1. SAO CENTRAL FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
FAR Part 5.2
SAOC Training – February 2015

2. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
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3. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
SAOC QA/TRAINING PRESENTERS
This will be a joint training presentation by the SAO Central
Training Officer and the SAO Central Quality Assurance Staff.
 Annette Gaessler, SAO Central Training Officer
 Robert “Jake” Jacobson, SAO Central QA-Compliance Analyst
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4. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
TRAINING AGENDA
Training Outline
 Learning Objectives of this training module
 Purpose of FBO – Why should we publicize?
 Publicizing FBO Requirements
 Additional Methods for dissemination of information
 Commonly Used Exceptions to Publicizing
 The Synopsis
 Releasing the Solicitation, Amendments, and Cancellation
 Negative Trends/What QA is Looking for?
 Wrap-up/Summary
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5. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO TRAINING OBJECTIVES
Training Objectives
 FOR us to obtain a better understanding of the importance to
publicize
 To Obtain a better appreciation of why encouraging full and open
competition is key to obtaining “Best Value” & lower prices to meet
the government’s requirements
 To Understand the importance of ensuring the synopsis provides an
adequate description of government’s requirements
 Share negative trends and findings from our Desk Top audits and be
aware of what QA is looking for.
 Share Best Practices of publicizing our requirements through the
government point of entry GPE/FBO
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6. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
Purpose – Why should we publicize?
Purpose of FBO Announcement
 Broaden Industry participation in meeting
government requirements
 Responsible to promote and increase as much competition to
obtain best pricing.
 Assist SB concerns to participate if possible to meet our social
economic goals
 Goal is to have as many new ideas whatever the means
through innovation, and industry best practices to accomplish
the government’s requirement while obtaining lower costs!
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7. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
Publicizing FBO Requirements
Publicizing FBO Requirements
 FAR 5.003 requires the CO to transmit the notices through
the GPE for any requirement.
 FAR 5.101 requires all procurement notices expected to
exceed $25K must be posted on FBO to ensure transparency.
 FAR 5.101 Procurements over 15K and <25K alternative
method posted in a public place.
 Below 15K, no obligation for to solicit via FBO or post notice
CO is allowed to go directly to # of sources W/O using the
formal GPE advertising.
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8. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
Additional Methods of Dissemination of
Information FAR 5.101
Additional Methods for Dissemination of Information
 Preparing periodical handouts, listing and displaying
proposed contracts.
 Assist trade associations increase their membership
submitting a brief announcement publicizing the
government’s requirement without any cost to the
government
 Purchase an add in local newspaper
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9. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
Some exceptions to publicizing requirements
 When The proposed contract action is deemed Urgent and Compelling,
See FAR 6.302-2 for definition of Urgent and Compelling. Also, CO must have
proper justification and obtain approval.
 When The proposed contract action is expressly authorized by statute.
See FAR: 6.302-5 - Full & open competition need not be provided when statute
expressly authorizes acquisition be made through another agency or from specified
source, I.e. NIB/NISH/Federal Prisons Industries (UNICOR)
 When The proposed contract action is made under the terms of an existing contract that
was previously synopsized in sufficient detail to comply with requirements of 5.207 I.e.
TO placed against a indefinite delivery contract to a pool of contractors which has
already been competed using GPE/FBO. See FAR 16.505 – Ordering for additional
guidance.
 There are a total of14 exceptions to publicizing requirements . See FAR 5.202, for
additional guidance if any of these scenarios apply to your procurement.
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10. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
The Synopsis – FAR 5.207
Pre-Solicitation Notice – Synopsis
 Shall provide a General statement consisting of description
of goods or services to be procured
 Provide a Method of contracting used, describing end-item
statement of objectives with emphasis date and location to
perform the work.
 Provide Specific information to help the potential contractor
to decide whether or not to submit a competitive offer.
 The Main intent of a good synopsis, it to allow prospective
contractors who have the capacity to actually meet the
requirements to submit an offer and weed out others who
are not competitive.
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11. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
The Synopsis – FAR 5.207
The Synopsis Continued
 FAR 5.203 stipulates that a synopsis for proposed contract actions
expected to exceed $25K must be posted at least 15 days prior to
the release of the solicitation
 The 15 day requirement does not apply to commercial purchases,
but rather the CO can establish a shorter period for issuance of the
synopsis prior to release of the solicitation.
