Week 6 Discussion 1
Technical and Cost or Price Evaluations" Please respond to the following:
•From the e-Activity, determine why integrity and fairness are important in proposal evaluations. Create
two scenarios that describe the possible consequences if fairness and integrity are not part of the proposal
evaluation process. Determine one ethical consideration that should be applied at all times.
•From the e-Activity, determine the criteria for evaluating proposals for government contracts and assess
the methods for establishing a competitive range. Then, develop an ethical argument for the government
contracting requirements.
Importance of Integrity and Fairness
The evaluation and selection of proposals with integrity and fairness is important for government
acquisition to avoid many problems. It is because an unsuccessful vendor can claim that government’s
selection process was unbiased. For example, in case of purchasing defense equipment, if government
officer not fairly and honestly evaluate proposals during the selection then it may be possible that low
quality equipment will be supplied by the suppliers. Similarly in the case of road contract, the absence of
fairness and integrity in the proposal evaluation process will be not beneficial for the government. It is
because there will be possibility that contractor will use lower quality material for the construction of road
(Compton, 2009).
From above scenarios, it is observed that government officers should apply fairness and integrity during
the assessment and selection of offers.
Evaluation Criteria
Following are some important criteria for evaluating proposals.
A brief description of approach used to assess past performance.
Provide an opportunity to identify and assess past or current contracts related to federal, State and local
governments (Tricare, 2009).
Not offer any relevant performance history.
Methods for Establishing a Competitive Range A competitive range refers as a choice of qualified offers or
proposals for competitive procurements by using contracting process. There are two methods such as
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) evaluation and Tradeoff evaluation that are useful for
government to establish competitive rage for proposals. LPTA evaluation method is helpful to identify
proposals whose price is lowest among all offers for government contracts. On the other hand, Tradeoff
assessment is helpful for government to accept appropriate offers by determining tradeoff between cost
and non-cost factors (Tricare, 2009).
Ethical Argument
All the offers should be developed according to government guidelines and international contracting
standards.
References
Atkinson, P. (2005) Strategies for Winning Contracts. USA: Aspen Publishers Online.
Compton, P.B. (2009) Federal Acquisition: Key Issues and Guidance. USA: Management Concepts.
Dougherty, L. (2012). The Difference between Price Reasonableness and Price Realism. Retrieved from
http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2012/11/the-difference-betweenprice.html?page=all.
FAR (n.d.). Subpart 15.2—Solicitation and Receipt of Proposals and Information. Retrieved from:
https://acquisition.gov/far/html/Subpart%2015_2.html Tricare. (2009).
Proposal Evaluation Guide. Retrieved from http://tricare.mil/tma/ams/ams_propguide.aspx