Factors Influencing Bid Outcome

April 13, 2006

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Which factors do government buyers consider in looking at your bid and finally awarding the contract? Here are some of the most important:

Does Your Bid Meet All Essential Requirements? One of the first things that government buyers will do is make sure that your bid conforms to all essential requirements of the solicitation. This includes exact conformance to all the specifications, drawings, descriptions, and standards specified in the contract solicitation, as well as materials, delivery dates, packaging and marking requirements, past performance history, etc. Often, these factors are referred to as "Best Value."

Are You Capable? Buyers will also consider whether you are capable of performing and delivering on the contract. Just because you know in your heart that you can do the work is not enough for buyers. They will be looking at your technical capability and trying to make sure that you have the experience and know-how to do the work. Do you have the production capability? If the contract calls for 100,000 widgets and you have one drill press and a milling machine and a part-time retired guy . . . well, they might see a problem and you probably won't get the contract. Do you have a real place of operation? If you are manufacturing items out of your garage, then that could also be a handicap in getting a contract. Here's a major consideration: financial capability. For some reason, reasonable business people think that if they are in financial trouble, a government contract will be able to fix the situation and get them financially healthy again. Sorry, but if your business is in trouble, the last thing you want is a contract where the margins are tight and you might have trouble getting financial help to do the work. The government buying offices are not in the business of starting and financing a private company!

What's Your Performance Record? Another important consideration for buyers is your past performance record. If you didn't meet a deadline on your first contract or if you have a history of late deliveries on contracts, the government will not want to work with you. The government operates on strict schedules and when you don't meet one, the government tends to get very upset and never forget. Even in cases where price is a deciding factor, the government now factors in past performance in figuring out the real cost for an item.

You now can check your company's delivery status by going to the Business Partner Network (www.bpn.gov) web site--the single source for vendor data for the federal government. The BPN search mechanism provides unprecedented access into several key databases across federal agencies (see Chapter 19, "Help from the Government" for more complete coverage on BPN). When you go to the BPN site, check out your past performance record.

The Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) contains report cards assessing a vendor's past performance in doing business with the government. It is made available to government source selection officials who use the information as one of several factors in determining which company should be awarded a new contract. Contractors are encouraged to validate their own past performance information and to refer to records in PPIRS when preparing proposals.

To access PPIRS, the contractor must register a past performance point of contact in the Central Contractor Registration profile and generate a Marketing Partner Identification Number (MPIN). Your CCR POC is the only person with access to your company's active registration, therefore you need to contact your CCR POC to establish the MPIN. Contractors may then log onto PPIRS using their DUNS number as a user ID and their MPIN number as a password. It takes about a week to update PPIRS with newly activated MPIN numbers. New information is made available every Thursday morning.

Contractors who have successfully obtained an MPIN may find that there are no records available on them in PPIRS. This is either because the contractor has no contracts meeting the thresholds for report cards (in DoD, $1 million for services and information technology and $5 million for systems and operations support; $100,000 for federal agencies) or because the reports have not yet been written. Contractors are encouraged to contact their buyers to ensure that the reports are written.

Do You Have Adequate Quality Control? Government buyers want assurance that you will provide a quality product. You may not need to go all out and get certified under strict international quality standards, but you should have a good, well-documented quality control program that tells all of your customers, including the government, how you guarantee that you will provide quality products and services.