Earlier this month, NITAAC released the long awaited CIO-SP3 SB On Ramp, which is an opportunity for small business to get a prime seat at the table for the remaining five years of this $20B GWAC. While many firms were out in front on this, NITAAC had hinted at some tweaks to the original solicitation. Our friends at Red Team Consulting were kind enough to take first pass at the RFP and included here is the “Red Team Take” as to the primary changes you may want to be aware of. Have other suggestions/questions/thoughts? Comment below.
Original RFP – Task Area 1 and minimum of two others for HubZone, SDV, and 8(a) for total of three Task Areas. Task Area 1 and minimum of three others for all other small businesses for a total of four Task Areas.
Updated RFP – Task Area 1 and minimum of three others for HubZone and SDV for a total of four Task Areas. Task Area 1 and minimum of five others for SB ad 8(a) for a total of six Task Areas.
Red Team Take – This is a huge increase especially for those companies that were planning to bid the minimum number or a lower number overall. Some companies will need to scramble now to increase the size of their CTA in case they are unable to meet the minimum Task Areas as a standalone prime or with their existing CTA primes. Those that were planning to bid all 10 or over 6 are not impacted.
Original RFP – Maximum of five past performance. Limit of 20 pages.
Updated RFP – Maximum of three past performance. Limit of 5 pages
Red Team Take – This makes sense and actually limits the number of past performance that NITAAC may eventually need to evaluate.
Original RFP – No more than 30 pages for the Technical Capability Section.
Updated RFP – No more than 3 pages each for each Task Area proposed.
Red Team Take – This makes sense for NITAAC in that they won’t need to read lengthy Task Area sections should bidders choose to bid fewer than the 10 Task Areas.
Another Major Issue: They removed the reference to “internal resources” in the evaluation factor for Technical Capability. The original evaluation factor was worded in such a way that you could write to your staff’s experience (even if it wasn’t with the company) in lieu of corporate experience. That’s not true anymore. You could claim specific staff or groups of staff in that new table they provide, but you can’t point to their entire experience as being part of your offering.
Red Team Take – The removal of the “internal resources” term in the Technical Capabilities factor potentially hurts those companies that have weaker corporate experience and were planning to rely on any health IT staff they had. The internal resources requirements still remain in the Management Approach section.
Other takeaways:
- NITAAC has changed some of the ordering of the sections. The prior RFP had the Management and Technical Approach first and Technical Capabilities second. The updated RFP has the Technical Capabilities first and the “Management” Approach second. Any company that created an initial outline based upon the prior RFP will need to do a thorough read and review to update their outlines in accordance to the updated RFP.
- The Technical Capabilities section now has a sample table which shows bidders how they can score strengths in the evaluation process by spelling out how their experience in the Task Areas can exceed the requirements or are of benefit to the Government.
- The Technical Capabilities section no longer references the requirement for their quality control process. This is now emphasized more directly in the Management Approach section.
- NITAAC has provided more detail regarding how they want the proposal outline structured. Make sure you account for all requirements through the use of headings and subheadings to address every single requirement.
About Red Team – Red Team Consulting, LLC (Red Team) is one of the premier providers of proposal development, capture management, and price strategy services in support of government contractors. Founded in 2004, we are a woman-owned small business with a well-established client base of successful companies ranging from small disadvantaged businesses with only a few employees to Fortune 100 corporations holding some of the largest federal government contracts.
