Federal Acquisition Service U.S. General Services Administration Mary Moran Contracting Officer, QMACB September 5, 2012 Mary Moran Contracting Officer, QMACB September 5, 2012 Office of Acquisition Operations QMA Federal Acquisition Service

Agenda  Responding to Agency Requests for Proposal (RFQ)s –Top Ten “DO”s for Submitting an Effective Proposal  Questions and Answers 2

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  1. Keep Pricing and Services Offered Up to Date on GSA e-Advantage:  a) Remember Agencies are shopping for services among your company and your competitors and are looking for competitive pricing as well as needed services;  b) Old, outdated or worse - no Vendor Pricing at all reflects poorly on the Vendor responding to an RFQ. 3

Federal Acquisition Service 4 Top Ten “Do”s  2. Propose to the Agency’s Requirements:  a) Don’t just supply boilerplate language, actually craft the language so that in each section of the requirement you are addressing the agency's needs;  b) Be realistic about the services you are offering and don’t oversell yourself but in cases where you can not just meet the requirements but exceed them -point that out and it may well give you the competitive edge you need be awarded the Agency Task Order.

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  3. Propose Qualified People:  a) Be realistic and rigorous about the skills your personnel offer and list education, type of and years of experience as well as any certifications;  b) If your company lacks a certain skill set this may provide an opportunity to “team” with another Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) vendor to meet the agency’s needs. 5

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s 4. Past Performance Evaluations: a)The last thing a busy Contracting Officer has time for is hunting down a vendor’s Past Performance Evaluation. Follow up is key as in making sure your evaluator has forwarded their Evaluation per the RFQ instructions; b) Additionally, be sure and include a sheet which details the Point of Contact information for the evaluator just in case the Contracting Officer needs to reach out to them for clarification. 6

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  5. Respond to all sections of the RFQ in an adequate manner:  a) One of the things we see in offers we receive from prospective offerors a lot is the failure to adequately respond to our Statements of Work. Instead we get a boiler plate “speal” on how great the vendor is. The offeror who responds to our Statements of Work in this manner is found to be technically defective. That might be the case with other Agency RFQs as well.  b) Gain experience in responding to RFQs whenever you have the opportunity. 7

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  6. Don’t be Complacent – especially when you are the Incumbent:  a) Keep in mind the team doing the technical evaluation may have no familiarity with your work;  b) Address each section of the RFQ to the best of your ability as though you are a new respondent. 8

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  7. Make sure Vendor information is current for all other Contractor sites such as Central Contractor Register(CCR);  a) Keep in mind the requirement for a current CCR registration in order to maintain a GSA contract;  b) Remember to check the CCR info for accuracy as it flows into and populates your GSA e-Advantage site. 9

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  8. Is Schedule being taken advantage of as well as Teaming with other Vendors to expand Services Offered?  a) Remember to list all of your support services under ;  b) Remember too the difference in IFF for items under $1.50 versus.075%. 10

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  9. Make Certain You are Available to Answer any Questions Especially During Clarification and Negotiations  a) An especially critical time for the vendor to make themselves available is during Clarifications and Negotiations;  b) Make sure for both processes that your answers are clear and unambiguous. 11

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  10. Make Certain You Are Financially Able to Take On The Work The Agency Has:  a) On occasion we have seen vendors undertake work they were not in a position to perform and it ends badly for everyone so be cautious. 12

Federal Acquisition Service Top Ten “Do”s  Resources  Visit our Vendor Support Center at vsc.gsa especially our Government Marketplace and Business Opportunities Tabs for information on enhancing your business. 13

Federal Acquisition Service ANY QUESTIONS? Responding to Agency Requests for Proposal (RFP)s –Top Ten “DO”s for Submitting an Effective Proposal 14