41 U.S.C. § 3306 Planning and Solicitation Requirements

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-34 (published on www.congress.gov on 12/26/2023), except for [P. L. 118-31]
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 41 U.S.C. § 3306

(a) PLANNING AND SPECIFICATIONS.-

(1) PREPARING FOR PROCUREMENT.-In preparing for the procurement of property or services, an executive agency shall-

(A) specify its needs and solicit bids or proposals in a manner designed to achieve full and open competition for the procurement;

(B) use advance procurement planning and market research; and

(C) develop specifications in the manner necessary to obtain full and open competition with due regard to the nature of the property or services to be acquired.

(2) REQUIREMENTS OF SPECIFICATIONS.-Each solicitation under this division shall include specifications that-

(A) consistent with this division, permit full and open competition; and

(B) include restrictive provisions or conditions only to the extent necessary to satisfy the needs of the executive agency or as authorized by law.

(3) TYPES OF SPECIFICATIONS.-For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2), the type of specification included in a solicitation shall depend on the nature of the needs of the executive agency and the market available to satisfy those needs. Subject to those needs, specifications may be stated in terms of-

(A) function, so that a variety of products or services may qualify;

(B) performance, including specifications of the range of acceptable characteristics or of the minimum acceptable standards; or

(C) design requirements.

(b) CONTENTS OF SOLICITATION.-In addition to the specifications described in subsection (a), each solicitation for sealed bids or competitive proposals (other than for a procurement for commercial products or commercial services using special simplified procedures or a purchase for an amount not greater than the simplified acquisition threshold) shall at a minimum include-

(1) a statement of-

(A) all significant factors and significant subfactors that the executive agency reasonably expects to consider in evaluating sealed bids (including price) or competitive proposals (including cost or price, cost-related or price-related factors and subfactors, and noncost-related or nonprice-related factors and subfactors); and

(B) the relative importance assigned to each of those factors and subfactors; and

(2)

(A) in the case of sealed bids-

(i) a statement that sealed bids will be evaluated without discussions with the bidders; and

(ii) the time and place for the opening of the sealed bids; or

(B) in the case of competitive proposals-

(i) either a statement that the proposals are intended to be evaluated with, and the award made after, discussions with the offerors, or a statement that the proposals are intended to be evaluated, and the award made, without discussions with the offerors (other than discussions conducted for the purpose of minor clarification) unless discussions are determined to be necessary; and