the bid/no bid decision can be made at many times; before the bid is issued, after the bid is issued, after doing competitive intel gathering as we will discuss below or after attendance to a site visit or pre-proposal conference.

INITIAL BID PARAMETERS TO ASK
Here are the first set of questions that will begin the bid/no bid process. Answering no to any of these should result in an automatic no bid decision:

 
DETERMINING PAST BID DATA
There are many ways to find out if this bid has been awarded before or if this is a new requirement. The archive section of FBO may have this posted, you can look on USASpending.gov or one of the most efficient ways to find this data out is to request the information from the Contracting Officer. I have always taught that this is the first thing to do after completing the initial CLM review. This piece of information will help in reviewing the first set of bid discriminators.

POTENTIAL DISCRIMINATORS
These discriminators can work in both directions. Either they are a strength for you or they are a strength for a competitor. You can see how these pieces of data can quickly sway a bid/no bid decision
 


SET YOUR BID/NO BID PARAMETERS
With the above criteria, you can now develop a bid/no bid checklist with key questions:

 

In addition, there is the possibility that the bid might be 'tailored' or 'shaped' specifically to another contractor. Ask these questions:

 

If after going through that entire process you decide to bid, then fully commit to providing the Government the absolutely best proposal you can. If you determine that this is a no bid, then do not look back. Archive the bid for the next procurement cycle and never second guess your decision. In the end, you become a smarter and more efficient bidder who is going to increase the probability of win.

CLICK HERE TO GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE - COMPETITION AND SWOT
CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO THE MAIN BID PAGE

 

Join Our Mailing List