(Revised November 3, 2014 through PROCLTR 2015-04)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUBPART 7.1 – ACQUISITION PLANS
7.102-90 Policy.
7.103 Agency-head responsibilities.
7.104-90 General procedures.
7.105-90 Additional requirements for tailored logistics support contracts.
7.107 Additional requirements for acquisitions involving bundling.
7.170 Consolidation of contract requirements.
7.170-2 Definitions.
SUBPART 7.2 – PLANNING FOR THE PURCHASE OF SUPPLIES IN ECONOMIC QUANTITIES
7.202 Policy.
7.203-90 Solicitation provision.
SUBPART 7.3 – CONTRACTOR VERSUS GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
7.304 Procedures.
SUBPART 7.1 – ACQUISITION PLANS
(Revised November 3, 2014 through PROCLTR 2015-04)
(a) With the following exceptions, written acquisition plans are required for all acquisitions expected to exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT), including those accomplished by means of direct or assisted acquisitions using non-DoD contract vehicles such as Federal Supply Schedules. Actions exempt from this requirement are:
(1) Individual orders (except orders greater than the SAT against non-DoD contracts) against contracts when the contract-level acquisition plan is adequate to cover all anticipated orders and the order is issued in strict compliance with the terms of the basic contract.
(2) A modification of the contract.
(3) Acquisition of replenishment parts, below DFARS 207.103 thresholds.
(b) Acquisition Plans shall be completed and approved prior to solicitation issuance. The following table depicts approval levels of acquisition plans for supplies and services:
< $10M – Contracting Officer |
=/>$10M but < $50M – One level above the Contracting Officer |
=/>$50M but < $1B – Chief of the Contracting Office |
=/>$1B - HCA |
(c) If the commerciality determination is documented in the acquisition plan and the acquisition is valued greater than $1M, the plan must be reviewed and approved at one level above the contracting officer.
(d) Acquisitions for supplies and services procured under FAR 13.5 shall use the Commercial Item Pre-Solicitation Documentation Memorandum for Record as documentation of the acquisition plan (see DLAD 13.500(S-91).
(e) The level of detail provided in the acquisition plan should be commensurate with the complexity and dollar value of the acquisition.
(1) For acquisitions with a dollar value above the SAT up to $10 million, contracting officers shall prepare a Streamlined Acquisition Plan (SAP) (see Part 53 for template that can be tailored for individual PLFA usage). At the discretion of the contracting officer, an acquisition plan prepared in accordance with FAR 7.105 and DFARS 207.105 may be used for those actions where it would be more appropriate.
(2) For acquisitions above $10 million and subject to an ASRP or IARB, the contracting officer shall prepare an acquisition plan in accordance with FAR 7.105 and DFARS 207.105. However, for all other acquisitions above $10 million, the contracting officer may prepare a SAP (see Part 53 for template that can be tailored for individual PLFA usage). At the discretion of the contracting officer, an acquisition plan, prepared in accordance with FAR 7.105 and DFARS 207.105, may be used for those actions where it would be more appropriate.
(3) Every acquisition plan for a services acquisition over $10 million that is not subject to ASRP or IARB review must include a request for coordination from the applicable services portfolio manager prior to final approval of the acquisition plan.
(i) Coordination may be concurrent with other coordinations/approvals, as long as the applicable portfolio manager is notified of any major change to the acquisition plan.
(ii) Portfolio managers shall have 3 business days to provide formal comment. Any comments received from the portfolio manager within the 3 business days should be considered and addressed in an MFR for the file and shared with the portfolio manager prior to solicitation issuance.
(A) Approval prior to solicitation issuance can be waived per PLFA guidance for urgent requirements.
(iii) Acquisition plans for awarded contracts for services valued between $1M and less than $10M shall be provided to the DLA Services Program Manager and/or applicable portfolio manager upon his/her review of FPDS-NG and subsequent request.
(4) If a DLA activity or functional unit that does not have contracting authority in its own right (e.g., a J-code activity) intends to acquire support through use of a non-DoD contracting vehicle on either a direct- or assisted-acquisition basis, that activity must contact the DLA contracting office that generally provides its contracting support, and request that contracting office to implement the appropriate review and approval procedures.
(5) Every program office that expends funds in its own right (that is, without requesting that its requirements be placed on contract by the local activity’s or PLFA’s contracting office) must involve DLA contracting personnel in the review and approval process for the proposed acquisition.
(6) Contracting offices that exercise this function on behalf of others must ensure that their supported activities are provided an explanation of this policy, and they must receive assurance from each such supported activity that the latter will not expend funds for contract support (including funds provided via military interdepartmental purchase request (MIPR)) without the express involvement of a DLA contracting office, at levels in accordance with the review and approval guidelines set forth in 1.690-3.
(7) The acquisition plan shall accompany justifications for other than full and open competition (see FAR 6.301, 6.304, and DLAD 6.304) when forwarded to the activity competition advocate. The activity competition advocate shall also be provided a copy of the acquisition plan for acquisitions where there is no history of receipt of more than one offer and price competition is not expected to be received on the acquisition.
