Blanket Purchase Agreements Essay, Research Paper
New Process
Qualified firms will be awarded Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) and will be assigned a
unique identification code. Individual procurement requirements will be posted to the Office of
Procurement’s Home Page in the form of Requests for Quotation (RFQs). BPA recipients will
be notified via electronic mail of any procurement opportunities/RFQs. Only firms with
standing BPAs will be granted access to the RFQs, and only those firms will be eligible to
submit quotations with prices and any other information required by the RFQ, along with their
unique identification code.
Under this new procedure, any interested party is eligible to apply for a BPA award. Currently,
the Scope of BPAs for this process covers three groupings of products/services. To qualify
for award, suppliers must affirmatively demonstrate they have the capability and a record of
successful past performance. Interested parties must undergo an evaluation and selection
process to qualify for BPA awards. This process may consist of multiple stages (Initial
Phase, Second Phase and Third Phase), based upon specific factors.
Initial Phase:
Offerors must complete the initial application and submit it to the PTO Office of Procurement
via the Internet. If the PTO has sufficient positive information on, experience with, and prior
knowledge of the firm, award may be made without further action. If not, offerors will be
notified that they must submit additional information as required in the second phase.
Second Phase:
Offeror
references must be current (work performed within the last twelve months), and must
address work similar in nature of the type of BPA for which the offeror is applying. Instructions
on where to submit the reference information will be provided at the time of notification that
this information is required. If PTO is unable to determine whether a BPA award is
advantageous at this stage, offerors will be notified that additional information is required in
the third phase.
Third Phase:
Offerors must provide specific information as requested by the Contracting Officer. This may
include a detailed capability brochure, and evidence that the firm possesses the necessary
facilities (warehouse, physical operations and inventories, production equipment, etc.). At this
time we may also require an offeror to submit letters from manufacturers certifying that the
offeror is a warranted/authorized dealer for the stated products, as well as a corporate
history, and financial information.
Evaluation and Award
The PTO reserves the option to make an award upon initial submissions (initial phase) based
on personal knowledge of agency procurement staff that any particular firm is qualified,
capable, and has a satisfactory past performance record. Other firms which are requested to
provide additional information will be evaluated against the following past performance and
capability criteria. The decision on whether any firm is eligible for award is solely at the
discretion of the Contracting Officer.