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How are task orders issued against a GSA schedule contract?
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Posted On: Monday December 29th, 2003 at 12:00am EST
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Once you have been awarded a GSA schedule contract, you have a contract vehicle against which task orders may be issued by authorized buyers in and outside of the federal government. Like all task order contracts, the government has agreed to a guaranteed minimum, in this case, $25,000, but your GSA schedule, although a very valuable business development tool, is merely another “license to hunt.”
Step One: A Request for Quote is prepared by the buying activity that includes a statement of work. The SOW is be prepared that outlines, at a minimum, the work to be performed, location of work, period of performance, deliverable schedule, applicable standards, acceptance criteria, and any special requirements. It is important for you as an MBE to understand that the program office and contracting office may collaborate on developing the RFQ and the SOW.
The RFQ may ask you, if necessary or appropriate, to submit a project plan for performing the task, and information on your experience and/or past performance performing similar tasks. The RFQ notifies you of the basis will be used for selecting the contractor to receive the order. The notice includes the basis for determining whether you and the other offerors are technically qualified and provides an explanation regarding the intended use of any experience and/or past performance information in determining technical qualification of responses.
Step Two: The RFQ is transmitted the RFQ to contractors who have been included on the “list” to receive the solicitation. Based upon an initial evaluation of catalogs and price lists, the ordering office should identify the contractors that appear to be able to offer the best value and include them on this list. In any case, the RFQ is provided to at least three (3) contractors if the proposed order is estimated to exceed the micro-purchase threshold ($2500), but not exceed the maximum order threshold. If the maximum order threshold will be exceeded, the RFQ is sent to additional vendors. However, the RFQ shall be provided to ANY contractor who specifically requests a copy.
Step Three: After responses have been evaluated against the factors identified in the RFQ, the order should be placed with the schedule contractor that represents the best value to the government. |
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