UFC 4-721-11.1
26 Nov 01
CHAPTER 9
PHASE 2
PROPOSAL PREPARATION PERIOD
9-1 PRE-PROPOSAL CONFERENCE.
9-1.1 Conference Minutes and Transcript. Accurate minutes of the conference proceedings are
essential. Some USACE activities obtain the services of a court recorder who will prepare a transcript of
the proceedings. It is important that the pre-proposal conference attendees be told at the beginning of the
conference that the transcript of the conference will be distributed, to all potential offerors. Verbal
answers may not be totally accurate or may be misleading and USACE staff are cautioned to avoid
providing verbal responses to questions posed during the pre-proposal conference. The recommended
method is to state to all participants that the transcript of the meeting is intended to provide the
Government with a complete record of all questions and issues raised such that specific answers can be
provided in writing. The amendment issued following the conference should include any changes to the
RFP, all proposer questions and answers to date, and shall constitute the official position of the
Government. Attendees should understand that oral comments do not amend the solicitation, and only a
written amendment alters the solicitation.
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9-1.2 Major Points. Most of the pre-proposal conference time should be devoted to an explanation of the
provisions of the RFP. The technical, contractual, and administrative portions of the RFP should each be
explained in detail. Special attention should be directed to the following points:
9-1.2.1 The technical proposal and the cost proposal must be submitted on the same date, and must be
kept separate.
9-1.2.2 The Government reserves the right to negotiate with the offerors, or to make an award without
negotiation. If negotiations are entered into with one offeror, then negotiations (written or oral) will be
conducted with all offerors in the competitive range.
9-1.2.3 Award to the low dollar proposal is not mandatory. Offerors must be told in the RFP whether cost
is more or less important than the technical evaluation factors.
9-1.2.4 A review of the proposal submission requirements should be conducted, so that potential offerors
understand what material is required to be submitted in response to the RFP.
9-1.2.5 The Government will review all portions of the proposal package to determine compliance with
the RFP criteria and to evaluate technical quality.
9-1.3 Questions. Most questions asked by attendees at a pre-proposal conference originate from the
lack of understanding of the RFP. Offerors should be encouraged to submit written questions prior to the
pre-proposal conference.
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\ Questions submitted in writing during the conference should also be
accepted. If verbal responses are provided at the Pre-Proposal Conference, questions should be
answered by directing the attention of the attendees to a specific paragraph of the RFP that answers the
question and reading the pertinent points from that paragraph. Questions from attendees should be
recorded with the name of the person and the company represented included. /1/
9-1.4 Government Attendance at the Pre-Proposal Conference. As a minimum, the Contract Specialist,
the Project Manager, and the PA/PE should attend the pre-proposal conference. Prior to the meeting, the
PDT shall determine who will be Government spokesperson(s) and what areas of the solicitation/project
they will cover.
Typically the PM briefs the overall project and takes technical questions and the CS
covers the contractual aspects of the solicitation. If available, the technical specialists who prepared the
9-1
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