B.  What is the purpose of the SSDD?

The SSA has made a critical decision for the source selection.  While the SSA must use briefing charts, reports, analyses, and recommendation(s) from the Source Selection Evaluation Team (SSET) and the Source Selection Advisory Council (SSAC), when used, to make a decision, the SSDD must capture the SSA's subjective reasoning and resulting decision in a separate document.  The SSDD captures the rationale for his or her judgment, the tradeoffs made or relied upon by the SSA, and the benefits related to any additional costs for the tradeoffs (if the latter was applicable).  It also demonstrates how the best value decision was made in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in the Request for Proposal (RFP).  In the event of a protest, the GAO cannot conclude whether the SSA rendered a reasonable and fair decision without the justifying support presented in the SSDD.  Therefore, this document is critical to interested parties, the GAO and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.1

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1 See Tiger Enterprises, Inc., B-293951, July 26, 2004 where the GAO sustained a protest because the "Agency's evaluation of quotations and selection of the awardees quotation for award cannot be determined reasonable where the evaluation and source selection are not supported by the record."