A B C D E F G
H I J K
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Administrative
appeal authority.
— With receipt of an appeal, the official designated in
paragraph 9.a. of the Circular A-76, or designee, assigns
an official(s) to serve on an A-76 Administrative Appeal
Authority for that appeal The individual(s) selected must
be: (a) independent of the activity under review or, (b)
at least two organizational levels above the official who
certified the Government’s Management Plan and MEO. The
Appeal Authority reviews appeals to ensure that all costs
are properly accounted for in accordance with the principles
and procedures of the A-76 Supplemental Handbook http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a076supp.pdf .
The Authority shall also ensure that all participants have
full and equal access to the decision process.
Affected
parties. — Federal employees and existing
Federal contractors that will or could be impacted by a
decision to waive a cost comparison or have submitted bids
to convert to or from in-house, contract or ISSA performance,
as a result of a cost comparison, and their representatives
are affected parties. Agencies or parts of agencies that
have submitted formal bids or offers, in order to compete
for the right to provide services through ISSAs, are also
considered affected parties.
Commercial activity. — A commercial activity is the process resulting in a product or
service that is or could be obtained from a private sector
source. Agency missions may be accomplished through commercial
Real Property Management and resources, Government Real Property Management and resources
or mixes thereof, depending upon the product, service, type
of mission and the equipment required.
Commercial
source. — A
commercial source is any business or other concern that
is eligible for contract award in accordance with Federal
Acquisition Regulations.
Contract
administration. — Contract
administration includes those inherently governmental activities
performed by warranted contracting officers (CO), the contracting
officer’s technical representatives (COTR), and related
payment evaluation staff. Contract administration is not
to be confused with contract quality control, performance
evaluation or inspection, which are defined as commercial
activities by the A-76 Supplemental Handbook.
Conversion to contract.
— A conversion to contract is the change of performance
of a commercial activity from in-house performance by Federal
employees to performance by a commercial source.
Conversion
from contract. — Conversion from contract
to in-house performance means the change of a commercial
activity from performance by contract with a commercial
source to performance by Federal employees with Government
resources. It also includes the conversion of expansions
and/or new requirements (work) from contract performance
to in-house performance.
Core
capability. — A core capability is a commercial activity operated by a cadre
of highly skilled employees, in a specialized technical
or scientific development area, to ensure that a minimum
capability is maintained. The core capability does not include
the skills, functions or FTE that may he retained in-house
for reasons of National Defense, including military mobilization,
security or rotational necessity, or to the patient care
or research and development activities, as provided in Part
I, Chapter 1 of the Supplemental Handbook.
Cost
comparison. — A cost comparison is the process whereby the estimated cost of
Government performance of a commercial activity is formally
compared, in accordance with the principles and procedures
of OMB Circular A-76 and Supplemental Handbook, to the cost
of performance by commercial or ISSA sources.
Expansion. — An expansion is the modernization, replacement, upgrading or
the enlargement of an in-house commercial activity or capability,
if the expansion involves a. 30-percent increase in the
operating cost of the activity, a 30-percent increase in
the total capital investment to perform the activity or
an increase of 65 FTE or more, a cost comparison is required
prior to authorizing in-house performance. A consolidation
of two or more existing commercial activities is not an
expansion, unless the total operating cost is 30 percent
greater than the total of the individual components or it
requires an increase of 65 FTP or more.
Exemption. — An exemption
is a determination, made in accordance with Circular A-76
and the Supplemental Handbook, that a commercial activity
may be converted to or from in-house, contract or ISSA performance,
without cost comparison and may be justified by reasons
other than cost.
Inherently governmental
activity. —
An inherently governmental activity is one that is so intimately
related to the public interest as to mandate performance
by Federal employees. Activities that meet these criteria
are not in competition with commercial sources, are not
generally available from commercial sources and are, therefore,
not subject to Circular A—76 or to avoid an unacceptable
transfer of official responsibility to contract performance
may be found in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy
(OFPP) Policy Letter 92-1. See Appendix 5 http://www.arnet.gov/Library/OFPP/PolicyLetters/Letters/PL92-1.html
Independent
Review Officer (IRO). —
The agency official who certifies—prior to bid opening—that
the Government’s performance and cost comparison estimates
have been prepared in accordance with Circular A-76.
ISSA. — The provision of a commercial activity, in accordance with an
interservice support agreement, on a reimbursable basis.
