Contracting 101, Contract Management Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH, DHHS

Basic Contract Acquisition Information

Potential contracts begin as new scientific concepts, which are reviewed and approved at meetings of the National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council, usually in January, May and September of each year. CMB begins to work with Program to create a Request for Proposal (RFP). The heart of the RFP is the Work Statement, which clearly defines exactly what the Government wants. The RFP will also include Evaluation Criteria, the standard against which all proposals will be technically rated. Also included in the RFP is general information and specific instructions regarding the content, size and submission date of proposals.

RFPs are usually advertised in the Commerce Business Daily (CBD) and the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts. Following submission all proposals are distributed to members of an ad hoc technical review committee, whose sole purpose is to conduct a technical review of all proposals submitted in response to the RFP. Each proposal is then independently scored against the technical review criteria points included in the RFP.

Following the technical review, the Contracting Officer determines the competitive range. This is a list of all reviewed proposals which have a reasonable chance of being selected for an award. All Offerors will be notified as to their eligibility for award. CMB will then conduct written and oral negotiations with Offerors whose proposals are within the competitive range. Negotiation are conducted simultaneously with all Offerors. During these negotiations the Offeror will have an opportunity to provide written responses and/or clarifications to business and technical concerns identified during the evaluation of the proposal. Prior to the close of negotiations all offerors will be notified of a required submission date for their Revised Proposals. All negotiations between the Offeror and CMB will close effective the final submission date.

Following the submission of the Final Revised Proposals, a source selection meeting is held to again review all revised proposals. An award is then made based upon technical merit, though, as noted in each RFP, cost and past performance may become a factor in the award decision. All Offerors who originally submitted a proposal in response to the RFP will be notified of the results of the contract award.

Glossary

Below are some common acronyms and abbreviations used in our Requests for Proposals, contracts, and other correspondence.

BAFO	Best and Final Offer (now referred to as Revised Proposal)
CAS	Cost Accounting Standards
CBD	Commerce Business Daily
CDC	Centers for Disease Control
CFR	Code of Federal Regulations
CMB	Contract Management Branch
CO	Contracting Officer
COA	Contracting Officer’s Authorization
COB	Close of Business
CONUS	Continental United States
CPFF	Cost-plus-fixed-fee
CPI	Consumer Price Index
CR	Cost reimbursement
CRON	Contract Review On-Line
DAIDS	Division of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
DAIT	Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation
DCAA	Defense Contract Audit Agency
DHHS	Department of Health and Human Services
DMID	Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases
EIN	Entity Identification Number
FAR	Federal Acquisition Regulations
FDA	Food and Drug Administration
FOI	Freedom of Information
FY	Fiscal Year
G&A	General and Administrative
GSA	General Services Administration
HHSAR	Health and Human Services Acquisition Regulations
IRB	Institutional Review Board
JOFOC	Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition
LOC	Letter of Credit
LOE	Level of Effort
MAO	Master Agreement Order
MPA	Multiple Project Assurance
NIAID	National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
NIH	National Institutes of Health
OF	Official Form
OFM	Office of Financial Management
OMB	Office of Management and Budget
OPRR	Office of Protection from Research Risks
P. L.	Public Law
PHS	Public Health Service
PI	Principal Investigator
PO	Project Officer
POC	Point of Contact
R&D	Research and Development
RFP	Request for Proposal
SBA	Small Business Administration
SBIR	Small Business Innovation Research Program
SDB	Small Disadvantaged Business
SIC	Standard Industrial Classification
SOW	Statement of Work
SF	Standard Form
SMSA	Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area
SPA	Single Project Assurance
TIN	Taxpayer Identification Number
UCF	Uniform Contract Format
WHO	World Health Organization

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Last updated August 27, 1999 (hrs)