Procurement Process

In this section, SAIC shares several lessons learned, ideas, and other observations regarding the pre-award procurement/acquisition and post-award execution of PBSA task orders relevant to the ITES-2S contract. We leave the full tutorial and educational treatment on PBSA to other forums.

• PBSA is the Preferred Method for Acquiring Services
  • The Federal Acquisition Regulation [FAR Section 37.102, Policy] states: “Performance-based contracting is the preferred method for acquiring services. When acquiring services, including those under supply contracts, agencies must … use performance-based contracting methods to the maximum extent practicable.” Additionally, the FAR prescribes policies, application for use to include excluded services, required elements, and the preferred contract type, firm-fixed price, when using PBA.
• PBSA Benchmark for FY 05
  • Agencies should apply PBSA methods on 40 percent of eligible service actions over $25,000, to include contracts, task orders, modifications, and options, awarded in fiscal year (FY) 2005, as measured in dollars. OFPP Memorandum September 7, 2004 (173k PDF file*)

Establishing a task order that satisfies the spirit and the intent of PBSA and that meets the objectives of FAR 37.102 can be challenging. During the last decade as PBSA has been defined and refined, SAIC and our ITES-2S team members have had many experiences with contracts and task orders that were both good and bad examples of PBSA. From these we have learned many lessons.

Major topics:

• Statement of Work
  
• Performance Work Statement
  
• Quality Assurance Surveillance Plan
  
• Statement of Objectives
  
• Additional Topics
  
• Learning More About PBSA