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(f) Timely reporting to appropriate Government officials of any suspected or possible violations of law in connection with Government contracts or any other irregularities in connection with such contracts; and

(g) Full cooperation with any Government agencies responsible for either investigation or corrective actions.

[57 FR 58718, Dec. 11, 1992, as amended at 63 FR 69218, Dec. 16, 1998]

803.7001 Display of VA hotline poster. Contractors who are awarded a VA contract of

(a) $500,000 or more for supplies or services, or

(b) $3 million or more for construction, and who have not established an internal reporting mechanism and program, as described in 803.7000(b), shall be required to display prominently in common work areas within business segments performing work under VA contracts, the VA hotline poster prepared by the VA Office of Inspector General.

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In the event a contracting officer's name and title has been typed, stamped or printed on the contract and the contracting officer is not available to sign the contract, a designee may sign for the contracting officer. Such designee must be a contracting officer as specified in 801.602 and must have specific contracting authority to cover the contract to be signed.

[49 FR 12592, Mar. 29, 1984, as amended at 61 FR 20492, May 7, 1996]

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805.205 Special situations.

Contracting officers are hereby delegated authority to procure paid advertising in a daily newspaper circulated in the local area, for the purpose of publicizing a proposed procurement of architect-engineer services expected

not to exceed $10,000.

[49 FR 12592, Mar. 29, 1984, as amended at 63 FR 69218, Dec. 16, 1998]

805.207 Preparation and transmittal of

synopses.

At such time as an architect-engineer evaluation board is ready to advertise for architect-engineer services, it must establish the geographic area within which architect-engineer firms (including joint ventures) will be considered. The area determined must be large enough to assure selection of three to five firms highly qualified for the particular project involved, but not so large as to make the evaluation process unduly burdensome.

[49 FR 12592, Mar. 29, 1984, as amended at 50 FR 791, Jan. 7, 1985; 51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986; 52 FR 28559, July 31, 1987; 54 FR 40063, Sept. 29, 1989; 61 FR 20492, May 7, 1996]

PART 806 COMPETITION

REQUIREMENTS

Subpart 806.3-Other Than Full and Open Competition

Sec.

806.302-3 Industrial mobilization; or experimental, development, or research work. 806.302-5 Authorized or required by statute. 806.302-7 Public interest.

806.304 Approval of the justification.

Subpart 806.4-Sealed Bidding and
Competitive Proposals

806.401 Sealed bidding and competitive proposals.

Subpart 806.5-Competition Advocates 806.501

Requirement.

806.502 Duties and responsibilities. 806.570 Planning requirements.

AUTHORITY: 38 U.S.C. 501 and 40 U.S.C.

486(c).

SOURCE: 51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart 806.3-Other Than Full and Open Competition

806.302-3 Industrial mobilization; or experimental, development, or research work.

Research authorized to be conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs in accordance with the provisions of title 38, U.S. Code, will be negotiated under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(3) (except prosthetics research authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7303 will be negotiated under the authority of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(5), regardless of the dollar amount). Such acquisitions require justifications and approvals required by FAR 6.303 and 48 CFR 806.304.

[51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986, as amended at 61 FR 20492, May 7, 1996; 63 FR 69218, Dec. 16, 1998]

806.302-5 Authorized or required by

statute.

(a) Scarce Medical Specialist contracts negotiated under the authority of 38 U.S.C. 7409 are approved for other than full and open competition only

when such contracts are with institutions affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs pursuant to 38 U.S.C. 7302. The justification and approval requirements of FAR 6.303 and 806.304 are still applicable.

(b) Sharing contracts negotiated under 38 U.S.C. 8153 are approved for other than full and open competition. The justification and approval requirements of FAR 6.303 and 806.304 are still applicable.

(c) Various other sections of Title 38, United States Code, authorize the Secretary to enter into certain contracts, and certain types of contracts, without regard to any other provision of law. The justification and approval requirements specified in FAR 6.303 and 806.304 are still applicable. VA contracting officers entering into contracts using other than competitive procedures for any of the following items or services, estimated to cost in excess of the simplified acquisition threshold, will cite, in addition to 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(5), the appropriate section of Title 38, United States Code, as their authority to do

SO.

(1) Contracts for orthopedic and prosthetic appliances and related services including research. 38 U.S.C. 8123.

(2) Contracts to purchase or sell merchandise, equipment, fixtures, supplies and services for the operation of the Veterans Canteen Service. 38 U.S.C. 7802.

(3) Contracts or leases for the operation of parking facilities established under the authority of 38 U.S.C. 8109(b), provided that the establishment, operation, and maintenance of such facilities have been authorized by the Secretary or designee. 38 U.S.C. 8109(f).

(4) Contracts for laundry and other common services such as the purchase of steam, may be noncompetitively negotiated with non-profit, tax-exempt, educational, medical, or community institutions, when specifically approved by the Secretary or designee and when such services are not reasonably available from private commercial sources. 38 U.S.C. 8122(c).

(5) Contracts or agreements with public or private agencies for services or translators. 38 U.S.C. 513.

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Use of 41 U.S.C. 253(c)(7) to support contract award using other than full and open competition will require a D&F prepared in accordance with FAR subpart 1.7 and VAAR subpart 801.7 and signed by the Secretary. The D&F will be prepared by the contracting officer and submitted by the head of contracting activity (Subpart 802.1) to the Agency Competition Advocate (806.501). The submission will include:

(a) The date of expected contract award (Note: Congress must be notified 30 days prior to award), and

(b) A justification prepared by the contracting officer in accordance with FAR 6.303.

