Federal Acquisition Service U.S. General Services Administration June 2009 GSA Multiple Award...

Federal Acquisition Service

U.S. General Services Administration

June 2009June 2009

GSA Multiple Award Schedule Contractor Teaming Arrangements

Contractor Teaming Arrangements- How to Use Them

GSA Multiple Award Schedule Contractor Teaming Arrangements

Contractor Teaming Arrangements- How to Use Them


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Session Objectives

Understand what a Contract Team Arrangement (CTA) is;

Understand the difference between a CTA and a Prime/Sub Relationship;

Understand why a CTA is useful; Understand how to use or evaluate a CTA; and Gain some take-aways from Lessons Learned.


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Order of Topics What is a subcontract?

What is a Contract Team Arrangement (CTA)?

CTAs vs. Prime/Sub relationships

What is a FAR Part 51 Letter of Authorization and is it needed under CTAs?

Why is a CTA useful?

Characteristics of Contract Team Arrangement

Request for Quotation (RFQ) and responses

Best Practices – Examples

Best Practices – What a CTA should include

Biggest Issues Under CTAs

Strategic Sourcing


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What is a Subcontract?

FAR 19.701 –

“Subcontract” means any agreement entered into by a Government prime contractor or subcontractor calling for supplies and/or services required by performance of the contract, contract modification, or subcontract.


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What is a Contract Team Arrangement (CTA)?

A Contract Team Arrangement (CTA) is an arrangement between 2 or more GSA Schedule contractors to work together to meet agency requirements.

NOTE: Proposed for inclusion under re-write of GSAR Part 538.

Proposed new title “Contractor Partner Agreements”.


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CTA vs. Prime/Sub Relationships

CTA• Each member has a MAS

Schedule Contract• Specific duties assigned to each

team member• Privity of Contract with all team

members• Pricing is based on each team

members’ contract• Socio-economic credit based on

ALL members• Total solution

Prime/Sub in MAS context only• Only prime has Government contract• Prime can delegate duties but NOT

contract responsibility• Privity of Contract only with prime• Pricing based on prime’s contract

only• Socio-economic credit based on

prime’s status only• All items are on prime’s MAS contract


Is a FAR Part 51 Letter of Authorizations (LOA) required or needed for CTAs?


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What is a Letter of Authorization?

FAR 51.101 - If it is in the Government’s interest, and if supplies or

services required in the performance of a Government contract are available from Government supply sources, contracting officers may authorize contractors to use these sources.


NO!!!


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Why are CTAs useful?

Contractor’s perspective Reduce open market exposure

Protest exposure Caps on open market found in RFQ

Strategic value Increase GSA sales


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Why are CTAs useful?

GSA’s perspective Single solution for a requirement Privity of Contract with team members Builds relations with ordering activities Allows expanded opportunities for small businesses Reduces the amount of line items contractor must

maintain on their contract


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Characteristics of a Contractor Team Arrangement

Written agreement between team members Each CTA is unique Privity of Contract with all team members Response to an RFQ to provide a total solution


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Responding to a Request for Quotation (RFQ)

If using a CTA, disclose that in RFQ. If requested, provide the CTA with the RFQ response. Indicate which partners, labor categories and products are

associated with each Schedule. List Schedule number. Acknowledge that the terms of each Schedule apply to

the corresponding products and services.


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Apples & Oranges

E-Buy posting to Schedule 70 holders

Notifying that procurement would take place under the Millennia Lite GWAC

And that the Schedule 70 folks could team with Millennia Lite primes

Can this be executed?

Examples: Determining Best Practices


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Scope this one out E-Buy RFQ posting to Schedule 70, 520, 874, and 871 holders

Requested contractor teaming arrangements with a team lead who would manage team members and invoicing/payments.

