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:

Offerors will be required to submit twenty past performance references. Customer

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.