Making the Cut for Polaris

How will the General Services Administration (GSA) choose awardees for Polaris, the agency’s new IT-based Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC)?

By developing a scorecard proposal like Polaris, GSA has limited the use of narratives, making it less clear when offerors can include explanations of past performance to judge one company’s bid over another. At face value, it appears that GSA will rely solely on reports (FPDS-NG) and past contract documentation (including Statements of Work or Performance Work Statements) to confirm each bidder’s claimed score. The major challenge is that contract documentation is rarely all-encompassing or describes all the work you’re hoping to take credit for.

OST will ask the Government to clarify how we should treat contract documents like SOWs, PWSs, or SOOs that are not very specific. We will also seek GSA guidance on how we should define the phrase “integral” when in comes to claiming credit for contracts with primary NAICS codes that are not in the five listed for primary experience.

Based on our analysis of the current requirements, we believe there is a place for commentary on the contract documentation to aid GSA in their analysis of relevancy.

Expect GSA to look very closely at proposals for compliance issues to whittle down the competition. GSA intends to issue 100 awards in the Small Business pool and 80 awards in the Woman-Owned Small Business pool.

To prove relevant experience, offerors must submit an FPDS-NG Report that provides verification of all claimed scoring elements. If an FPDS-NG Report is not available or the offeror wants to claim work under a different NAICS code than the one assigned in the FPDS-NG Report, the offeror must submit a lot more paperwork, specifically:

1. If available, FPDS-NG Report that provides verification of any claimed scoring elements. When multiple FPDS-NG Reports are available, the most recent report must be submitted as well as any previous reports necessary for verification of claimed scoring elements.
2. Project Verification Form from the PSP signed by a Contracting Officer (CO) with cognizance over the submitted Project. The Project Verification Form must include the CO’s direct telephone number and direct email address. If the cognizant Contracting Officer’s signature is unattainable, the Government will accept the signature of the Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) directly associated with the Project. The Project Verification Form must include both cognizant CO’s and COR’s direct telephone numbers and email addresses. NOTE: If a Project requires a signature for verification and is not signed by the appropriate party (or parties) as indicated throughout Section L, the associated points will not be earned.
3. Signed copy of original contract award document, this may include the following:
   • Standard Form (SF) 1449 – Solicitation/Contract/Order for Commercial Items – (Block 17a identifies the Prime Contractor, Block 9 identifies the U.S. Federal Government Agency, Block 3 identifies the Award/Effective Date, and Block 31c. identifies the date the Contracting Officer signed).
   • SF26 – Award/Contract – (Block 7 identifies the Prime Contractor, Block 5 identifies the U.S. Federal Government Agency, Block 3 identifies the Effective date, and Block 20C identifies the date the Contracting Officer signed).
   • SF33 – Solicitation, Offer and Award – (Block 15A identifies the Prime Contractor, Block 7 identifies the U.S. Federal Government Agency, and Block 28 identifies the date the Contracting Officer awarded/signed).
   • Department of Defense (DD) 1155 – Order for Supplies or Services (Block 9 identifies the Prime Contractor, Block 6 identifies the U.S. Federal Government Agency, Block 3 identifies the date of Order, and Block 24 identifies the Contracting Officer signature).
   • Optional Form 307 – Contract Award (Block 7 identifies the Prime Contractor, Block 5 identifies the U.S. Federal Government Agency, Block 2 identifies the Effective date, and Block 15C identifies the date the Contracting Officer signed).
   • GSA Form 300 – Order for Supplies and Services (Block 6 identifies the Prime Contractor, Block 10 identifies the U.S. Federal Government Agency, Block 1 identifies the Date of Order, and Block 26C identifies the date the Contracting Officer signed).
   • Other Official Government Award Form not identified above (Must explicitly identify the Contractor, Government Agency, Order Number, Dollar Value, and the date the Contracting Officer awarded/signed).
4. Copy of Contract Statement of Work. The Statement of Work (SOW), or Performance Work Statement (PWS), from the contract that describes the general scope, nature, complexity, and purpose of the supplies or services the customer acquired under the contract. Additionally, the Offeror must provide an index to those specific written passages in the SOW that support the claimed NAICS. If a Statement of Objectives (SOO) clearly indicates the NAICS being claimed, the SOO may be submitted. If the SOO is not clear, then the contractor-generated SOW/PWS must be submitted along with the SOO.
5. If at least one year of performance was not completed, then either an interim or final CPARS, or a completed Award Fee Determination.
6. (OPTIONAL) Section B, Supplies or Services and Prices/Costs Contract Line Items – If experience matching the claimed NAICS is specifically and clearly called out in a single or in multiple CLINs, the Offeror may include that section of the contract and should highlight the relevant CLINs.

OST Global Solutions is a professional business development firm, and we are experts in winning scored contracts like Polaris. Reach out to us for an independent score evaluation, teaming support, and/or proposal development support.

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