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and within 10 days shall forward said notice of appeal to the Board with a copy to the A.I.D. General Counsel in Washington, DC. Following receipt by the Board of the original notice of an appeal (whether through the contracting officer or otherwise), the contractor, the contracting officer, and the A.I.D. General Counsel will be promptly advised of its receipt, and the contractor will be furnished a copy of these rules.

(c) Rule 4 (A.I.D.). Preparation, Contents, Organization, Forwarding, and Status of Appeal File (Supersedes Rule 4, "Duties of Contracting Officer" of the ASBCA rules in effect on April 1, 1980).

(d) Duties of Contracting Officer. Within 30 days of receipt of an appeal or advice that an appeal has been filed, the contracting officer shall assemble and transmit to the A.I.D. General Counsel in Washington, DC, two copies of all documents pertinent to the appeal, including:

(1) The decision and findings of fact from which appeal is taken;

(2) The contract, including specifications and pertinent amendments, plans and drawings;

(3) All correspondence between the parties pertinent to the appeal, including the letter or letters of claim in re

sponse to which the decision was issued;

(4) All transcripts of any testimony taken during the course of proceedings, and affidavits or statements of any witnesses on the matter in dispute made prior to the filing of the notice of appeal with the Board; and

(5) Any additional information considered pertinent.

(e) The General Counsel will compile the appeal file from such documents, which file must contain the items enumerated in paragraphs (d) (1) through (5) of this section and will promptly, and in any event within 65 days after the appeal is docketed by the Board, transmit the appeal file to the Board. The General Counsel will notify the appellant when he/she has compiled the appeal file, will provide him/her with a list of its contents, and will afford him/her an opportunity to examine the complete file at the office of the Board and, if the General Counsel deems it appropriate, at any overseas location, for the purpose of satisfying himself/herself as to the contents, and furnishings or suggesting any additional documentation deemed pertinent to the appeal. After receipt of the foregoing file, as it may be augmented at the time of receipt, the Board will promptly advise the parties.

SUBCHAPTER F-SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING

PART 734-MAJOR SYSTEM ACQUISITION

AUTHORITY: Sec. 621, Pub. L. 87-195, 75 Stat. 445, (22 U.S.C. 2381) as amended; E.O. 12163, Sept. 29, 1979, 44 FR 56673; 3 CFR 1979 Comp., p. 435.

734.003 Responsibilities.

AID follows the policies and procedures in OMB Circular A-109 and FAR Part 34 regarding major systems acquisitions. In order to be considered a major system an AID procurement must have an estimated value of $75 million during the first year of the contract or a $200 million life of contract estimated value.

[54 FR 37334, Sept. 8, 1989]

PART 736-CONSTRUCTION AND ARCHITECT-ENGINEER CONTRACTS Subpart 736.6-Architect-Engineer Services

Sec.

736.602-2 Evaluation boards. 736.602-3

Evaluation board functions. 736.602-4 Selection authority. 736.602-5 Short selection procedure for procurements not to exceed $25,000. 736.603 Collecting data on and appraising firms' qualifications.

736.605 Government cost estimate for architect-engineer work.

AUTHORITY: Sec. 621, Pub. L. 87-195, 75 Stat. 445, (22 U.S.C. 2381) as amended; E.O. 12163, Sept. 29, 1979, 44 FR 56673; 3 CFR 1979 Comp., p. 435.

SOURCE: 49 FR 13254, Apr. 3, 1984, unless otherwise noted.

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uation board in the selection process for that project.

(c) Each evaluation board will include a representative of the contracting officer and, as appropriate, the cognizant bureau.

736.602-3 Evaluation board functions.

Agency architect-engineer evaluation boards shall perform the following functions:

(a) Prepare a selection memorandum recommending no less than three firms which are considered most highly qualified to perform the required services for submission to the head of the contracting activity for his/her approval. This selection memorandum shall include the information specified in 736.602-3(c).

