Acquisition Reform and Streamlining is making far-reaching changes in the way the government and industry conduct business. There are many new factors to consider in contracting by negotiation, source selection and contract pricing and definitization. These include: (1) performance-based contracting; (2) the use of statements of objectives and contractor-developed statements of work; (3) the use of oral proposals; (4) more flexible source selection approaches for the government; (5) past performance evaluation; and (6) far more emphasis on risk identification and mitigation.

The source selection and contract award process, from the development of a requirement to the issuance of a contract to the best source to fulfill that requirement, is both complex and demanding. Successful contract performance is predicated upon sound procedures. However, these procedures are often not well understood by the participants, both buyers and sellers. This is a completely integrated, well documented course covering the rationale, methods and techniques involved from the development of requirements to final source selection, negotiation and contract award.

This course includes exercises and case examples on statements of objectives, performance requirements and specifications, statements of work, evaluation factors and weights, past performance, risk analysis, cost realism and the use of best value discriminators in making a selection decision.