First, keep this important "lesson learned" in mind:
Don't spec the requirement so tightly that
you get the same solution from each offeror.
Second, performance-based service acquisition requires that the integrated project team usually must jettison some traditional approaches to buying services... like specifying labor categories, educational requirements, or number of hours of support required. Those are "how" approaches. Instead, let contractors propose the best people with the best skill sets to meet the need and fit the solution. The government can then evaluate the proposal based both on the quality of the solution and the experience of the proposed personnel. In making the shift to performance-based acquisition, remember this:
The significant problems we face cannot be solved
at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
(Albert Einstein)
The Department of Defense addresses this in the "Guidebook for Performance-Based Services Acquisition (PBSA) in the Department of Defense." The guide provides as follows:
Prescribing manpower requirements limits the ability of offerors to propose their best solutions, and it could preclude the use of qualified contractor personnel who may be well suited for performing the requirement but may be lacking -- for example -- a complete college degree or the exact years of specified experience.
For some services, in fact, such practices are prohibited. Congress passed a provision (section 813) in the 2001 Defense Authorization Act, now implemented in the FAR (with government-wide applicability, of course). It prescribes that, when acquiring information technology services, solicitations may not describe any minimum experience or educational requirements for proposed contractor personnel unless the contracting officer determines that needs of the agency either (1) cannot be met without that requirement or (2) require the use of other than a performance-based contract.
Third, note there are times when more prescriptive language is required in a Performance Work Statement or in a Statement of Objectives (SOO). For example, when acquiring services where life and limb are at stake, agencies may provide more details regarding what has to be done. Guard services typically follow an agency security plan and there are certain aspects to the work that cannot be left to "contractor innovation." Further, services of this type will have 100 percent performance standards (any intrusion is unacceptable), whereas for most other service types, the price for "perfection" would be unaffordable.
Remember that how the performance work statement is written will either empower the private sector to craft innovative solutions... or limit (sometimes but not always properly) or cripple that ability.
|
back
