(a) Solicitations should provide for proposals and modifications to proposals to be submitted to the appropriate contracting office unless arrangements have been made with the local Business Service Center (BSC) for receipt and safeguarding of proposals by the BSC.

(b) Classified proposals and quotations must be handled under FAR 15.411, GSAR subpart 504.4, and the requirements of GSA Order, Freedom of Information Act procedures (ADM 1035.11B).

[54 FR 26521, June 23, 1989, as amended at 56 FR 47005, Sept. 17, 1991]

515.411-70 Recording of offers.

The GSA and/or Standard Forms prescribed for abstracting bids in sealed bidding may be used to abstract proposals or quotations submitted in connection with competitively negotiated procurements where more than one offer is received in response to the solicitation. (See FAR 4.803(a)(10).) The forms may be appropriately modified to include all of the information necessary for evaluation. Abstracts must not be provided to the Business Service Center or disclosed except as provided in 515.1070. See FAR 15.411, 15.413 and

15.1001 regarding disclosure of information.

515.412 Late proposals and modifications.

(a) Contracting officers in the Federal Supply Service have been authorized to deviate from the FAR provision at 52.215–10, Late Submissions, Modifications, and Withdrawals of Proposals in solicitations for multiple award schedules by deleting paragraph (a)(3). The effect of this deviation is to establish the closing date for receipt of proposals in block 9 of the Standard Form 33, Solicitation, Offer and Award, as a firm cut-off date for receipt of proposals. Any proposal received at the office designated in the solicitation after the exact time specified for receipt will not be considered unless it qualifies under paragraph (a)(1), (a)(2), or (b) of FAR 52.215-10.

(b) When contracting officers deviate from the FAR provision as outlined in paragraph (a) of this section, no additional special item numbers may be added to the proposal after the firm cut-off date established for receipt of proposals. However, additional products and/or models may be added when the item offered falls under a Special Item Number originally submitted in a timely manner.

515.414 Forms.

If partial award is made to an offeror and additional items are being withheld for possible subsequent award to the same offeror, any subsequent award must be made using SF-30, Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract (except see FAR 15.1002 regarding notification to the successful offeror and GSAR 519.502-3(b) regarding partial set-asides). The authority cited in paragraph 13D of SF-30 for subsequent awards will be GSAR 515.414.

[55 FR 48847, Nov. 23, 1990]

515.414-70 GSA Forms.

(a) The GSA Form 1602, Notice Concerning Your Solicitation for Offers, may be used to (1) describe the type of contract, the duration of the contract, and the type of supplies or services being procured; (2) direct the attention of prospective offerors to special requirements that, if overlooked, may re

sult in rejection of the offer; (3) highlight significant changes from previous solicitations covering the same supplies or service; and (4) include other special notices as appropriate. The GSA Form 1602 is not part of the solicitation or resulting contract.

(b) The GSA Form 3503, Representations and Certifications, may be used in solicitations and contracts, except leases of real property.

(c) The GSA Form 3502, Solicitation Provisions (Negotiated), may be used when offers are solicited using Standard Forms 33, 1442 or 1447.

(d) The GSA Form 3504, Service Contract Clauses, the GSA Form 3506, Construction Contract Clauses, or the GSA Form 3507, Supply Contract Clauses, may be used in solicitations and contracts that exceed the small purchase threshold. The GSA Form 3504 may also be used for small purchases when a two-party contract form is used to make a small purchase.

[54 FR 26521, June 23, 1989, as amended at 55 FR 20458, May 17, 1990; 55 FR 48847, Nov. 23, 1990; 57 FR 61584, Dec. 28, 1992]

Subpart 515.5-Unsolicited
Proposals

515.501 Definitions.

Coordinating office, as used in this subpart, means the:

(1) Director of the Office of GSA Acquisition Policy,

(2) Assistant Commissioner, Office of Commodity Management, FSS,

(3) Assistant Commissioner, Office of Information Resources Procurement, IRMS,

(4) Assistant Commissioner, Office of Procurement, PBS, or

(5) Director, Regional Acquisition Management Staff.

