- Competitive government-wide indefinite deliver/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) vehicle usage fee of 0.8 percent provides a valid competitive vehicle alternative specifically designed for the R&D/science and technology (S&T) community.
- Support of any/all phases of R&D efforts from initiation through operational prototyping, inclusive of transition into operations and maintenance (O&M), but of course not O&M itself. To this end, not only R&D dollars but also those O&M dollars that support R&D efforts may be appropriate for SNIM technical area task (TAT) funding as approved by the DTIC SNIM Contracting Officer. All TATs are categorized as "R&D" or advisory and assistance services, "A&AS."
- A negotiable labor category and rate structure schedule policy allows for extensive government flexibility to accommodate specialized labor resources and competitive pricing tables on a task-by-task basis. This policy empowers the end customer, Requesting Authority (RA), to customize their unique labor and rate schedules in accordance with the needs of their R&D or A&AS task as appropriate.
- Significant IDIQ level small business goals (15 percent year 1, 20 percent years 2 and3, 25 percent years 4 and 5) are program goals and measured at the master IDIQ level, which drives industry to engage small businesses while providing government the flexibility for accessing the right resources for an individual task regardless of small business affiliation.
- The Defense Technical Information Center 55th Contracting Squadron (DTIC/55CONS) procurement team is dedicated to expediting procurements and offers an operational, interactive, and comprehensive web interface (http://iac.dtic.mil/snim.html) for potential government RAs to further facilitate and expedite that process.
- The DTIC program's open teaming policy allows for accessibility of additional teammates of choice through the SNIM vehicle should the established IDIQ awarded team not be sufficient to the RA on a task-by-task procurement basis.
- All SNIM Team tasks additionally provide DTIC registered research and reference support for extensive S&T information re-use for more efficient task order execution.
- All TAT's are competed across all SNIM prime teams, ensuring both competition and diversity for government procurements. Procurement evaluations:
- Are based on salary-based escalation schedules to further keep multi-year task proposals competitively priced.
- Evaluate "prior experience" (what related work has been done), not "past performance" (how well prior experiences have been performed), which was already evaluated and awarded through the master IDIQ procurement.
- Government end customers (Requesting Authorities) play a vital, active, and integrated role in all phases of task order procurement package development and source selection determination and award. DTIC and 55CONS follow through the entire procurement process in full partnership with and service to the Requesting Authority.
