1 Viewer Question #1: Question and Answer The panelists indicated vendors are more likely to bid if they know well in advance that an RFP is coming out. How much are we allowed to tell a vendor about an RFP before it is released? How does industry find out about a potential RFP 180 days out when most procurement shops try not to communicate one on one with vendors to prevent Favoritism?

2 Viewer Question #2: Question and Answer RFIs are a market research tool. With respect to RFIs, you appeared to be skeptical of those which sought engineering input. I find that many of our RFIs are attempts to narrow the technical scope to ones which are relevant and biddable. How can we best bridge the gap between requirements developed exclusively by agencies through their internal expertise and market research other than RFI, and RFIs that engage the vendor community to help define the approach?

3 Viewer Question #3: Question and Answer How might the To Bid or Not Bid decision be affected by the size of a company (e.g., a small business company's decision of whether or not to bid)?

4 Viewer Question #4: Question and Answer I am a federal employee and haven't gotten a raise in three years, so I am offended by routine annual price increases for contractors of approximately 3% that are quoted in many of the price quotes that I review. Given the current budget climate where Government salaries are constrained, can you justify the routine annual increases given to Contractors?

5 Viewer Question #5: Question and Answer In regards to solicitations and RFPs coming out around the holidays... would you rather see the RFP come out before the holidays and then have a longer time to respond, or delay release of the RFP until after the holidays and have a shorter time to respond?

6 Viewer Question #6: Question and Answer I regularly get proposals that avoid addressing the criteria, or are ambiguous, or are otherwise deficient in addressing the criteria, or are top heavy with some meaningless marketing lingo. What is the problem with Contractors being able to clearly address evaluation criteria, or better yet not offering proposals if they cannot articulate their solutions according to the evaluation criteria?

7 Viewer Question #7: Question and Answer What is your criteria of initiating a protest? In order to avoid protests I go out of my way to use contract vehicles like NASA/SEWP or NITAAC or ARMY CHESS ITES-2S where protests are rare or restricted. What is you’re feeling about vendors that aggressively initiate protests which have no real merit but are nothing more than very expensive nuisances and are strategic to avoid an award to a competitor?