ACQUISITION PLANNING
(Revised July 11, 2016)
Subpart 5107.1 – Acquisition Plans
5107.103 Agency-head responsibilities.
(d)(i) Prepare written acquisition plans, for up to a five-year period, in accordance with dollar thresholds identified at the DFARS 207.103(d)(i).
(ii) When there is not a requirement for a written acquisition plan, or the approval authority has waived the requirements of formality and detail in exceptional cases, use alternate contract documentation such as memoranda for record, price negotiation memoranda, and acquisition strategies (for service requirements) to record acquisition pre-award decisions and risk assessment information. Contracting officers shall maintain such decision support information in the contract file.
(m) Only the acquisition plan approval authority may waive requirements of detail and formality.
5107.103-90 Acquisition plan approvals.
(a) For acquisition plan approval, the dollar thresholds identified at DFARS 207.103(d)(i) apply to the following:
(1) For programs assigned to program executive officers (PEOs) or program managers reporting directly to the Army Acquisition Executive, the cognizant PEO or direct-reporting program manager is the acquisition plan approval authority. This approval authority is not redelegable.
(2) For all non-PEO/direct-reporting program manager acquisitions, the cognizant head of the contracting activity, delegable to no lower than the principal assistant responsible for contracting, is the acquisition plan approval authority.
(b) Approval of acquisition plans for procurements below the thresholds identified at DFARS 207.103(d)(i) shall be in accordance with contracting activity procedures.
(c) For Army Acquisition Executive-designated special interest acquisitions, the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) or the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Procurement) must approve the acquisition plans. Process acquisition plans for special interest acquisitions in the same manner as other acquisition plans and include all the concurrences listed in paragraph (c).
(d) The requests for approval of acquisition plans in accordance with the thresholds identified at DFARS 207.103(d)(i) must include the concurrence of the –
(1) Contracting officer;
(2) Local advocate for competition;
(3) Local office of small business programs or small business specialist;
(4) Legal office; and
(5) Appropriate elements from the supporting contracting activity chain of command.
(a)(i) Each head of the contracting activity (HCA) must establish procedures for forecasting all significant, as defined by a specified monetary threshold, or sensitive contracting requirements anticipated for the upcoming fiscal year.
(ii) These procedures will include procurement milestones and other management parameters for all proposed contract actions that the acquisition planning system will cover, including those proposed requirements for which DFARS 207.103(d)(ii) does not require written acquisition plans.
(iii) These procedures should allow sufficient time for development of an acquisition plan; preparation of solicitations, including any necessary coordination with requiring and technical elements; receipt and evaluation of bids or proposals; audits; negotiation; boards or business clearance reviews; source selection and preparation of contractual documents in an orderly and timely manner.
(iv) HCAs should establish due dates for submission of procurement requests requiring action by the end of the fiscal year to the contracting office. Exceptions to established due dates must be minimized and require authorization at a level not lower than the chief of the contracting office.
(v) In acquisitions where sole source approvals are necessary, acquisition planning must provide appropriate opportunities for the following:
(A) Involving Defense Contract Management Agency and Defense Contract Audit Agency early in the acquisition process.
(B) Obtaining appropriate contractor input for use in the development of the acquisition strategy.
(C) Establishing a Government and contractor team, including individuals with execution responsibility as well as reviewers, committed on a real-time basis to streamline the acquisition process and maintain open communications.
(D) Teaming of Government and contractor personnel in development of the proposal and model contract, leading to agreement on contractor effort and costs associated with the task(s).
(E) Teaming of the Government and contractor personnel during post-award contract performance to improve communications and develop efficient contract administration.
5107.170 Consolidation of contract requirements.
5107.170-3 Policy and procedures.
(a)(3) The Senior Procurement Executive has delegated authority to make the consolidation determination prescribed at DFARS 207.170-3(a)(3) as follows:
(A) Where the total value of the consolidated requirements is $500 million or more, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Procurement) will make the determination.
(B) Where the total value of the consolidated requirements is above $2 million but less than $500 million, the HCA, with authority to delegate to a level not lower than the PARC, will make the determination.
Subpart 5107.2 – Planning for the Purchase of Supplies in Economic Quantities
5107.204 Responsibilities of contracting officers.
(a) Send offerors’ responses to the solicitation provision in FAR 52.207-4 to the requiring activity.
