5315.305 Proposal Evaluation

See MP5315.305 for required Air Force proposal evaluation procedures.

(a)

(i) Offerors are required to meet all solicitation requirements, such as terms and conditions, representations and certifications, and technical requirements, in addition to those identified as evaluation factors or subfactors. Failure to meet a requirement may result in an offer being ineligible for award. Offerors must clearly identify any exception to the solicitation terms and conditions and provide complete accompanying rationale. The instructions to offerors and evaluation criteria (Sections L and M or equivalent provisions of the solicitation) shall inform offerors of this condition for award.

(ii) Except for cost studies under OMB Circular A-76, source selection teams using the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) or Performance Price Tradeoff (PPT) process may select an evaluation approach where all proposals are evaluated against the most important non-price factor first, and only those proposals meeting the requirements of that factor proceed to the next phase of the evaluation. IG5315.101-1 provides examples of various evaluation approaches. Ensure the approach selected is clearly communicated in the solicitation and followed throughout the evaluation process.

See IG5315.305 for guidance on documenting the proposal analysis.

(2) Past performance evaluation. Informational Guidance on conducting the past performance evaluation is available in IG5315.305(a)(2).

(1) Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) employees. A FFRDC employee may serve as a source selection team member including membership in a Source Selection Advisory Council (SSAC) or Source Selection Evaluation Team (SSET); however, an FFRDC employee may not serve as a member of the Performance Confidence Assessment Group, as chairperson of a SSAC or SSET, or as an SSA. If FFRDC personnel are used, subparagraph 5315.305(c)(2)(iii) below applies.

(2) Advisors. Non-government advisors may be used as necessary to assist in the source selection evaluation. Although advisors may assist in the evaluation and provide input regarding the strengths, deficiencies, and weaknesses in proposals, they shall not determine ratings or rankings of offerors' proposals. Non-government advisors shall not be the SSA, Chairperson of the SSET/SSAC or a member of or advisor to the Performance Confidence Assessment Group. If contractor personnel are used as advisors the following applies:

(i) Access to offeror proposals shall be restricted to only those portions for which the individual's expertise is required in the evaluation (e.g., software support contractor only reviews software hours proposed).

(ii) The contracting officer shall ensure that the necessary approval has been obtained in accordance with FAR 37.2.

(iii) The solicitation shall list contractors who will be used, provide notice to prospective offerors that such contractor personnel will be used and the manner in which they will be used, and provide the offeror an opportunity to object to the release of proposal information (see (v) below).

(iv) Appropriate Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) clauses shall be included under the contract through which the non-government personnel are provided and those non-governmental personnel shall not have any financial interests with any of the offerors.

(v) If a competing offeror objects to the release of their proposal information to any non-government advisor, the contracting officer shall make a determination whether the non-government advisor(s) shall be permitted to participate in the source selection. The contracting officer shall inform the objecting offeror of the final determination, and, if the use of non-government advisors has been changed, shall inform all offerors of the change.

(3) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers and international cooperative project partners. The FMS customers may participate in the source selection process as advisors only. In addition, the contracting officer shall not release cost information or any part of an offeror's cost proposal to representatives of FMS customers. International cooperative project partners shall not serve as the chairperson of the evaluation team or any segment thereof or as the SSA.