CHAPTER 10 ONE-ON-ONE PRESOLICITATION MEETINGS

Per FAR 15.201, one-on-one meetings are one method government agencies use to acquire or share information with potential offerors and others involved in the acquisition process. The FAR states that one-on-one preproposal meetings (which would include any presolicitation meetings) that are “substantially involved with contract terms and conditions should involve the contracting officer.” Note the language used here. First, the phrase “contract terms and conditions” presumably excludes matters that would apply to only the solicitation, such as proposal preparation instructions and proposal evaluation criteria.

Second, in FAR parlance, the word “should” normally means that something ought to be done, but it is not mandatory. (The FAR uses the words “shall” or “must” to indicate that something is mandatory.) Thus, the FAR coverage can be interpreted only as an effort to give program personnel more flexibility in acquisition planning, including source selection planning, and to help make sure that they have done all of their homework before committing the government to a strategy.

FAR 15.201(f) does place some limits on one-on-one meetings when it states:

When specific information about a proposed acquisition that would be necessary for the preparation of proposals is disclosed to one or more potential offerors, the information must be made available to the public as soon as practicable but no later than the next general release of information, in order to avoid creating an unfair competitive advantage.

Since the FAR does not place any specific time limits on the “next general release of information,” source selection officials must exercise good judgment. Is it all right if the next general release is, for example, six months after the one-on-one meeting when the requirement is to be advertised in the GPE? Until the FAR language is made more specific, or this issue is brought before the Comptroller General or the courts, prudent application of the FAR guidance would be to avoid giving one or more contractors an unfair competitive advantage. Officials must apply sound business judgment.

While the one-on-one meetings “should” under certain circumstances involve the contracting officer, any meeting held after the solicitation is issued “must” involve the contracting officer. FAR 15.201(f) requires that the contracting officer be the focal point of exchanges conducted after the solicitation is issued. And, notwithstanding the increased latitude given program officials under the FAR, the system probably works best when the contracting officer and the program officer work in concert throughout the planning phase of an acquisition.

Individual agencies may have procedural guidance that requires the program office and the contracting officer to work together in source selection matters, from the identification of the requirement until contract award. Along that line, some agencies have in the past required a representative of the contracting office to be invited to all one-on-ones, regardless of where in the process these meetings were taking place. However, this no longer seems to be general practice.