An RFP is a formal negotiated solicitation issued for buys over $100,000 resulting in a formal contract (as opposed to a purchase order). A solicitation closing time is set and late offers are unacceptable unless they meet the guidelines of FAR Part 15. Offers remain sealed until closing date and are not exposed until an award is made and an abstract distributed. Vendors should always obtain a formal copy of an RFP before attempting to make an offer.
The contracting officer must prepare solicitations using the Uniform Contract Format (UCF) as described in Table 15-1 of the FAR unless exempt by FAR 15.406-1(a). The format facilitates preparation of the solicitation and contract. Note: When using FAR Part 12 Commercial Items, the UCF does not apply. Section L of the solicitation includes boilerplate provisions and specially written proposal instructions. It must advise prospective offerors on how their proposals should be organized and arranged. It provides a standardized format to facilitate evaluation of multiple proposals (see Appendix F for examples). The technical/business management and price proposals are usually separated. Offerors should be discouraged from using unnecessarily elaborate brochures or presentations beyond what is sufficiently described by the Government. Section M of the solicitation must inform offerors of the evaluation factors for award. The RFP shall at a minimum clearly state the significant evaluation factors such as cost or price, cost or price-related factors, past performance and other non-cost or non-price-related factors, and any significant subfactors, that will be considered in making the source selection, and their relative importance. The solicitation shall inform offerors of any minimum requirements that apply to evaluation factors and significant subfactors. Further, the solicitation shall state whether all evaluation factors other than cost or price, when combined are:
The solicitation may elaborate on the relative importance of factors and subfactors at the discretion of the contracting officer. The numeric or adjectival rating system which may be employed need not be disclosed in the solicitation.Part 12 prescribes policies and procedures unique to the acquisition of commercial items. When the contracting officer uses the policies and procedures in Part 12, the Uniform Contract Format (UCF) does not apply. Therefore, any special instructions to offerors in preparing their proposals would be added as an addendum to solicitation provision 52.212-1, Instructions to Offerors - Commercial Items. The evaluation criteria as to how the government will evaluate the proposal would be stated in solicitation provision 52.212-2, Evaluation - Commercial Items which you may tailor or include a similar provision as an addendum.
