Under what authority does the Government set the price of the Contract in a competitive best value acquisition?

By joel hoffman on Wednesday, January 09, 2002 - 08:40 pm:

What type of contract is it, JP? Can you elaborate or are you just asking a general question? I know of design-build construction contracts awarded on the basis of the best design for the stated funding limit. There is nothing inherently wrong or illegal about that. happy sails! joel hoffman

By Anonymous on Wednesday, January 09, 2002 - 09:42 pm:

Please explain. Has the government actually stated the price that offerors must propose?

By JP on Thursday, January 10, 2002 - 07:16 pm:

An R&D contract, if the Government solicited competitive proposals without prices requesting a plan to satisfy a specific statement of objectives which the Government determines. This is not a contruction contract, even then the Government is only allowed to give an estimated price range. They are not allowed to disclose the Government estimate. A funding limit has nothing to do with stating we are going to award a contract for this price.

By joel hoffman on Thursday, January 10, 2002 - 07:48 pm:

JP, these comments only respond to your statement that for a construction contract, "even then the Government is only allowed to give an estimated range."

I agree with your statement that that we aren't allowed to disclose the Government estimate for a construction contract in the solicitation. However, the Government can state, in a design-build construction solicitation, that it will award to the firm providing the Best Value for $XX dollars. That is one method of utilizing best value and yes, it is "legal".

That is not the same as disclosing the Government estimate, because the scope can vary between design proposals and between proposals and the independent Government estimate. As long as the Government doesn't reveal the extent of the desired design criteria (scope) in the Government's estimate of $XXX, it isn't "disclosing the Government Estimate".

I don't know enough concerning your actual situation to comment on that. Sorry. happy sails! joel hoffman

By Kevin E. McGinn on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 10:44 am:

I have used the Cost As an Independent Variable (CAIV) concept to tell contractors what the Gov't expects to pay for a service. While we identify our expectation, we also invite contractors to tell us we are all wet or to identify ways to modify our SOW or terms and conditions so that we can achieve our expected price.

This can be done as part of market research, a draft solicitation, or a formal solicitation.

The source selection relies on a Best Value methodology.