(8) [Deleted.]
7.103 Agency-head responsibilities.
(a) Requirements for contract actions, which must be awarded by the end of the fiscal year, must be submitted to the contracting office by 31 July of that fiscal year. Solicitations for requirements received after 31 July shall not be issued unless approved by the chief of the contracting office.
(b) A contract action log shall be maintained by the contracting office for all purchases of contracted advisory and assistance services, periodicals, pamphlets, and audiovisual products. Existing logs may be used for this purpose, provided some means is devised to readily identify these types of contract actions that are highly vulnerable to waste.
(c) Written acquisition plans required by 7.102-90 may be affected on a system basis using a comprehensive plan for a specified period of time (i.e., quarterly, semi-annually or annually).
(a)(1) The Defense Production Act (DPA) and the Defense Planning Guidance (DPG) require DoD to maintain an adequate production base to promote national security. In this regard, industrial preparedness actions are taken to ensure that the industrial base is adequate to offset war reserves shortfalls and provide combat support in emergencies.
(i) When an item is being considered as an item of supply from a new source, an industrial capabilities assessment for the item should be accomplished or updated. This assessment is especially important when the item will be supplied by a single source, as well as when it is a critical item with a war reserve shortfall, a critical item that has experienced high demand in previous contingencies, a military unique item, or a weapon system item coded essentiality codes 1, and 5, or 7. For these types of items, adequate capacity is necessary to meet surge and sustainment (S&S) requirements.
(ii) Assessment of newly sourced items is not required if previous analysis on capacity to do an entire family of items (that newly sourced items belong to) shows the new source already has sufficient equipment, facilities, personnel, and materials to meet S&S requirements for the newly sourced items.
(b)(2)(i) Measures to ensure S&S requirements (i.e., items, quantities, and delivery terms) are defined, S&S capability is developed, and S&S capability can be tested (as required in 17.9303)) must be undertaken for all new business arrangements (e.g., prime vendor, virtual prime vendor, corporate contracts, etc.) and long-term contracts. These measures are especially crucial when the new support method will eliminate or reduce DLA inventories.
(ii) Acquisition plans for these new arrangements and LTCs must address S&S requirements, capability, and testing. If surge and/or sustainment requirements are not included in the solicitation (e.g., they do not exist, they are covered under other contractual arrangements, they are covered via sufficient peacetime assets, etc.), state this in the acquisition plan and explain the basis for not including them.
7.105-90 Additional requirements for tailored logistics support contracts.
(a) Written acquisition plans for tailored logistic support contracts (see 17.95) shall also address the following:
(1) A discussion of the factors that indicate a tailored logistics support contract arrangement is the best acquisition strategy. Discussion should include the type and variety of incidental services included and why the proposed supply arrangement will provide the best support for the customer.
(2) A description of surge and sustainment requirements, capability, and testing;
(3) A description of how this acquisition will maximize opportunities for small business programs;
(4) A description of how the contractor will periodically assess and monitor its suppliers’ compliance with domestic sourcing requirements (e.g. Berry Amendment), and a description of how DLA will monitor the contractor’s compliance in this area;
(5) A description of the market basket approach being taken, such as number of items, dollar value, etc;
(6) A discussion of any system impacts, changes, and approvals needed before implementation of the initiative. Discuss how these are consonant with DLA system architecture and other agency system architectures;
(7) A discussion of post award pricing procedures.
(b)(19)(S-90) Contract management plan.
A contract management plan (CMP) describes how performance shall be monitored over the life of the contract. The CMP addresses the resources assigned to conduct and sustain contract monitoring procedures. The CMP makes it clear who is responsible for performing which functions, when, and at what intervals. The CMP shall be approved as part of the acquisition approval process prior to award of the contract. Examples of CMPs can be found in eWorkplace under the following path: Organizations, Troop Support, Shared Documents, Procurement Process Support, Contract Management Plans (CMP).
(i) CMPs are required for all tailored logistic support contracts (see 17.95), contracts that provide for performance based adjustments (such as incentives and disincentives), and long term contracts that contain provisions for repricing during the contract term as described in 15.403-4(a)(1)(i)(S-91)(D).
(ii) Each CMP shall be tailored to address the specific acquisition. At a minimum, the CMP should address resources required, responsibilities of each resource, assignment of a COR/COTR, order flow, post-award audits describing what shall be reviewed, when, and by whom, invoicing procedures, performance measurement metrics, incidental services required as part of the contract, assignment of contract administration responsibilities for orders, contracts, and subcontracting plans, options, post-award conferences, domestic preference provisions, special contract administration concerns, repricing actions such as economic price adjustments, responsibilities for monitoring contract performance, and contract closeout.
(iii) The CMP shall be updated in a timely manner when there is a change in the resources, functions, metrics, and methods of contract management. Updates to the CMP following contract award shall be approved at the same level as the original contract action, except that the CCO retains authority to approve CMP changes for any actions where the contract action approval authority was at a level higher than the CCO. The CCO may delegate authority to approve CMP changes to a lower level.
(iv) The approved CMP shall be included in the contract file.