The Director of the Office of GSA Acquisition Policy serves as the coordinating office for Central Office activities outside of FSS, IRMS, and PBS. [55 FR 48848, Nov. 23, 1990]

515.504 Advance guidance.

Potential offerors should be encouraged to make preliminary contacts with coordinating offices before submitting a detailed unsolicited proposal or proprietary data.

515.608-71 Discounts for prompt payment.

The policy of not considering discounts in the evaluation of offers applies where there is direct competition between two or more offerors for a single award. It does not apply to procurements where the evaluation process involves a comparison of the offeror's price to the Government with the offeror's price to its other customers. Accordingly, the policy in FAR 14.4073 does not apply to multiple award schedule solicitations except in those instances where offers are received on identical products. The clause at 552.232-8, Discounts for Prompt Payment, specifies the extent to which discounts for prompt payment will be con

(a) Access to Government cost estimates is limited to Government personnel whose official duties require knowledge of the estimate. An exception to this rule may be made during contract negotiations to allow the contracting officer to identify a specialized task and disclose the associated cost breakdown figures in the Government estimate, but only to the extent necessary to arrive at a fair and reasonable price. After award, the total amount of the independent Government estimate may be revealed, upon written request, to those firms or individuals who submitted proposals.

(b) Whenever a contractor insists on a price or demands a profit or fee that the contracting officer considers unreasonable as outlined in FAR 15.803(d) the contracting officer shall refer the

matter to the contracting director for resolution.

[55 FR 48848, Nov. 23, 1990]

515.804 Cost or pricing data.

515.804-2 Requiring certified cost or pricing data.

When determining the contract amount for purposes of applying the threshold at FAR 15.804-2 for requesting certified cost and pricing data, the value of the contract plus any priced options must be considered. Exercise of a priced option is not considered a price adjustment and does not require submission of cost and pricing data. 515.804-3 Exemptions from or waiver of submission of certified cost or pricing data.

(a) Under FAR 15.804-3(i), the HCA is authorized to waive the requirement for the submission of certified cost or pricing data.

(b) The request for waiver must include a draft determination and finding that addresses (1) pertinent circumstances of the procurement necessitating the waiver, (2) the price analysis techniques to be used if the award must be made (3) the steps taken by higher authority to obtain the certified cost or pricing data; and (4) the practicability of obtaining the Government's requirements from other

sources.

515.804-6 Procedural requirements.

Whenever an offeror refuses to provide the required cost or pricing data, the contracting officer shall refer the matter to the contracting director for resolution. (See FAR 15.804-6(e).) The contracting director shall negotiate for the submission of the required cost or

pricing data, unless the HCA determines, in writing, not to undertake such higher level negotiations and the determination is documented in the contract file.

515.805 Proposal analysis. 515.805-5 Field pricing support.

(a) "Field pricing support" is provided by the Assistant Inspector General-Auditing, or the Regional Inspector General-Auditing, as appropriate.

(b) When applying the threshold at FAR 15.805-5 for requesting field pricing support, the value of the proposal (including any priced options) must be used.

Subpart 515.9-Profit

515.902 Policy.

(a) Structured approach for determining profit fee objectives. The contracting officer's analysis of these profit factors is based on information available to the Government before negotiations. Such information is furnished in proposals, audit data, performance reports, preaward surveys and the like. The structured approach also provides a basis for documentation of a profit objective, including an explanation of any significant departure from this objective in reaching a final agreement. The extent of documentation should be directly related to the dollar value and complexity of the proposed procurement.

(b) Exemptions from requirement to use the structured approach. (1) Under exempted procurements, other methods for establishing profit objectives may be used. Generally, such methods will be supported in a manner similar to that used in the structured approach (profit factor breakdown and documentation of profit objective). However, factors within the structured approach considered inapplicable to the procurement may be excluded from the profit objectives. The following types of procurements are exempt from the structured approach:

(i) Management contracts for operation and/or maintenance of Government facilities;

(ii) Contracts primarily requiring delivery of material supplied by subcontractors;

(iii) Termination settlements;

(iv) Cost-plus-award-fee contracts; (v) Contracts and contract modifications of $100,000 or less in value; and (vi) Architect-engineer and construction contracts.

