Give Me My Favorite Dish: FISH! — Fish supply the greatest percentage of the world’s protein consumed by humans.

The next piece of the $3B NOAA PRO-TECH behemoth is nearly upon us.  There is confidence the Enterprise Operations Domain – administrative services – RFP will come out on or near the scheduled release date of August 1.  One-on-one conferences between industry and Government are to be complete this Friday – July 21.

There is an expectation in industry this contract will go right because of the towering reputation of NOAA Acquisition Director Mitchell J. Ross.  Although NOAA is free to shift funds among the PRO-TECH programs, there is an estimated $500M spend in this contract.  NOAA estimates 12-30 awards with 75% going to small business.

Refreshingly, this is a best value program, and NOAA has stated many times, they “don’t intend to just award to lowest price.”   Mitchell J. Ross explained that, the importance of this program is to help NOAA conduct daily business, since they don’t employ many individuals directly.  They are looking to “deliberately select ‘niche firms’ that can only provide a small section of the statement of work, but that ‘niche’ has to be extremely well covered.”

At the Industry Day in January, NOAA officials also stated that “the Enterprise Domain will gain the most interest from the Department of Commerce.” The Statement of Work includes the following task areas:

1. Strategic Planning Support

2. Communication, Education, Outreach, and Conference and Workshop Services

3. Business Management Support

4. Budget and Financial Management Support

5. Property Management Support

6. Real Property and Analytic Services

7. Facilities Management Support

8. Human Capital Management Support

9. Program/Project Management Support

10. Legislative Management Support

11. Administrative Support

12. Scientific and Technical Support

NOAA also said they will use this contract to request support for NOAA’s major international activities, interactions on international issues and coordination on international policies.  And the Facilities piece will involve help managing $8.2B in facilities.

More than Expertise Required to Win 

Those who think this is just a staffing program are mistaken.  NOAA has strongly stressed, this program is — to foster close collaborative relationships where the contractors help bring performance to the next level.

They have specifically said teaming is not necessary.  However, contractors must be deep and solid in the niches they will bid.  “Same old” thinking will not do.  Creative approaches that promise to uplift performance will help reel this one in.

Where Bidders Should be Right Now

The ball is now in the contractor’s court.  Contractors determined to win should now be nearly complete with their draft proposal sections in response to the draft RFP.  Have completed teaming agreements if needed.  Waiting for the RFP release is too late.

During my career, I have seen scores of contractors who get surprised by their corporate experience / past performance.  They think they have it covered.  Then upon detailed review, their contracts fall short and fail to be responsive.  With up to 11 contracts permitted by Section L, this may stress some bidders.  We can’t overstate the importance of corporate experience and past performance in winning a contract, since these are the number one and number three Evaluation Factors.

Move Ahead ASAP

Bidders who are qualified to win need to put the pedal to the metal now.  Give your proposal team the resources needed to succeed.  Matrix in talent needed to get the strategizing, planning, and writing nearly complete in advance.  Call contractors in sooner rather than later if your team lacks the critical mass.

When you are working with Mitchell J. Ross, you can depend on receiving fair treatment.  Have honest help in getting problems resolved.  And have the satisfaction of helping preserve the environment.