(b) In evaluating architect-engineer firms, the architect-engineer evaluation board shall apply the following criteria, other criteria established by Agency regulations, and any criteria set forth in the public notice on a particular contract:

(1) Specialized experience of the firm (including each member of joint venture or association) with the type of service required;

(2) Capacity of the firm to perform the work (including any specialized services) within the time limitations;

(3) Past record of performance on contracts with AID or other Government agencies and private industry with respect to such factors as control of costs, quality of work, and ability to meet schedules, to the extent such information is available;

(4) Ability to assign an adequate number of qualified key personnel from the organization, including a competent supervising representative having considerable experience in responsible positions on work of a similar nature;

(5) The portions of the work the architect-engineer is able to perform with its own forces when required;

(6) Ability of the architect-engineer to furnish or to obtain required materials and equipment;

(7) If the geographical or topographical aspects of the project are deemed

vital, familiarity with the locality where the project is situated;

(8) Financial capacity;

(9) Responsibility of the architectengineer under standards provided in FAR subpart 9.1. No contract may be awarded to a contractor that does not meet these standards;

(10) Volume of work previously awarded to the firm by the Agency, with the object of effecting an equitable distribution of architect-engineer contracts among qualified firms. Each architect-engineer evaluation board shall give favorable consideration, to the fullest extent practicable to the most highly qualified firms that have not had prior experience on Government projects (including small business firms and firms owned by the socially and/or economically deprived).

(c) The evaluation board shall prepare a selection memorandum for the approval of the head of the contracting activity. The selection memorandum will be signed by the board chairman and cleared by each board member. The selection memorandum shall include the following information:

(1) A listing by name of all firms reviewed by the board;

(2) A listing of the evaluation criteria applied;

(3) An analysis of the selection showing the rationale for the board's recommendation;

(4) The board's recommendation of the three most highly qualified firms, in order of preference;

(5) An independent Government cost estimate. The evaluation board shall require the project engineer to develop an independent Government estimate of the cost of the required architect-engineer services. Consideration shall be given to the estimated value of the services to be rendered, the scope, complexity, and the nature of the project and the estimated costs expected to be generated by the work. The independent Government estimate shall be revised as required during negotiations to correct noted deficiencies and reflect changes in or clarification of, the scope of the work to be performed by the architect-engineer. A cost estimate based on the application of percentage factors to cost

estimates of the various segments of the work involved, e.g., construction project, may be developed for comparison purposes, but such a cost estimate shall not be used as a substitute for the independent Government estimate.

736.602-4 Selection authority.

(a) The head of the contracting activity or his/her authorized designee shall review the selection memorandum and shall either approve it or return it to the board for reconsideration for specified reasons.

(b) Approval of the selection memorandum by the head of the contracting activity or his/her authorized designee shall serve as authorization for the contracting office to commence negotiation.

736.602-5 Short selection procedure for procurements not to exceed $25,000.

References to FAR 36.602-3 and 36.602-4 contained in FAR 36.602-5 shall be construed as references to 736.602-3 and 736.602-4 of this subpart.

736.603 Collecting data on and appraising firms' qualifications.

An A.I.D. Consultant Registry Information System (ACRIS) is maintained in Washington by the AID Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. Architect-engineers wishing to perform contracts for AID should file the appropriate form with that office, as provided in section 705.002. Procurements are publicized in the Commerce Business Daily, as provided in FAR Part 5.

[49 FR 13254, Apr. 3, 1984, as amended at 52 FR 21059, June 4, 1987; 53 FR 50631, Dec. 16, 1988]

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Sec.

737.270 Contracting for consulting services. 737.271 Contract data reporting. 737.272 Identifying contracts for consultant services.

AUTHORITY: Sec. 621, Pub. L. 87-195, 75 Stat. 445, (22 U.S.C. 2381) as amended; E.O. 12163, Sept. 29, 1979, 44 FR 56673; 3 CFR 1979 Comp., p. 435.

SOURCE: 49 FR 13255, Apr. 3, 1984, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart 737.2-Consulting Services

737.200 Scope of subpart.

This subpart implements and supplements Subpart 37.2 of the FAR. It provides supplementary, AID-specific examples of activities excluded from the definition of consulting services; and establishes procedures for determination, justification, approval, and reporting of such services, as required by OMB Circular A-120 and Subpart 37.2 of the FAR. This subpart also establishes special marking requirements in 737.272 for contracts for consulting services.

737.201 Definitions.

Within the specific context of AID's operations, any consulting services for which the primary beneficiary is the host country are not considered to be consulting services.

