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Federal Market Intelligence for Small Business |
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Did GSA find a middle ground in its changes to the Polaris RFP?GSA tweaked its relevant experience requirements for mentor-protege joint ventures and for all joint venturesThe General Services Administration on May 13 proposed new language regarding mentor-protege and joint venture bidders in the solicitation for its $50 billion Multiple-Award Polaris IT services contract. The contract has been on hold since early April after a protest was filed and industry members pushed back against some requirements. Vendors had until May 23 to comment on the proposed new RFP language. The proposed changes involve relevant experience requirements and documentation by joint venture offerers. Mentor-protege joint ventures In the updated draft RFP, GSA states that for Small Business Administration-approved mentor-protege joint ventures, the protege must provide a minimum of one primary relevant experience project or emerging technology relevant experience project. The mentor can provide no more than three primary relevant experience projects. Regarding those clauses, attorney Isaias “Cy” Alba, partner at PilieroMazza PLLC, said GSA appears to have sought a “compromise” regarding how much relevant experience to require from each member of a mentor-protege joint venture. “It seems like a compromise that GSA is adopting because some companies want it to allow full reliance on mentors while others want it to impose a limit,” Alba wrote in a recent blog entry. Joint venture offerers GSA also proposed that joint venture offerors must submit a written narrative detailing the work done and qualifications held by each partner to the joint venture, and by the joint venture itself. If any partner, or the joint venture itself, has no previous work experience or qualifications, this must be stated within the narrative. The change would make the Polaris RFP language nearly identical to that in the National Institutes of Health’s CIO-SP4 contract, Alba wrote. He added that GSA’s approach could be an attempt to limit companies with little to no experience from relying solely on mentors, but also allowing some reliance on mentors. GSA expects the final Polaris RFP to come out in June.
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