Preface

The federal acquisition system is guided by many laws, regulations, and legal decisions that have set precedents for current and future acquisition practices and principles. Acquisition professionals within the federal government often need help to understand the complexities of the federal acquisition process. This book is intended to serve as a quick reference guide to key issues for professionals new to the field of federal acquisition and others who assist with acquisition actions. Seasoned acquisition professionals may want to use the book to refresh their knowledge of key issues.

Acquisition audit reports by the Government Accountability Office and the Office of the Inspector General for civilian and defense agencies often reveal that acquisition laws are not being followed when contracts are prepared, which leads to problems in the federal acquisition process. These reports consistently state that acquisition requirements are not adequately addressed, are not properly documented, or are omitted entirely from solicitations and contracts issued by the government.

I wrote this book to provide guidance and information on these essential acquisition processes. My goal is to help acquisition professionals follow the required laws and regulations when developing, awarding, and administering federal contracts.

To develop contracts that are legally binding and enforceable, certain processes must be followed. These processes form the skeleton of federal contracts. The reader is encouraged to become familiar with the topics in each chapter and to use them when developing federal contracts, keeping in mind that this book does not cover every element of the federal acquisition life cycle.

Acquisitions rules, regulations, and procedures often change. Therefore, every reader should verify information by consulting the most current version of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) when preparing federal contracts. It contains uniform policies and procedures and is the primary source of information on the acquisition of supplies and services for the federal government. The FAR can be found online at http://www.arnet.gov/far and http://farsite.hill.af.mil.

This book is divided into four parts:

Part I: The Acquisition Planning Phase provides information on the essential elements of acquisition planning, including the preparation of required documents.

Part II: The Solicitation Phase provides information on the required solicitation provisions and contract clauses, the proposal evaluation process, and legal review of the solicitation.

Part III: The Evaluation, Negotiation, and Award Phase provides information on the purpose of and need for proposal evaluation, cost and price analysis, legal review of the award document, and notification of unsuccessful vendors.

Part IV: The Postaward Phase provides information on the training and selection of the technical personnel who will monitor the contract, their duties and responsibilities, and when and how to exercise contract option periods.

Each part also includes sample acquisition templates based on the policies and procedures laid out in the FAR. I developed some of the templates and modified others used by various acquisition organizations so that they reflect the current FAR requirements. All these templates are in the public domain and can thus be used and modified freely. The templates are basic and simple in design so they can be modified to fit all types of acquisition actions.

Paula Compton
October 2009