Subpart 5107.3 – Contractor Versus Government Performance
To achieve fair and even-handed competition between in-house entities and industry, the principal assistant responsible for contracting will ensure that contracting officers provide industry with pertinent, accurate, and available data necessary to engender as full and complete an understanding as possible of the operation(s) covered by the A-76 competition. Historical data provided must be relevant and well organized (see Department of Army Pamphlet 5-20). To maximize use of Army resources, contracting officers must make every effort to utilize A-76 contracting best practices and good ideas that have worked for others and avoid repetition of unsuccessful strategies and procedures.
Subpart 5107.5 – Inherently Governmental Functions
(e)(i) Contracting officers must ensure that requiring officials provide a copy of the Request for Services Contract Approval (RSCA) form signed by an appropriate general officer or member of the Senior Executive Service, except as provided in (e)(ii). Contracting officers shall not complete or sign the service contract approval form. Contracting officers shall not issue a solicitation for a service requirement or award any service contract or order, modify a service contract or order to add new work, or exercise an option under a service contract or order, without an approved certification. The contracting officer shall include the approval and completed worksheets in the official contract file.
(ii) Exceptions.
(A) The general officer or senior executive may delegate certification authority for requirements valued less than $100,000 in accordance with Command policy. Contracting officers shall document the contract file with a copy of the Command policy before accepting a service contract approval that has a signature below the general officer/senior executive level.
(B) Garrison commanders or equivalents in the grade of O-6/GS-15 have the authority to approve and submit one RSCA form for facility contracts (i.e., a contract using Product or Service Code Y or Z) in conjunction with the garrison’s annual work plan for a given year. Contracting officers shall include a copy of the signed annual garrison form in all contract files for facility contracts awarded during that year.
(C)(1) The Commander, Installation Management Command (IMCOM) may delegate RSCA approval authority for actions not to exceed $1M to O6/GS-15 level garrison commanders who have completed the Garrison Leaders Course. Contracting officers shall document the contract file with a copy of the delegation before accepting a service contract approval that has a signature below the general officer/senior executive level.
(2) An RSCA form is not required when exercising options on definite quantity contracts for services in support of IMCOM, provided there are no changes in the terms, conditions, scope of work or level of effort.
(iii) The fillable version of the RSCA form with worksheets is available on the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) website: http://www.asamra.army.mil/insourcing.
Subpart 5107.90 – Independent Government Cost Estimates
This subpart prescribes policy for the preparation of independent Government cost estimates.
“Independent Government cost estimate (IGCE),” as used in this subpart, means the Government’s estimate of the projected price or cost that a contractor would incur in the successful performance of a contract.
(a) Contracting officers shall require the preparation of an IGCE in every procurement action in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT). The contracting officer, at his or her discretion, may require an IGCE for actions less than the SAT.
(b) The contracting officer shall ensure, prior to accepting an IGCE, that—
(1) The IGCE contains enough detail to verify the validity of the offerors’ proposals;
(2) The IGCE provides sufficient narrative and analytical detail, to include reference material, to support its preparation;
(3) The preparer reviews, signs by hand or by Common-Access-Card and dates the IGCE, and includes the preparer’s organization, position, title and telephone number;
(4) The preparer’s immediate supervisor reviews, signs by hand or by Common-Access-Card and dates the IGCE, and includes the reviewer’s organization, position, title, rank or grade and telephone number; and
(5) The IGCE includes a signed, by hand or by Common-Access-Card, certification that the Government independently developed the IGCE—
(i) Prior to seeking any formal proposals from contractors; or
(ii) For construction, within a timeframe consistent with FAR 36.203.
Subpart 5107.91 – Integrating Antiterrorism and Operations Security
This subpart prescribes policy for integrating antiterrorism (AT) and operations security (OPSEC) considerations into Army contracts.
Implementation of AT and OPSEC considerations in the requirements package is the responsibility of the requiring activity. Contracting officers, prior to issuing a solicitation for a service contract (including construction) in excess of the micropurchase threshold or a supply contract in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold, shall ensure that the requirements package contains a signed AT/OPSEC cover sheet. The cover sheet, at a minimum, must include all the information and reviews listed in the Army standard cover sheet at Appendix A of the AT/OPSEC Desk Reference, available via the Internet at https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/589183/ (Army Knowledge Online login required). This requirement also applies to orders under indefinite delivery contracts, unless each task or delivery order under the contract is for substantially the same product or service, in which case the cover sheet at the contract level is sufficient.
