(a) The head of the station at field stations.

(b) Manager of the Marketing Center at the Marketing Center.

(c) Director of Supply Service for the Purchase and Contract Division, Supply Service, Central Office.

(d) Manager, Administrative Services for the Building and Supply Service and Publications Service, Central Office.

(e) Assistant Administrator for Construction for construction contracts excluding those for maintenance and repair entered into by field stations.

(f) Manager, VA Supply Depot at Somerville, N.J., and Hines, Ill., and the Executive Officer, VA Subdepot, Bell, Calif.

[35 F.R. 11470, July 17, 1970]

§ 8-1.708-3 Conclusiveness of certificate of competency.

Despite the issuance of a certificate of competency by the Small Business Administration (SBA), a contracting officer who has substantial doubts as to a prospective contractor's ability to perform shall document his reasons therefor, and submit the matter to the Director, Supply Service for resolution with SBA. If, in the opinion of the Director, the reasons advanced by the contracting officer are valid, he may request SBA to withdraw the certificate of competency. The contracting officer will be advised as to the action he is to take.

[35 F.R. 11470, July 17, 1970] Subpart 8-1.9—-Reporting Possible

Antitrust Violations

§ 8-1.901 General.

ucts Lists will be submitted to the Chief Medical Director for transmittal to General Services Administration. Requests to establish a Federal Qualified Products List for a commodity will be submitted to the Chief Medical Director, supported by one or more of the following justifications:

(1) The time required for testing after award would unduly delay delivery of the supplies being purchased.

(2) The cost of repetitive testing would be excessive.

(3) The tests would require expensive or complicated testing apparatus not commonly available.

(4) The interest of the Government requires assurance, prior to award, that the product is satisfactory for its intended use.

(5) The determination of acceptability would require performance data to supplement technical requirements contained in the specification.

(b) VA Qualified Products Lists are lists of products qualified by the VA under VA specifications or purchase descriptions. Such lists may be established as authorized by the appropriate department or staff office.

(1) VA Qualified Products Lists will be supported by one or more of the justifications in § 8-1.1101(a) or the following:

(i) Where tests result in substantial or repetitive rejections, or

(ii) Where professional requirements of performance, balance, design, or construction cannot economically be developed into clear specifications, and professional judgment is required in determinating the acceptability of items meeting VA requirements.

(2) In the event that the requirement for VA Qualified Products List is established for any given product, known suppliers of the type of item required will be notified and given an opportunity to submit samples for inspection, and test based upon guarantee that they will deliver the item so inspected, provided the item is acceptable. A qualified products list shall not be used as a means of restricting competition to favored suppliers. All suppliers so desiring shall be given an opportunity to have their products tested for acceptability.

(3) Costs involved in the inspection and test will be borne by the VA. The supplier will be required to bear the cost of the sample and its transportation to the inspecting point. After in

spection, the sample shall be returned to the supplier "as is" unless it is destroyed by inspection or disposed of or retained by the VA as authorized by the supplier.

(4) Items which have been accepted for the qualified products list will be subject to constant review for compliance with the applicable specification. Where there is a variance between the specification and the item, the supplier shall be requested to furnish an item that conforms to the specification. Failure or inability on the part of the supplier to provide an item that conforms to the specification will be sufficient cause to consider the item unacceptable in response to subsequent invitations.

(5) The acceptance of an item for the qualified products lists does not guarantee acceptance in any future purchase, nor does it constitute a waiver of the requirements of the specifications as to acceptance, inspection, testing or other provisions of any future contract involving such item.

(6) Bid invitations covering products which have been included in a qualified products list will include the clause set forth in FPR 1-1.1101(b). When purchase is made by negotiation, the clause in FPR 1-1.1101 (b) may be appropriately modified.

[28 F.R. 2327, Mar. 12, 1963, as amended at 28 F.R. 11455, Oct. 25, 1963]

Subpart 8-1.16-Reports of Identical

8-2.406 8-2.406-3

Other mistakes disclosed before award.

8-2.406-4 Disclosure

of mistakes after

8-2.407 8-2.407-1 8-2.407-3

award. Award.

General.

all bids.

Mistakes in bids.

Discounts.

8-2.407-8 Protests against award. 8-2.407-50 Award when only one bid is re

8-2.408

ceived.

Information to bidders.

Subpart 8-2.5-Two-step Formal Advertising 8-2.502 Conditions for use.

AUTHORITY: The provisions of this Part 8-2 issued under 72 Stat. 1114, sec. 205(c), 63 Stat. 390; 38 U.S.C. 210, 40 U.S.C. 486(c).

Subpart 8-2.1-Use of Formal
Advertising

§ 8-2.102 Policy.

