Now that you have submitted your offer or bid for a federal contract, what happens next? The next event will depend upon the government’s selected procurement process. Whatever process is in play, be proactive in following the process through award.

And if your bid or offer appears to be the lowest price or best value to the government, you may still need to prove you are worthy of award. This article will go through what steps you should take after bid submission and prior to award.

The Sealed Bid Process

If the government uses the sealed-bid process, as described by the Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 14, then the government goes through a three-step process:

• (1) Which bid is lowest in price?
• (2) Is the low bid a “responsive” bid, e.g., is the bid signed and all necessary line items filled in?
• (3) Is the low responsive bid submitted by a “responsible” bidder?

Do attend the bid opening, if one is held. At the bid opening, the sealed bids are opened and publicly announced. If you are not the winning bid, ask the bid opening officer if you may view the winning bid to determine if there is any irregularity in the bid, such as an unsigned bid. Call any irregularities to the attention of the bid opening officer.

The government is required to prepare a bid abstract, according to FAR 14.403. At a minimum, the abstract contains the names of the bidders, the items being bid and the prices quoted. The abstract is generally public information (FAR 14.403(b)). If the buying office does not readily supply the abstract, then place your request in writing, referencing FAR 14.403(b) and the Freedom of Information Act.

Negotiated Bids

Negotiated bids, via RFPs or RFQs, can present other post-opening challenges for the bidder. The post-closing negotiation process can range from a simple selection of the low bidder to a very complicated process, such as requiring oral presentations or multiple-step elimination of bidders. The various processes are too varied and complex to discuss in this article, but some aspects apply to virtually all such procurements.

After the closing date for the submission of proposals, the government may seek additional information about your offer. The government may or may not contact you to seek limited information, mostly to clarify some aspect of your proposal that is either ambiguous or puzzling to the government. If the communication is an “exchange,” as described by FAR 15.306(b), the government has no obligation to point out the weaknesses of your proposal, and you are likely not going to be given the chance to correct any part of your proposal.

“Discussions” take place if the government decides to first weed out the proposals that have no chance for award, which is called establishing a competitive range. Once the range is established, the government must discuss with each remaining offeror the offer’s significant weaknesses and deficiencies, such as price or past performance that could be altered or explained and materially enhance the proposal’s potential for award ( FAR 15.306(d)(3)).

After discussions, the remaining offerors will be given the opportunity to revise their proposal and submit a “final proposal revision” (FAR 15.307). Use that process to correct any noted deficiencies and to reconsider whether your pricing is competitive.

There is no public opening of offers, and only the winning bidder’s identity and price are generally made public.

If the government selects your offer or bid, the government then must consider the your “responsibility”—mainly whether you are capable of performing and delivering on the contract, see FAR Subpart 9.1 and 9.2. It may wish to evaluate your technical capability, quality control system, production capability, integrity and financial capacity. This process is separate from an evaluation of your offer and falls under the general category of a “responsibility” determination.

The bidding process does not end with the submission of your bid. Your proactive efforts after bid closing may spell the difference between rejection and award.