Overview
This section defines the roles and specific duties of the Agency Head, the Source Selection Authority (SSA), and the Contracting Officer (CO) during the formal negotiated procurement process. It establishes a framework of accountability for establishing evaluation teams, ensuring solicitation consistency, and making the final "best value" determination.
Key Rules
- Designation of the SSA: The Contracting Officer is the default Source Selection Authority unless the agency head appoints another individual for a specific acquisition.
- SSA Responsibilities:
- Team Composition: Must establish a tailored evaluation team including contracting, legal, technical, and logistics expertise.
- Strategic Approval: Must approve the acquisition plan or source selection strategy before the solicitation is released.
- Evaluation Integrity: Must ensure that proposals are evaluated strictly and solely against the factors and subfactors identified in the solicitation.
- Final Decision: Must make the final selection of the source(s) that represent the best value to the Government.
- Contracting Officer Responsibilities:
- Communication Control: Acts as the exclusive focal point for all inquiries from offerors after the solicitation is released.
- Exchange Management: Controls all formal exchanges and discussions with offerors after proposals are received.
- Execution: Formally awards the contract(s).
Practical Implications
- Protest Risk Mitigation: By requiring the SSA to evaluate proposals "solely on the factors... contained in the solicitation," the FAR protects the government from protests regarding the use of unstated evaluation criteria.
- Centralized Communication: Designating the CO as the sole focal point prevents "clandestine" or inconsistent information sharing between technical teams and bidders, ensuring all offerors are treated fairly and receive the same information.