737.270 Contracting for consulting services.

(a) In cases where a single contract finances activities included within the definition of consulting services, and activities excluded from the definition, the contracting officer is responsible for determining whether the primary purpose of the contract is consulting services, in which case the contract will be classed as a consulting services contract.

(b) A signed justification and approval, as specified in paragraph (c) of this section must accompany each request for a contract for consulting services. If the contracting officer determines that a requested contract is for consulting services, and the required justification and approval has not been prepared, the request will be returned to the cognizant project office, together with a memorandum

stating that the requested contract has been determined to be for consulting services; that justification and approval is required; and that the request for contract services will be acted upon when it is returned accompanied by the required justification and approval.

(c) The justification and approval must be clearly identified as a justification for consulting services, and must provide the following information:

(1) Need and Utilization: State concisely the specific need for procuring the consulting service, including the objectives and the anticipated benefits for the Agency. State the estimated cost of the services, and evaluate the cost in terms of anticipated utilization of the work product.

(2) Review of Prior Work: Briefly describe efforts made to ensure that the proposed consulting service does not, in the given circumstances, duplicate work conducted previously. Where appropriate, describe the results of an AID Data Bank (located in the Bureau for Program and Policy Coordination, Center for Development Information and Evaluation, Development Information Division-PPC/CDIE/DI)

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(3) In-House Capability: Describe the expertise needed for the service and state whether such expertise exists in AID. If it is found that the expertise does exist in AID, and is available for assignment to the work, state why AID personnel are not being assigned to the task.

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(d) The justification must be approved by an officer one level above the organizational unit within Bureau or Office requesting the service but two levels above during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. For Mission-awarded direct contracts, these guidelines regarding approval levels should be followed whenever possible; however, throughout the fiscal year, the approval officer need be no higher than the principal AID officer at the post.

(e) Organizational conflict of interest. (1) As required by FAR 37.205, offerors must disclose possible conflicts of interest. The offeror will be re

quired to submit the following representation with its proposal:

ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
REPRESENTATION

(i) The offeror represents, to the best of its knowledge and belief, that the award to it of a contract or the modification of an existing contract does () or does not ( ) involve an organizational conflict of interest.

(ii) The term "organizational conflict of interest" means that a relationship exists whereby an offeror or a contractor (including its chief executives, directors, proposed consultants or subcontractors) has interest which: (A) may diminish its capacity to give impartial, technically sound, objective assistance and advice or may otherwise result in a biased work product, or, (B) may result in an unfair competitive advantage. It does not include the normal flow of benefits from the performance of a contract.

(iii) The term "Contractor" means any person, firm, unincorporated association, joint venture, partnership, corporation or affiliate thereof, which is a party to a contract with the United States of America. As used in this definition, the term "affiliate" has the same meaning as provided in FAR 19.101.

(2) If the offeror indicates that there are organizational conflicts of interest in the "Organizational Conflicts of Interest Representation", the offeror shall provide a statement which describes in a concise manner all relevant facts concerning any present or current planned interest (financial, contractual, organizational, or otherwise) relating to the work to be performed in the proposed contract and bearing on whether the offeror has a possible organizational conflict of interest with respect to being able to render impartial, technically sound, and objective assistance or advice, or

being given an unfair competitive advantage. The offeror may also provide relevant facts that show how its organizational structure and/or management systems limit its knowledge of possible organizational conflicts of interest relating to other divisions or sections of the organization and how that structure or system would eliminate or neutralize such organizational conflict.

(3) The contract clause entitled "Organizational Conflicts of Interest" set forth in subsection 752.7020 of the AIDAR shall be included in every contract award pursuant to this Subpart 737.2.

[49 FR 13255, Apr. 3, 1984, as amended at 50 FR 50303, Dec. 10, 1985]

737.271 Contract data reporting.

Within AID, input into the Federal Procurement Data System is accomplished through the Contract On-Line Reporting System. The contracting officer is responsible for insuring that contracts for consulting services are identified as such on Form AID 142049, the Contract/Grant/ Cooperative Agreement Data Sheet.

737.272 Identifying contracts for consultant services.

The contracting officer is responsible for identifying all contracts, including purchase orders, work orders, and amendments thereto, determined to be for consulting services in accordance with Subpart 737.2. All copies of such contracts are to be legibly marked "Consulting Services" on the upper right-hand corner of the cover page of the contract.

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