2.4  PCAG Activities During the Early Phase of the Acquisition.

a.  Begin Discussing Relevancy and Recency.  

relevancy and recency are two key items involved in the review of offerors past performance.  During the early phase of the acquisition, the PCAG should begin the process of defining what is relevant for this effort and how recent the contract performance should be in order to be applicable.  The PCAG will need to discuss relevancy and recency with the technical team members (See chapter 3 for discussion on relevancy and recency).  

b.  Begin Drafting the Questionnaire.  

The PCAG should also begin drafting the questionnaire it will use for gathering past performance information (See chapter 4 for information on the questionnaire).  The past performance evaluation is directly tied to the Mission Capability factor and subfactors, and Cost/Price factor; therefore, development of the questionnaire needs to focus on the Mission Capability factor and subfactors, and Cost/Price factor.  

c.  Initiate Discussions Involving Management Processes for the Source Selection.

In addition, the PCAG should internally discuss handling of information in the evaluation process and what data management process they will use to track the proposals, questionnaires, Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), other data received, evaluations, evaluation notices (ENs), etc.  The PCAG will need a secure work area with access to telephones, a fax machine and locking file cabinets.  The PCAG chairperson must ensure these resources and adequate administrative support are available to the PCAG team.  

d.  Review Latest Past Performance Guidance.  

The PCAG chairperson should meet with the Acquisition Center of Excellence (ACE), if available at your location and policy office.  These individuals will provide the latest guidance with respect to conducting past performance evaluation.  ACE members are valuable assets for PCAG training, lessons learned, briefing formats, and other materials during the planning stages and throughout the source selection.