Posted: November 19th, 2022

Bidding on a Contract with Navy

Bidding on a Contract with Navy

HUBZone set aside procedures Competitive Advantage
Having fulfilled the requirements for the HUBZone Act or FAR 19.5, Juliana Joseph-Tanner Inc. has an added competitive advantage of HUBZone set aside procedures for small businesses which her competitor does not have. The company is willing to offer the navy contracting firm more incentives since the initial estimates for the contract will surpass $ 150,000. From paragraph (c) of HUBZone set-aside, it is advised that a participating agency can exceed the micro-purchase threshold, as long as it is within the simplified acquisition threshold, for competition focused on HUBZone small business at individual’s discretion. However, the contract quotation must be at a market fair price for it to be accepted by the contracting firm. The contracting offices shall prioritize the firms with the HUBZone set-asides to the HUBZone sole origin awards (Federal Acquisition Institute, 1984).
Multiyear Contract
On the other hand, my company will offer a multiyear contract as opposed to my competitor. Multiyear contracts have many benefits which will make the Navy to seal the Juliana Joseph-Tanner Inc. contract with them. Some of the benefits include;
Saving Administrative Time: When comparing bids, the contracting companies eliminate the stress focus on investments of available time by contracting companies offering multiyear contracts, often two years and above. The navy is hereby assured of no or few repetition of similar contract after many years to come.
Consistency: consistency enables the company to rely on their expectations. In this case, the navy will be confident with the quality of service they obtain from a specific contract they have dealt with in the past.
Preferred dates: repeat clients have an advantage for contracting firms are more willing to offer preferred dates for contracts in future.
Flexible deposits: In this case, the Navy may be willing to lighten their policies if Juliana Joseph-Tanner Inc. will be willing to offer multiyear contracts.
Moreover, advantages of multiyear contracts for our firm may include lower costs of production with time, stabilized plans for contractors, production continuity, broaden competitive foundation, and provision of incentives for contractors in order to improve productivity (Hillstrom, & Hillstrom, 2002).
Fixed Price Contract
Various factors need to be considered while selecting the contract bidding type. Often, with price competition in the bidding, companies should go for fixed price bidding to win the contracts. Fixed price contract accommodates a cost which ordinarily is not subject to any adjustment unless certain provisions, for example, contract change, flawed pricing, or economic pricing) are incorporated into the contract. These agreements are made more often where sensible dynamics are noted, and expenses can be estimated with sensible precision. However, it will be proper to perform price analysis in order to place a bid. Therefore, I will recommend that the company employs fixed pricing with incentives contract type. This type of contract gives both the contractor and the contracting company a predictable scenario, which provides stability for both companies during multiyear contract. There must be a concern of sudden price changes from the contractor’s side which may have adverse effects on the business plan. When prices of goods increase with time, the seller will experience loss in his business. On the other hand, the buyer may complain of the reduced value if the cost was fixed without incentive. Fixed costs with incentives will be advantageous to the contracting company since the juniors can plan with a concrete budget and present it to their seniors. In summary, the fixed price with incentives have high scope, share of risk mostly by project, high incentive for achieving milestones and finally medium to high cost predictability.
Cost Incentive
If my company offers cost incentives, it will take advantage of fee adjustment formula of profit. Moreover, this incentive is aimed at effective cost management by the firm. Most often, other than award-fee constraint, incentive contracts will rely on providing a cost constraint. Incentive contracts will include a target fee or profit, fee adjustment formula within price constraints, and target cost. These should ensure that the cost that meets the goal will result in target fee or profit, the cost above the target results to downward adjustment of target fee or profit and the cost below target should lead to upward adjustment of target fee or profit. Therefore, Juliana Joseph-Tanner Inc. will ensure it maximizes the use of cost incentive to gain a competitive advantage over her competitor.
Cost Proposal
I would prefer a cost proposal for my company because the Navy will be interested in competitive cost offer of the bidding companies. I will therefore breakdown the costs and the budgetary data so that the Navy Company will have a perfect analysis of the provided cost. Also, I will include other information required according to the RFP Section L. It is advised to provide the basis of estimate cost by performing cost analysis. In the proposal, I will provide the allowable cost according to the FAR 31.201-2 and provide reasons for allocating the cost (O’Connor, & Wangemann, 2013). The cost proposal should by all means avoid deficiencies such as lack of supporting information, lack of estimation basis, non-conformity with RFP instructions, summation errors and mismatching of supporting schedules and summary. However, for the best performance of the contract, the firm must ensure that all the factors including technical, cost, management and schedule performances meet the set criteria by the FAR.
Potential Risk Factors That You Will Need To Consider If Your Company Is Awarded The Contract
The risk factors that must be considered when the contract is awarded include risks from the contract administration capability such as failure to have sufficient experience and skills to manage effectively the contract, failure to recognize significance of contract management and failure to counter the contracts underperformance. It is therefore proper to recruit relevant skilled staff, conduct training that addresses the skills gaps, obtain experts for consultation purposes, set priorities in line with funding, establish the roles and responsibilities, establish good relationship with the contractor, et cetera. Secondly, risks due to contractor performance may include failure to timely provide agreed upon deliverables as well as agreed quality standards, failure to stick to the contract budget, failure to comply with provisions in the contract such as record keeping, privacy and fraud behavior by contractor. The company can address such issues by regularly holding performance review meetings, making payments for satisfactory results, ensuring proper record keeping, seek consultations to possible causes of performances, ensure satisfactory deliverables and conditions of the contract, schedule tasks prior and regularly hold meetings to establish the roles and priorities, et cetera. Finally, risks that result from stakeholders relationships needs to be identifies in time. For example, if the stakeholders are not involved in the contract performance briefings, changes in their expectations without informing them and conflicting expectations of stakeholder. These issues can be addressed by regular discussions and negotiations of competing requirements and compromises. Moreover, it will be vital to welcome and discuss feedback with stakeholder, maintain both formal and informal contacts with significant stakeholders, and provide regular update to make sure stakeholders remain informed.

References
Federal Acquisition Institute (U.S.). (1984). FAR: The federal acquisition regulation. Falls Church, Va: ADS Audiovisual Productions.
Hillstrom, K., & Hillstrom, L. C. (2002). Encyclopedia of small business. Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
O’Connor, T. M., & Wangemann, M. P. (2013). Federal Contracting Answer Book. London: Management Concepts Press.
Stanberry, S. A. (2012). Federal Contracting Made Easy. London: Management Concepts Press.
United States., & United States. (1979). Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Washington, D.C: Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O..