[51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986, as amended at 61 FR 20492, May 7, 1996]

806.304 Approval of the justification.

(a) Approvals of justifications as specified in FAR 6.304, prepared in accordance with FAR 6.303, will be approved as follows:

(1) For a proposed contract not exceeding $100,000, one contracting level above the contracting officer (see Subpart 801.6). However, if the contracting officer is also the head of the contracting activity approval will be made by:

(i) The medical center director for acquisitions at Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical facilities,

or

(ii) The Agency Competition Advocate (806.501(a)) in all other cases.

(2) For a proposed contract over $100,000 but not exceeding $1,000,000, by the Contracting Activity Competition Advocate (806.501(b)). However, if the Contracting Activity Competition Advocate is also the contracting officer, approval will be made by:

(i) The medical center director for acquisitions at VHA medical facilities,

or

(ii) The Agency Competition Advocate in all other cases.

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Subpart 806.4-Sealed Bidding and Competitive Proposals

806.401 Sealed bidding and competitive proposals.

Contracting officers shall solicit sealed bids if the contract is expected to exceed the small purchase limitation or expected to exceed $1,000 for contracts made for repairs to property acquired by VA under 38 U.S.C. Chapter 37 and the criteria in FAR 6.401(a) are met. The contract file shall include any findings by the contracting officer that sealed bidding is not appropriate. [51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986, and 52 FR 28559, July 31, 1987, as amended at 54 FR 40063, Sept. 29, 1989]

Subpart 806.5-Competition Advocates

806.501 Requirement.

(a) The Associated Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisitions (90A) is designated as the Agency Competition Advocate.

(b) The Executive Director and Chief Operating Officers, VA National Acquisition Center, or designee, will serve as the Competition Advocate for the Center. Each head of the contracting activity (see Subpart 802.1) or designee will serve as the Contracting Activity Competition Advocate in all other cases.

[51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986, and 52 FR 28559, July 31, 1987, as amended at 54 FR 40063, Sept. 29, 1989; 61 FR 1527, Jan. 22, 1996; 63 FR 69218, Dec. 16, 1998]

806.502 Duties and responsibilities.

In addition to the responsibilities identified in FAR 6.502(a), the Agency Competition Advocate will coordinate the competition advocacy program as it is implemented at all VA contracting activities. The Agency Competition Advocate will:

(a) Establish program guidelines to be used by contracting activity competition advocates;

(b) Assist contracting activity competition advocates with obstacles to promoting competition;

(c) Utilize supply technical surveys, other facility reports, and the Federal Procurement Data System to monitor contracting activity compliance with the advocacy program;

[51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986, as amended at 61 FR 20492, May 7, 1996]

806.570 Planning requirements.

Competition Plan. Each Contracting Activity Competition Advocate shall develop a Competition Plan and incorporate the Plan in the internal operating procedures of the facility or organization in which the contracting activity is located. It is essential that the plan be endorsed and supported by top level management and be clearly understood by the services and offices that the contracting activity support. As a minimum, the plan shall include:

(a) The appoval requirements for other than full and open competition specified in FAR 6.304;

(b) A description of the synopsizing requirements contained in FAR Subpart 5.2 in order that the necessity for Advance Procurement Planning is fully understood;

(c) A description of how the Competition Plan should be integrated into Advance Procurement Planning;

(d) Identification of any known obstacles to competition and a proposal for overcoming them;

(e) A method for otherwise increasing competition for contracts on the basis of cost and other significant factors.

[51 FR 23066, June 25, 1986, as amended at 61 FR 20492, May 7, 1996; 63 FR 69218, Dec. 16, 1998]

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807.304-75 Bid acceptance.

Bid acceptance shall be 90 days from bid opening/receipt of proposals in order to accommodate the time necessary to evaluate bids/offers, finalize the cost comparison and process any appeals. Contracting officers will insert "90 days" in FAR clause 52.214-15. 807.304-76 Contract effective date.

(a) A transition from in-house performance to contract requires a period of time from contract award to beginning of contract performance (contract effective date). This time is necessary to allow for personnel adjustments, e.g., right of first refusal process, and to allow a reasonable period for the contractor to make necessary resource reallocations. The contract effective date should be carefully considered in

conjunction with the A-76 Task Group and must be specified in the solicitation.

(b) Although outplacement planning to minimize the effect of any necessary reduction in force should be initiated in advace of bid opening/receipt of proposals as prescribed by Office of Personnel and Labor Relations, there are also employee and labor organization reduction-in-force notice requirements which must be satisfied.

(c) When bargaining unit employees will be affected, facility officials also should review and comply with any employee or labor organization notice requirements in applicable negotiated agreements.

807.304-77 Right of first refusal.

in

(a) In addition to the Right of First Refusal clause specified in FAR 52.2073, the contracting officer will include the clause "Report of Employment Under Commercial Activities" 852.207-70. This clause is primarily intended to verify that the contractor is meeting its obligation to provide adversely affected Federal workers the first opportunity for employment openings, for which they qualify, created by the contract.

(b) The Report of Employment Under Commercial Activities clause is also prescribed to avoid inappropriate severance payment. In order to implement the clause, the contracting officer (or Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR)) must first obtain a list from the servicing personnel office of Federal employees, including their Social Security numbers, who will be adversely affected as a result of the anticipated contract. The list should be requested as soon as a preliminary determination is made to contract out a function subject to A-76. (Contracting officers may designate a COTR to coordinate the information and reporting requirements.)

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