Contracts in excess of $2,500, or in excess of $1,000 for contracts made for repairs to property acquired by the Vet

erans Administration under chapter 37, title 38, United States Code, will be made by formal advertising when all of the following elements necessary to formal advertising are present.

(a) A complete, adequate and realistic specification or purchase description is available or can be written.

(b) There are two or more suppliers available who are willing and able to compete effectively for the contract.

(c) There is sufficient time to prepare the invitation completely setting forth the needs of the VA, the terms and conditions upon which it will do business and to complete the administrative terminations, including evaluation, essential to this type of procurement.

de

(d) The award can be made on the basis of price alone to a responsible and responsive bidder.

[28 F.R. 2333, Mar. 12, 1963, as amended at 30 F.R. 7599, June 11, 1965]

§ 8-2.104 Types of contracts. [28 F.R. 2333, Mar. 12, 1963]

§ 8-2.104-3 Fixed-price contracts with escalation.

When contracts of this nature are authorized (by Central Office) pursuant to § 8-3.403, contracting officers will be guided by the provisions of FPR 1-3.404-3.

[30 F.R. 4674, Apr. 10, 1965]

Subpart 8-2.2-Solicitation of Bids

§ 8-2.201 Preparation of invitations for bids.

(a) Invitations for bids for supplies, equipment and services will be serially numbered at the time of issue. The number will consist of the station or marketing division number, the serial number of the invitation, and the fiscal year in which issued, e.g., 101-25-70. A new series beginning with the number 1 will be started each fiscal year. Invitations for bids for supplies, equipment and services which are issued, accepted, and become contracts in the same fiscal year but, because of procurement leadtime, will not be performed until the ensuing fiscal year will be numbered in the series of the year in which they are issued. However, invitations issued in one fiscal year that will result in a contract that will become effective and performed only in the ensuing fiscal year will be numbered in the ensuing fiscal year series.

(b) Invitations for construction contracts will bear the applicable specifica

tion number and project number if assigned. When no specification or project number is assigned, the invitation will be assigned a number in the current fiscal year series as provided in paragraph (a) of this section.

(c) In order to preclude adverse criticism of the Veterans Administration by prospective bidders relative to disclosure of bid prices prior to bid opening, the following provision will be prominently placed in all invitations for bids:

CAUTION TO BIDDERS-BID ENVELOPES

It is the responsibility of each bidder to take all necessary precautions, including the use of a proper mailing cover, to insure that his bid price cannot be ascertained by anyone prior to bid opening. If a bid envelope is furnished with this invitation, the bidder is requested to use this envelope in submitting his bid. He may, however, when it suits his purpose, use any suitable envelope, identified by the invitation number and bid opening time and date. If a bid envelope is not furnished, the bidder will complete and affix the enclosed Optional Form 17, Sealed Bid Label, to the lower left hand corner of the envelope used in submitting his bid.

(d) To realize the greatest possible price advantage for the Government, items that may be processed by a contractor to effect a reduction in cost factors such as production, inspection and delivery, may be listed for award on both individual item and summary item bases. Items will be listed individually and, in addition, a summary price will be solicited for those items the contracting officer determines to be of a related character and normally handled by a majority of prospective bidders.

(1) When different products are to be combined for a summary price, the quantity, unit and unit price columns opposite the summary item will be crossed out, e.g.:

(Item No.) Summary bid for furnishing items to inclusive on an all or none basis:

-----

(Bidder will enter unit price and amount.) (3) Invitations containing a summary bid request will contain the following statement:

The award will be made on either an individual item basis or summary bid basis, whichever results in the lowest cost to the Government. Therefore, to assure proper evaluation of all bids, a bidder quoting a summary bid price must also quote a price on each individual item included in his summary bid price.

(e) Bid invitations for supplies, equipment, or services (other than construction) must define the extent to which alternate bids will be authorized and considered. Alternates specified on construction projects will be considered for acceptance only as a part of the basic item.

(1) When an alternate item is to be considered only if no bids or insufficient bids are received on the item desired, the following will be included in the invitation:

ALTERNATE ITEM(S)

Bids on (1) will be considered only if acceptable bids on (2) are not received or do not satisfy the total requirement.

1 Contracting officer will insert an alternate item that is considered acceptable.

a Contracting officer will insert the required item and item number.

(2) When an alternate item will be considered on an equal basis with the item specified, the following will be included in the invitation:

ALTERNATE ITEM(S)

Bids on (1) will be given equal consideration along with the (2), and any such bids received may be accepted if to the advantage of the Government. Tie bids will be decided in favor of 2.

1 Contracting officer will insert the alternate item(s) that are considered acceptable. 2 Contracting officer will insert the desired item(s).