7.107 Additional requirements for acquisitions involving bundling.
(S-90) For an acquisition requiring USD(AT&L)’s permission to proceed with the bundled requirement, the contracting officer shall submit the request for approval of the determination and finding to J72; it will be routed through Director, DLA Acquisition (J7), J3, DLA Small Business Programs and DLA General Counsel, and the Director, DLA, who will sign out the request to OSD. There are no timeframes in the statute or FAR for use of this procedure, but it is essential that justifications be submitted at the earliest possible date. Therefore, the contracting officer shall forward the request within 30 days of determining that the proposed acquisition will not generate savings in accordance with established levels, as set forth in FAR 7.107(b) (that is, within 30 days of performing a bundling analysis).
(S-91)(1) If a bundling analysis has already been performed on a contract action, it is not necessary to perform a new bundling analysis before exercising an option.
(2) For new acquisitions, procurement history should be analyzed from the three immediately preceding years to determine whether there have previously been separate, smaller contracts for these requirements that were or could have been performed by small businesses.
(3) For any contract containing an “add/delete” clause, the contracting officer shall perform a bundling analysis before adding individual/groups of items via clause exercise, if the change modifies the contract and constitutes a new requirement. On the other hand, if the add/delete clause is merely a mechanism by which items, always intended to be part of the acquisition and included in the initial analysis, are “phased in” (for pricing and other purposes), then the additions do not constitute a new requirement, and a new bundling analysis is not required.
(S-92) The SBA can appeal to the head of a contracting agency certain decisions made by the agency that SBA believes will adversely affect small businesses.
(1) One such appealable decision pertains to any bundling of contract requirements the SBA considers to be unnecessary or insufficiently justified. Whenever a proposed aggregation of requirements, at least some of which were formerly filled by small businesses, is likely to render the resultant contract unsuitable for award to a small business concern, the SBA may challenge that solicitation.
7.170 Consolidation of contract requirements.
(a) As used in DFARS 207.170-2 to describe the aggregation of two or more requirements into a solicitation to obtain offers for a single contract or a multiple award contract, the term “previously provided” refers to the current or most recent awards for the requirements’ fulfillment, rather than to a “look back” for an indefinite number of years or for their entire acquisition history.
(b) If requirements are currently being solicited under a single solicitation that will result in multiple contracts not subject to FAR 16.5, and the immediately preceding contracts for the same requirements were also awarded under multiple contracts resulting from a single solicitation not subject to FAR 16.5, then these requirements are not consolidations. However, the inclusion or exclusion of the words, “all or none,” in a solicitation for requirements that would otherwise be considered a consolidation does not have a bearing on whether or not the solicitation is, in fact, consolidated. If, at the time of acquisition planning, currently separate requirements are aggregated into a single solicitation with the possibility of their being awarded as a single or multiple award in accordance with the definition at DFARS 207.170-2, the acquisition is considered a consolidation, whether or not a different award determination is made upon receipt of offers.
(c) As with bundling, “substantial” benefits of consolidation are those that are essential, ample, and demonstratable. They should, but unlike bundling, need not absolutely be quantified.
7.170-3 Policy and procedures.
(a)(3) HCAs at DLA Aviation, DLA Land and Maritime, DLA Troop Support, and DLA Energy are authorized to execute determinations that a consolidation is necessary and justified for procurements valued up to $100 million, and CCOs are authorized to execute such determinations for procurements valued up to $10 million. This authority will not be further delegated.
SUBPART 7.2 – PLANNING FOR THE PURCHASE OF SUPPLIES IN ECONOMIC QUANTITIES
(b) For solicitations for IDCs and other long-term contracts covering voluminous items for which response by the offeror to the clause at FAR 52.207-4 is not practicable, see 7.203-90.
7.203-90 Solicitation provisions and contract clauses.
(a) The FAR provision shall be tailored, to obtain volume discounts, market basket discounts and/or separate prices at the offeror’s price break quantities, across the range of potential order quantities, under IDC and other long-term contracts where response to the standard FAR provision is impracticable.
SUBPART 7.3 – CONTRACTOR VERSUS GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE
(a) Where the Director, DLA Acquisition (J7) is the HCA (see 2.101), solicitations in which a comparison will be made between contractor and Government performance in accordance with OMB Circular A-76 shall be forwarded to DLA HQ, attention: J71 for review and approval prior to release.
(S-90) With respect to requests for information related to commercial activities cost studies, the contracting officer (or other authorized individual) must consider the guidelines contained in Title 32: National Defense Part 1285 – Defense Logistics Agency Freedom of Information Act Program and promptly determine if such information should be withheld or released. Requests shall not be required to be submitted under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in order to be considered. If the information is to be withheld, the requestor shall be notified immediately of the decision to withhold the information and of the right to submit a written request for the information under FOIA, if the request was not submitted under FOIA initially. Requests for information may be an indication that the solicitation contains defects or ambiguities, or that the CA solicitation process would be improved by dissemination of the information to all prospective offerors. Therefore, as a part of the disposition of each request, the contracting officer shall consider the need to issue an amendment to the solicitation.