(2) Other exemptions may be made in the negotiation of contracts having unusual pricing situations where the structured approach is determined to be unsuitable. Such exemptions must be justified in writing and approved by the HCA.

(b) GSA Form 1766, Structured Approach Profit/Fee Objective, may be use to facilitate the profit objective computation. The contracting officer shall measure the Contractor Effort by the assignment of a profit percentage within the designated weight ranges to each element of cost recognized.

(c) If the facilities capital cost of money is allowed as an item of cost, either as a part of the contracting officer's price/cost objective in a firm fixed price type contract or as an allowable cost in a flexibly priced type contract, e.g., cost reimbursement or fixed price incentive type contract, the contracting officer shall reduce the profit/fee objective as follows. After the contracting officer has developed a dollar profit/fee amount for the requirement (e.g., the sum of the "contract effort"

and "other factors" dollar profit/fee amounts on the GSA Form 1766, Structured Approach Profit/Fee Objective), the contracting officer shall subtract from that aggregate dollar profit/fee amount any dollar amount allowed for facilities capital cost of money. The remainder, after subtraction of the facilities capital cost of money amount, is the profit/fee objective.

[54 FR 26521, June 23, 1989, as amended at 55 FR 48848, Nov. 23, 1990]

515.905-1 Common factors.

(a) Contractor Effort encompasses broad and basic categories but shall not include facilities capital cost of money. Individual proposals may be in a different format.

(b) After computing a total dollar profit for Contractor Effort, the contracting officer shall calculate the specific profit dollars for the categories under other factors. This is done by multiplying the total Government cost objective, exclusive of any cost of money for facilities capital, by the specific weights assigned to the elements within the Other Factors category.

(c) In determining the value of each factor, the contracting officer should be governed by the definition, description, and purpose of the factors together with considerations for evaluating them as prescribed in FAR 15.905-1 and the following:

(1) General management. Management problems surface in various degrees and the management expertise exercised to solve them should be considered as an element of profit. For example, a new program for an item that involves advanced state of the art techniques may cause more problems and require more managerial time and abilities of a higher order than one that is a follow-on contract. If new contracts create more problems and require a higher profit weight, follow-ons should be adjusted downward, as many of the problems should have been solved. An evaluation should be made of the underlying managerial effort involved on a case-by-case basis.

(2) Other-costs. Include all other direct costs of contractor performance under this item (e.g., travel and relocation, direct support, and consultants). Analysis of these costs in assigning

con

(i) A cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract normally would not justify a reward for risk in excess of 0 percent, unless the contract contains cost risk features such as ceilings on overheads. In such cases, up to 1 percent may be justified. Cost-plus-incentive-fee tracts fill the remaining portion of the 0 to 3 percent range with weightings directly related to such factors as confidence in target cost, share ratio of fee(s), etc. The weight range for fixedprice contracts is wide enough to accommodate the many types of fixedprice arrangements. Weighting should indicate the cost risk assumed, with only firm fixed-price contracts reaching the top end of the range.

(ii) The contractor's subcontracting program may significantly impact the contractor's risk under a contract. It could affect risk in terms of both cost and performance. This should be a part of the contracting officer's overall evaluation in selecting a weight for cost risk. The prime contractor may effectively transfer cost risk to a subcontractor and the risk evaluation may, as a result, be below the range that would otherwise apply for the contract type being proposed. The risk evaluation should not be lowered, however, merely because a substantial portion of the contract cost represents subcontracts without any substantial transfer of contractor's risk.

(iii) In evaluating risk in the definitization of letter contracts, unpriced change orders, and unpriced orders under basic ordering agreements, the effect on risk as a result of partial performance before definitization should be considered. Under some circumstances the total risk may have been effectively reduced. Under other circumstances, the contractor's risk may have remained substantially unchanged. To be equitable, the deter