CONTRACTING OFFICER WARRANT BOARD QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS
questions
You are the PCO for a major competitive negotiated source selection. The RFP,
... [Show More] which reflects the user's
requirements and is based on the user's budget, has a requirement for 220 cargo loaders to be delivered
at 55 per year over the next four years. One offeror proposes to deliver all 220 loaders in the first year at
a dramatically reduced price. Can you accept the offeror's proposal? What factors should you consider in
your decision? correct answerYou can accept the offeror's proposal under certain circumstances. Firstly,
what did the RFP say about alternate proposals? Is this a situation where requirements are changed and
the other offerors should be allowed to propose on the basis of the changed requirements? You need to
ask the user if he wants all 220 in the first year and are the operating locations physically able to
accommodate their loaders in the first year. Finally, the offeror could be taken into discussions and asked
to conform to the RFP with there being the possibility of not being selected for award or elimination
from the competitive range if the proposal is not made compliant with the RFP.
You are the PCO on a new $2B aircraft development program. The program is in contract negotiations for
a Fixed Price Incentive (Firm Target) System Development and Demonstration contract award to a sole
source contractor. The program director, a fast-burning young colonel, e-mails you that she is very
concerned with the aircraft's ultimate speed at the full specification payload. She would like the
contractor to achieve the faster, desired objective speed rather than the mandatory threshold speed,
and thinks that an objective performance incentive would be the way to go to achieve her goal. You are
asked to go to her office and discuss the matter and the issues involved in using such an incentive. What
do you tell the colonel? correct answerThere are a number of considerations for the colonel:
The desired additional speed should provide benefit to the Government in order to justify the
expenditure of funds to achieve it. The colonel should be able to articulate the justification.
The situation is very amenable to a classic performance incentive that would allow the contractor to
earn profit for achieving the desired speed above and beyond what the final FPIF profit would be for
achieving threshold speed. If the contractor perceives this can't happen, he will either not sign up to the
incentive or will ignore it from Day One.
The incentive and resulting payment have to be structured so as to be based on observable, measurable
results that would determine how much is earned by the contractor. Subjectivity is not allowable under
current AF policy without HCA approval.
We have to be very careful to understand what possible unintended consequences could be caused by
the existence of this feature in the contract. For example, will the contractor reduce aircraft weight [Show Less]