Required lead contractor to provide blended rates – across team members for each labor category and resulting categories are not tied to any one Schedule

To get a rate for a systems engineer, lead takes the 3 team member rates of $50 (Team A – Sch 70 IT), $60 (Team B- Sch 70 IT ), and $70 (Team C – Sch 871 PES) for a blended rate of $60 for a systems engineer.



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Scope this one out What happens when they invoice $60 for Team

A’s work?

– Is there a False Claims Act violation?

– What does the Lead pay Team A? – the $60 less Leads compensation, or the $50.

– If Team C performed the work – what would the Lead pay?

What happens when Team C (which has a PES Schedule) performs IT related work?


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Scope this one out A Veterans Affairs RFQ provides the right answer

Contractor may propose appropriate labor categories from their other GSA FSS contracts or contractors may team with another GSA Schedule holder to offer a blended solution. When proposing multiple schedules, please identify and group labor categories by their respective schedule contracts.


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Who’s in charge Agency established a multiple award BPA with

performance–based incentives.

Lead was asked to establish CTA’s with small businesses, large businesses could subcontract to the lead. Agency intent was to increase small business utilization numbers.

Lead with input from members develops task order proposals, award of task orders is made directly to the team member responsible for the work, team members are then responsible for invoicing their own portion of the work.



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Who’s in charge RFQ “requires that the Contractor Team Leader, at a

minimum, be responsible for coordinating the submission of the proposal under this RFQ and any subsequent proposals after award. …. and

Contractor Team Leader has overall responsibility for planning, programming, coordinating, and managing the performance of work required in all task orders issued, including those task orders issued directly to team members. The Contractor Team Leader is responsible for overseeing the quality and timeliness of the work performed (including all associated deliverables).”


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Who’s in charge How is Team Lead compensated for planning, programming,

coordinating, and managing the performance of work required in all task orders issued, including those task orders issued directly to team members and overseeing the quality and timeliness of the work performed (including all associated deliverables)?

It takes man-hours to manage

When issued directly to team members no revenue passes through Lead

Would require TO award to be issued to both Lead and Team Member(s); CO gets multiple invoices, makes multiple payments


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Who’s in charge

But, in this case, the agency is discouraging direct program management hours

– this is in conflict with the contract requirements From a business perspective,

– Where is the incentive for the Lead to provide adequate resources to manage the task orders?

CTA’s usually contain a provision for “project management fees” to compensate Lead for this work. Works well when the cash flows through the Lead – but harder to structure when Team Members operate independently.

– How to make work severable for performance incentives

– Who gets the C/PAR when there is a problem?

– Past performance


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Best Practices: What a CTA should include

Some basic points that the CTA should include:• In writing and signed by all members• Identification of the team lead and team members

Management Plan Socio-economic status of members Past performance

• Specific responsibilities of each team member• Duration of the CTA including options


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Best PracticesWhat a CTA should include

Important areas that should be addressed:• Pricing including project management fees• Other Direct Costs or Open Market Items

• FAR 8.4• Independent Contractors • Legal Relationship• Replacement of Team Members

Delivery, Invoicing and Payment


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Biggest Issues Under CTAs for Government Contracting Officers

Make sure the CTA covers: Warranty - who is responsible for warranty issues? Delivery - single vs. multiple locations Invoicing - team lead vs. team members Payment - team lead vs. team members

How to handle disputes between team members


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Links for More Information

http://www.gsaelibrary.gsa.gov This site list all MAS Schedule contractors

http://www.gsaadvantage.gsa.gov This site provides a pricing tool.

http://www.gsa.gov/contractorteamarrangements This site contains frequently asked questions and

answers on CTAs


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Questions???

Deborah LagueGeneral Services AdministrationPhone: 703.605.2780E-mail: [email protected]

Kitty Klaus

EDS, an HP companyPhone: 703.742.1825E-mail: [email protected]

Tomi Bryan, Ph.d., J.D.

FedLinx, Inc.Phone: 336.379.0442E-mail: [email protected]

Federal Acquisition Service U.S. General Services Administration June 2009 GSA Multiple Award...

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