Requirements for Simplified Acquisition Purchases

In accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 13, Simplified Acquisition Procedures shall be used to the maximum extent practicable for all purchase of supplies or services not exceeding the simplified acquisition threshold. The threshold for purchases utilizing the Simplified Acquisition Procedures cannot exceed $100,000. Procurement actions may not be split to avoid competition thresholds. The simplified acquisition procedures were not developed to eliminate competition but to reduce administrative costs, improve opportunities for small, small disadvantaged, and women-owned small business concerns, promote efficiency and economy in contracting, and avoid unnecessary burdens for agencies and contractors. All open market acquisitions for supplies or services that has an anticipated dollar value exceeding $2,500 and not exceeding $100,000, is reserved exclusively for small business concerns in accordance with FAR Part 19.

The following guidelines for dollar thresholds have been extracted from FAR Part 13 to assist your office in the development of future procurement actions utilizing the simplified acquisition procedures:

Requests for Services

It is critical that clear and concise statements of work be prepared by the Program Office to permit prospective contractors to develop quotations or offers in response to the Government's need and awards can be made without unnecessary delays. The following is a suggested outline for Statements of Work for Services to be submitted by the Program Office to CDC/PGO for procurement action:

I. Background. (This section describes the requirements in general, non-technical terms. This section should explain why the acquisition is being pursued and how it relates to past, current, or future projects. Include a summary of statutory program authority and any regulations that are applicable. If any techniques have been tried and been found to be effective, they should be included here as well.)

II. Purpose of Requirement. (Objective) This section should be a concise statement of the purpose of the acquisition. It should outline the results that the Government expects and may also identify the benefit to the program that is contemplated.

III. Scope of Work. This section should provide an overall description of the work to be performed. It expands on the objectives, but does not attempt to detail all the work required. This section identifies and summarizes the various phases of the project, and defines its limits in terms of specific objectives, time, special provisions, or limitations. It must be consistent with the detailed requirements. Contractor responsibilities are often summarized here, as are the results or projects expected.

IV. Specific Tasks/Requirements. This section should spell out precisely what is expected of the contractor in the performance of the work. It describes the specific tasks and phases. Considerations that provide guidance to the contractor in its analysis, design, or experimentation on the designed problems should also be included here.

This section identifies the requirements (i.e. training, computer modeling, tests, verifications, etc.), and indicates the scope of each. It gives the parameters of tests and the number of designs, performance, numbers of tests, etc. It also identifies any budgetary, environmental, or other constraints. If more than one approach is possible and the Government prefers a particular approach, it should be identified here.

V. Period of Performance. How long it takes from award date to completion.

VI. Deliverables. States the end product(s) of services performed.

VII. Place of Delivery. States the location for delivery of end products.

VIII. Payment Schedule. States percentages of the total or amounts to be paid after receipt of each deliverable (if more than one payment is authorized.).

IX. Evaluation Factors. In addition to price, quotations may be judged on the basis of technical factors such as qualifications of proposed personnel, past performance, resources available for the work, technical approach, facilities, and other factors. Evaluation of quotations or offers must be made on the basis established in the solicitation prior to release. All quotes or offers must be considered. Formal evaluation plans, establishment of a competitive range, conduct of discussions, and scoring of quotes are not required. Contracting Officers may conduct comparative evaluations of offers.

X. Government-Furnished Property. Should be kept to a minimum.

Requests For Supplies

The Requests for Supplies shall be prepared in a manner to promote maximum practicable competition when using simplified acquisition procedures. Agency requirements shall not be written so as to require a particular brand-name, product, or a feature of a product, peculiar to one manufacturer, thereby precluding consideration of a product manufactured by another company. Only include restrictive provisions or conditions to the extent necessary to satisfy the needs of the agency or as authorized by a law.

If possible, state requirements for supplies utilizing generic descriptions in terms of essential physical characteristics, functions to be performed, or performance required.

If a particular brand-name, product, or feature is essential to the Government's requirements, the Program Office must provide a written justification for the restriction to CDC/PGO along with the Request for Supplies.

All Requests for Supplies must contain the desired DELIVERY DATE and PLACE OF DELIVERY necessary to meet the needs of the Program Office.

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