Overview
This section establishes the mandatory procedures and hierarchy an agency head must follow to determine if government personnel are available to evaluate or analyze proposals before seeking outside advisory and assistance services.
Key Rules
- Internal First: The agency head must first determine if sufficient, qualified personnel are available within their own agency for each specific proposal evaluation.
- Inter-agency Search: If internal resources are unavailable, the agency must look to other Federal agencies, weighing factors like administrative costs, travel expenses, and the impact on the providing agency’s mission.
- Formal Agreements: If personnel are sourced from another agency, a formal agreement for the "detail" of those personnel must be executed between the agencies.
- Prerequisite for Outsourcing: An agency may only move to contract for these services (under FAR 37.203) after making "reasonable attempts" to find available Federal personnel and failing to do so.
- Class Determinations: Agencies can make a broad determination for a "class" of proposals if the required expertise is so unique or specialized that it is unreasonable to expect Federal personnel to be available.
Practical Implications
- Agencies must document their search for internal and external Federal expertise to justify the use of contractors for proposal evaluation, ensuring that private entities only perform these roles when government capacity is truly exhausted.
- This process serves as a safeguard to maintain the integrity of the procurement process and minimize potential conflicts of interest by prioritizing inherently governmental oversight.