Contract Duplication

Issue: Contract Duplication. Across the federal enterprise there has been an explosion in the number of multiple award IDIQ contracts for the same or similar services.

Contract duplication increases bid and proposal and administrative costs for customer agencies and contractors. Contractors are compelled to compete for contracts for fear of being locked out of a market. At the same time there are many IDIQ contracts with little or no sales/purchases compounding the costs to industry and government over the long term. Contract duplication negatively impacts all contractors but is especially challenging for small business concerns who have limited resources to compete for new IDIQs.

Recommendation: The FAR preferences/priorities for pre-existing contracts should be strengthened. The language in FAR 17.5 requiring a determination as to best procurement method when utilizing an interagency contract program like the GSA schedules should be expanded to require a determination of best procurement method for new, open market procurements. In addition, the business case thresholds for new IDIQ contracts should be lowered. Currently, many in industry believe agencies are skirting the business case requirement by lowering the estimated value of new procurements.

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Idea No. 37

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64 ideas posted
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1. Reporting and Compliance

Campaign 1: Reporting and compliance requirements - Currently, the Federal Government requires businesses to fill out a lot of complicated paperwork to do business with us. We know we can do better. We want to know what you are seeing – where can we reengineer paperwork and systems, eliminate duplicative reporting, reduce the frequency of reporting, and/or change outdated requirements? Please help us with our improvements by providing ideas and input on the following questions:

Question 1: What reporting or other compliance requirements are most burdensome and why?

Question 2: How would you streamline reporting and compliance requirements? (please cite or describe specific examples if you can)

Question 3: What other compliance information are you providing to the federal government outside the procurement process that could be used to reduce duplication?

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2. Procurement Rules and Practices

Campaign 2: Procurement rules and practices - We know entities doing business in the private sector have best practices and we’re anxious to learn about and replicate in the Federal Government wherever possible. We want to hear about innovative approaches to contracting that align with your business practices.

Question 1: What are the most effective ways to encourage innovative offers and best solutions?

Question 2: How can we reduce the cost of transactions for contractors?

Question 3: What are the best ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of acquisitions for information technology?

Question 4: What procurement rules or practices are most effective and which are least effective and why?

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Expired on 05/05/2014
3. Small Business Participation

Campaign 3: Participation by small and minority businesses and non-traditional government contractors - We know many businesses lack the resources and expertise to participate in the Federal marketplace. We welcome feedback – especially by entities that are not participating in Federal contracting – to understand what steps we can take to make your participation possible.

We welcome feedback on how to increase participation in Federal contracting.

Question 1: How can we make doing business with the government easier and less costly for small businesses, minority businesses, new entrants, and non-traditional government contractors?

Question 2: If you are a small business, minority owned business, or new entrant, what features of the federal acquisition system are most helpful and which are least helpful to you?

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Expired on 05/05/2014

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