This includes franchise funds, revolving funds and working
capital funds.
Management Plan.
— The Management Plan is the document that outlines the
changes that will result in the Government’s Most Efficient
Organization (MEO) to perform a commercial activity in-house.
It provides the staffing patterns and operating procedures
that serve as a baseline for in-house cost estimates.
Most
Efficient Organization (MEO). — The MEO refers to the Government’s in-house organization to perform
a commercial activity. It may include a mix of Federal employees
and contract support. It is the basis for all Government
costs entered in the Cost Comparison Form. The Most Efficient
Organization (MEO) is the product of the Management Plan
and is based upon the Performance Work Statement (PWS).
New
requirements. — A new requirement is
a newly established need for a commercial product or service.
Overhead. — Overhead is defined as those costs
that are not directly attributable to the activity under
study.
Performance measures.
— Performance measures provide a series of indicators, expressed
in qualitative, quantitative or other tangible terms that
indicate whether current performance is reasonable and cost
effective. Performance measures can include workload and
output-to-cost ratios, transaction ratios, error rates,
consumption rates, inventory fill rates, timeliness measures,
completion and back order rates, etc. Quality service measures
may include responsiveness rates, user satisfaction rates,
etc.
Performance
standard. —A performance standard reflects
the minimum, sector-specific, Federal requirement for the
performance of a commercial activity. It incorporates both
quality measures and cost measures. Cost measures reflect
the cost comparability procedures to assure equity in the
comparison of performance standards with private industry
standards.
Performance
Work Statement (PWS). — A Performance Work Statement is a statement of the technical,
functional and performance characteristics of the work to
be performed, identifies essential functions to be performed,
determines performance factors, including the location of
the work, the units of work, the quantity of work units,
and the quality and timeliness of the work units. It serves
as the scope of work and is the basis for all costs entered
on the Cost Comparison Form.
Post
MEO performance review. — When services
are performed in-house, as a result of a cost comparison,
including those involving an interservice support agreement,
a formal review and inspection of the Most Efficient Organization
(MEO) should be conducted. Typically, this review should
he conducted following the end of the first full year of
performance. Post-MEO Performance Reviews confirm that the
MEO has been implemented in accordance with the Transition
Plan, establish the MEO’s ability to perform the services
of the PWS and confirm that actual costs are within the
estimates contained in the in-house cost estimate. Adjustments
may be made for formal mission or scope of work changes.
Preferential
procurement programs. — These are special
"commercial’’ source programs, such as Federal Prison Industries
and the workshops administered by the Committee for the
Purchase from the Blind and Other Severely Handicapped under
the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act
Privatization. — Privatization is the process of changing
a public entity or enterprise to private control and ownership.
It does not include determinations as to whether a support
service should he obtained through public or private resources,
when the Government retains full responsibility and control
over the delivery of those services.
Quality assurance
surveillance. — Quality Assurance Surveillance
is the method by which Federal employees will supervise
in-house or contract performance to ensure that the standards
of the PWS are met within the costs bid.
Reasonable or competitive prices.
— The expected range of prices resulting from experience
obtained through the competitive free enterprise system
for like or similar activities. Determinations are to be
made by the Contracting Officer.
Recurring
commercial activity. — A recurring commercial
activity is one that is required by the Government on a
consistent and long term basis. This definition does not
imply an hourly, daily, monthly or annual requirement, but
must, in a general sense, be repetitive in nature, wherein
the expected workload can be reasonably estimated.
Sector.
— Certain commercial activities are common to more than
one agency. Many of these commercial activities can be aggregated.
For example, an agency may inventory transportation acquisition,
operations, maintenance and disposal as independent commercial
activities.
Severable
expansion. — A severable expansion is an expansion of currently contracted,
in-house or interservice support agreement provided work
that could be provided using the current approach or could,
without severe additional administrative burden, be provided
by another competitive offeror. Economies of scale are not
justification for dismissing new or expanded work as severable,
these economies will be tested through competitive offer.
Start
date. — This
term is used in two ways. First, it is the date when a cost
comparison begins, generally defined as the date that a
local Study Team is formed and actual work on the Performance
Work Statement, Management Plan and in-house cost estimate
begins. Second, it may refer to the actual date work is
scheduled to begin under a contract, as provided in the
solicitation.
(2002)
OMB Circular No. A-76 .
Email questions/comments: a76@od.nih.gov