201.170 Peer Reviews.
(a)
(2) The DISA Component Acquisition Executive (CAE) and Head of the Contracting Activity (HCA) shall jointly provide a rolling annual forecast of acquisitions with an anticipated value of $1billion or more (including options) at the end of each quarter to the Director, Defense Procurement, Acquisition Policy, and Strategic Sourcing (OUSD(AT&L(DPAPSS)) on a quarterly basis.
(b) The DISA Joint Acquisition and Contracting Peer Review Program for Supplies and Services establishes policy and procedures for conducting Peer Reviews of all solicitations, contracts, and task orders/delivery orders with a total value equal to $50 million or more, but less than $1 billion, with the exception of communication service authorizations (CSAs) issued using the DISA streamlined Inquiry/Quote/Order (IQO) process or issued against an indefinite delivery contract.
(S-90) Objective. The objective of the DISA Peer Review Program is to ensure that contracting officers across DISA are implementing policy and regulations in a consistent and appropriate manner, continue to improve the quality of contracting processes across DISA, and facilitate the cross-sharing of best practices and lessons learned across DISA.
(S-91) Decision Points. Peer Reviews shall be conducted at the following decision points:
(1) Competitive Supplies and Services
(i) Prior to the release of the solicitation
(ii) Prior to the issuance of the request for final proposal revision (FPR)
(iii) Prior to award
(2) Non-Competitive Supplies and Services
(i) Prior to negotiation
(ii) Prior to award
(3) Post-Award (Services Only)
(i) Mid-point of the initial performance period if in excess of one year and annually thereafter
(ii) Prior to exercising each option period
(S-92) Peer Review Team Composition. Peer Reviews and the chartering of team members will be addressed in the acquisition review board when one is required for the acquisition. Team members shall be identified and appointed prior to the final acquisition strategy or acquisition plan. The teams shall be multi-functional, based on experience and knowledge of the individual requirement and acquisition process, be able to address the quality of the requirement, plan for oversight and contracting issues, processes, and procedures.
At a minimum, teams will be comprised of representatives from the Procurement Directorate (PLD), Office of General Counsel (OGC), and technical representatives as appropriate for an individual acquisition. Each PLD, OGC, and Technical representative must be independent/outside the office being reviewed. Technical representatives may include personnel from the logistics, engineering, or program management. Personnel directly involved in or with cognizant authority for the acquisition shall not be members of the peer review team. For contracting team members, members shall be selected, in order of descending preference as follows: from a different DISA contracting office, division, or branch.
All travel and TDY expenses shall be paid by the organization or directorate providing the team member. The use of collaborative communication tools, such as DCO, are encouraged where practicable to conduct a review.
Team members are appointed at the inception of the peer review process and are expected to serve on the all peer review decision points for the acquisition, unless otherwise stated in the appointment letter or replaced by the appointing authority.
(S-93) Peer Review Procedures. Peer Review requests should be submitted using Appendix J, Attachment 5. The requesting office (RO), usually the Program Management's office, will submit the peer review request concurrently to CAE and PLD, via the PL2 Division Chief, as soon as a procurement requiring peer review is identified. For acquisitions in support of non-DISA customers, the cognizant HCO will initiate the peer review request and identify the point of contact for CAE to request technical team members.
PLD and CAE approval is only required at the beginning of the Peer Review process and is not required again for subsequent decision points. See CAE Guideline 8, Independent Reviews, at DISA workspaces https://workspaces.disa.mil/gm/folder-1.11.329568 for more information on CAE's role in the peer review process.
The members of the Peer Review team are appointed as follows: CAE will appoint the technical team member(s), PLD will appoint the contracting team member(s), and GC will appoint the general counsel team member(s). Upon CAE and PLD concurrence on the request for a peer review, the PL2 Division Chief will send OGC a request to appoint a legal representative and a request to the cognizant HCO to nominate a contracting representative for HCA approval. Requests for nominations of team members will be in accordance with Appendix J, Attachment 6.
For contracting team members, the cognizant HCO will nominate a contracting representative using a DISA Form 9 for HCA approval and appointment. The DISA Form 9 shall be routed to the PL2 Division Chief and, at a minimum, state the title, description, and dollar value of the procurement, phase of Peer Review (pre-solicitation, pre-award, etc.) and the contracting nominee's name, position/title, contracting division/branch, and contracting experience (years and types of procurements).
Upon appointment, in accordance with Appendix J, Attachment 7, the SPE, CAE, GC, and PLD will receive courtesy copies of all appointments.
The contracting officer shall provide soft copy read-aheads of all required documentation to each peer review team member at least 3-5 full business days in advance of the scheduled Peer Review meeting. Documents should be coordination-ready, not draft stages. The contracting officer should refer to the applicable checklists in Appendix J, Attachments 1 through 4 when determining read-ahead documents for team distribution. This will facilitate an efficient Peer Review, improve the quality of the Peer Review reports, and avoid adding unnecessary procurement administrative lead time.
(S-94) Peer Review Reports. Peer Review report shall be completed and distributed immediately after the conclusion of the review and is required to address the following areas at a minimum:
1) The checklists in Appendix J, Attachments 1 through 4 must be completed and any area that is assessed to be deficient or not applicable will require a written explanation of the supporting rationale.
2) Critical deficiencies which violate policy, regulation, or statute.
3) Recommendations for improvements that if enacted would improve management and oversight of the contract, improve efficiency or reduce cost, or yield other benefits for the instant or similar future requirements.
4) Best practices which if enacted across DISA contracts would improve the execution, management, or oversight of contracts; improve efficiency or reduce cost, or yield other benefits.
5) Lessons learned regarding the peer review process, which if shared across DISA contracts would improve the efficiency of the review process.
(S-95) Distribution of Peer Review Reports. Peer review reports shall be distributed to the following parties:
• Contracting Officer - For disposition and inclusion in the contract file. Contracting officers shall ensure that the peer review report and disposition of all peer review recommendations is documented are documented in the contract file prior to proceeding to the next phase of the procurement.
• Cognizant Head of the Contracting Office (HCO)
• Head of the Contracting Activity (HCA)
• Component Acquisition Executive (CAE)
• PL22 Quality Assurance Branch Chief to compile findings and recommendations from peer review reports, analyze trends, and make recommendations on repetitive deficiencies or recommendations/observations to improve the quality of future requirements documents and acquisitions.
(S-96) Waivers. If critical mission performance circumstances necessitate the request of a waiver from one or more of the peer reviews, the waiver request should be forwarded to the Head of the Contracting Activity (HCA). Waivers will be granted only in extreme circumstances with the approval of both the Head of the Contracting Activity (HCA) and the Component Acquisition Executive (CAE). Waiver requests shall be approved prior to proceeding with an action without a peer review. Waivers may only be requested for procurements valued under $1 Billion.