(3) In addition to the clause in subparagraph (1) or (2) of this paragraph, the following clause will be included in the invitation when bids will be allowed on different packaging, unit designation, etc.

ALTERNATE PACKAGING AND PACKING The bidder's offer must clearly indicate the quantity, package size, unit, or other different feature upon which he is quoting. Evaluation of the alternate or multiple alternates will be made on a common denominator such as per ounce, per pound, etc., basis.

(f) When a contracting officer determines that it will be advantageous to the Government to make the award by group or groups of items, a provision for such award will be included in the invitation for bids.

(1) This may apply when:

(i) The items in the group or groups are readily available from the sources to be solicited; and

(ii) It is desirable to make a minimum number of contracts; or

(iii) Furniture or fixtures are required for a single project and uniformity of design is desirable; or

(iv) The articles required will be assembled and used as a unit.

(2) Solicitations for supplies and services, other than construction, will contain the following provision:

AGGREGATE AWARD

It is contemplated that items No. through No. ------ will be awarded to the responsible bidder quoting the lowest aggregate price for all items. In the event an aggregate bid is not received for all items, the Veterans Administration reserves the right to award on either an item basis or to the lowest responsible bidder quoting the lowest aggregate price on not less than 50 percent of the items in the group, whichever is more advantageous to the Government. Bids will be evaluated on the basis of additional cost to the Government that might result from making multiple awards. For this purpose, the cost of awarding and administering each additional contract is estimated to be 1. Multiple awards will not be made unless there is a resultant savings of more than $---.

1.

Bidders must quote a unit price on each item offered. However, a bidder may quote a total aggregate price which is less than the total of individual items, provided such total is identified as a discounted offer.

(3) Solicitations for construction contracts which solicit prices on an item and alternate item basis (when it is intended that a single aggregate award will be made for all items in the solicitation within certain fiscal limitations) will contain a statement as to the order of priority in which the alternate items will

1 Enter $25 in all station solicitations. On centralized purchasing activity solicitations enter $50.

be awarded. This priority will be based on the relative importance of an item, the Veterans Administration estimate, and the amount of funds available. Such schedules will be substantially as follows:

Item No. 1-Furnish all labor, material, equipment, etc., to paint buildings No. 1, 2, and 3, $--

Alternate items in order of priority. Furnish all labor, material, equipment, etc. to paint:

Item No. 2-Building No. 1 only $.
Item No. 3-Building No. 2 only $.
Item No. 4-Building No. 3 only $.

A single award will be made on Item No. 1, but in the event the offer exceeds the funds available, a single award will be made on Item No. 2, or a combination of Items Nos. 2 and 3. Offerors should quote a price on each item listed.

(g) The Notice of Requirement for Certification of Nonsegregated Facilities required by FPR 1-2.201 (a) (29) will be modified in accordance with the footnote 2 under FPR 1-12.803-10 and prominently displayed in each invitation for bids covering supplies, equipment and services, including construction, estimated to cost in excess of $10,000. (h) Contracting officers required to solicit invitations for bids which will result in contracts that are unique or unusual, or which may be legally questionable, will utilize such legal advice that is available to them in preparing the invitations. They will also seek technical and financial advice from their available sources when necessary. Prior to releasing such invitations to prospective bidders, they will forward the proposed invitations to the Director, Supply Service, for review and determination as to whether submission to the General Counsel is required. Contracts coming within the purview of this paragraph are such as, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Utility services involving Government investment.

(2) Management services.

(3) Research (basic and applied). (4) Research and development. (5) ADP equipment, when purchased from other than an FSS contract.

(6) Scarce medical specialist services. (7) Mutual use, or exchange of use, of specialized medical resources.

(i) Invitations for bids of the types specified in paragraph (h) of this section that are solicited by contracting officers assigned to the Office of the Assistant Administrator for Construction will be sub

All samples furnished must be plainly marked with the complete lettering and numbering of the item or subitems to which it relates, the name of the commodity, the Invitation for Bids number, and the name of the bidder. Cases or packages containing samples must be plainly marked "Samples" and all charges incident to the preparation and transportation of samples must be prepaid by the bidder. Bids must not be enclosed with samples. (Par. 5(c), Submission of Offers of SF 33A, is amended accordingly.) [33 F.R. 75, Jan. 4, 1968]

§ 8-2.203 Methods of soliciting bids. [28 F.R. 2334, Mar. 12, 1963]

§ 8–2.203–1 Mailing or delivering to prospective bidders.

(a) The contracting officer will include either a bid envelope, or Optional Form 17, Sealed Bid Label, with each invitation for bids furnished to prospective bidders.