 FAR 5.203 publicizing a response for streamlined solicitation for
commercial Item IAW FAR 12.603 allows for combined synopsis
 Caveat: The CO must establish a solicitation response time
that will afford all potential offerors a reasonable opportunity
to respond to each proposed contract action.
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12. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
Negative Trends
Negative Trends & Common Errors
 Missing evidence of FBO Pre-Solicitation Notice, or combined synopsis or
documentation of exception in S03 folder and C01 Post Award Notice.
Only 43% success rate in ECMS as a result of the National VHA Audits
FY14. Our Central Region faired better at 68%. Good Job!
 The Description of key government requirements in synopsis are missing
or are too vague or too restrictive
 Missing Set-Aside Code for SB type
 The Solicitation response date does not match the original RFP
 Missing or Incorrect Classification Code being used
 POC not the same as listed in the RFP (Solicitation)
 Missing Place of performance information
 Missing multiple data elements in preparation transmittal of synopses.
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13. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
What QA is looking for?
What QA is Looking for?
 We are looking for Evidence of FBO Notice was completed and uploaded in
ECMS Pre-Solicitation and Post Award S03/C01 folders – Respectively.
 The FBO type announcement is complete, accurate, and consistent with the
solicitation requirements
 The Synopsis should provide concise description to include key requirements
that the prospective contractor(s) will be able to fulfill.
 Allowing adequate time allowed for vendor(s) to respond to the notice
 Ensure proper NAICS and Classification Code for procurement is used
 Properly use and code announcement type
 Finally ensure all (18) data values are addressed in preparation of
transmittal of synopses. See 5.207 Preparation and transmittal of Synopses
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14. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO ANNOUNCEMENT
Summary
Summary/Wrap-up
 Key reasons why you should publicize your requirements: 1) Increase
competition, 2) Broaden industry competition, 3) To assist SB concerns
 Publicizing government’s requirements is a critical step in the
procurement process.
 The FBO synopsis should be a concise description of the goods and/or
services to be procured.
 Publicizing using FBO as the GPE is the usual method utilized to
communicate government’s requirements and contributes to the
transparency in the way the government conducts its business.
 Remember! If you have a change in your requirement, you will need to
amend the FBO notification of that change.
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15. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO Announcement
Regulations and Policy References
Federal Acquisition Regulation
 FAR Part 2.101 Definitions, (GPE)
 FAR Part 5, Publicizing Contract Actions, (Only 17 pages)
 Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 637(e))and Office of Federal
Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 416)
Veteran Affairs Acquisition Regulations
 VAAR 805.2 Synopses of Proposed Contract Actions
 IL 049-04-05 Contract Bundling and Contract Bundling Reviews
including a revised listing of exempted items from bundling reviews and forecast
submission
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16. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO Announcement
Additional Resources
 FedBizOpps Home page: http://www.fedbizopps.gov/ - Great tool to find samples of
various notices and obtain best practice information.
 FBO Frequently Asked Questions FAQs, Ref: FBO home page
 Guide for Contracting Officers “How to Use ECMS to Send Procurement Notices
and Documents to Federal Business Opportunities, Ref: CARE – Training
Resources – ECMS User guides. See Table of Contents
 Posting Requirements for J and As for OTFOC, Ref: VHA PM Chapter 6, OTFOC
Para 3.17 Click on link to get to Table of Posting Requirements
 Additional Requirements for Bundling and Posting to GPE SOP AP Para 2.4
 FBO home page Vendor Notification Service
 Sample Combined Synopsis Document – FBO User Guide and FAR 13 Open Mkt
Training provided by Kandi Woodrum has sample available.
 ALO Course 0073 Publicizing Requirements – FBO, Excellent Course
 SAOC Newsletter, December 2014, Article on Proper Use of FBO for your review.
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17. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO Announcement
Training
Publicizing the government’s requirement is a critical
step in the procurement process. Creating a more
complete FBO announcement will not only provide
greater transparency in the way the VA conducts its’
business, but, will increase the probability of obtaining
both adequate competition, and receive offers of
high quality to better satisfy our customers
requirements.
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18. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
FBO Announcements
Training
THANK YOU!
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19. VETERANS HEALTH ADMINISTRATION
TMS Item # xxxxxxxxx
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Questions
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