“CIO-SP4 was supposed to revolutionize governmentwide acquisition contracts. With its $50 billion ceiling and 10-year lifecycle, it was supposed to be innovative for both small businesses and agency buyers alike. And it was bringing some new life to an acquisition approach that hasn’t necessarily changed much in more than 25 years.
But with about a week until solicitation proposals are due, the National Institutes of Health Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) is facing a backlash from industry and other experts after making last minute changes to the request for proposals. Not only are two trade associations calling for NITAAC to push back the proposals deadline, but they also want the contracting office to reengage with bidders to discuss the significant changes made to the RFP about a week before bids were due…”
“‘Responding to the entire set of solicitation questions is the best interests of NIH, NIH’s GWAC customer base and industry, because it provides the review and information clarification needed to perfect the understanding of the government’s needs,’ [Roger Waldron, the president of the Coalition for Government Procurement] said in an email to Federal News Network. ‘It provides Office of Management and Budget the information necessary to understand and approve the business case for CIO-SP4. Likewise, it promotes competition because, without needed information, the ability of potential offers to prepare responsive, intelligent proposals is compromised.’…”
“The draft and initial solicitation let small businesses use any number of examples of past performance from their mentor—which usually is a large business—in their bid. But the changes NITAAC made last week reduced that number to only one instance.
John Shoraka, the managing director of GovContractPros and a former associate administrator of government contracting and business development at the Small Business Administration, called that change ‘unduly restrictive.’
‘This is entirely contrary to SBA’s rules where a procuring activity must consider work done and qualifications held by each partner to the joint venture as that of the joint venture itself’ Shoraka said. ‘In the current environment, fewer and fewer opportunities are available for small business to participate in the federal market place. As a result of contract consolidation and category management, small business’s ability to participate in the market place has been severely hampered. Small businesses get locked out of “best-In-class” vehicles which, like CIO-SP4, can be up to 10 years long and in excess of $40 billion. The only way many small businesses can be competitive, is by creating a mentor-protégé relationship and bidding as a joint venture. NITAAC’s approach and lack of compliance with SBA regulations is not only detrimental to the small businesses pursuing this opportunity, but NITAAC’s position on this issue, can be detrimental to an entire small business industry and ultimately to competition and the underlying industrial base and supply chain.’…” Read the full article here.
Source: Industry calling on NITAAC to reassess CIO-SP4 solicitation, push back due date for bids – By Jason Miller, June 30, 2021. Federal News Network.
