Archive for September 2013

OASIS Amended and Extended

September 12, 2013 Federal Contracting No comments

It’s back to the drawing board for both large and small businesses. GSA has amended the OASIS RFP for the third time.

The newest update to the OASIS solicitation includes 11 updated forms and changes to the instructions for 5 out of 6 volumes, including file naming convention changes. The government has reduced the number of required relevant experience projects and the minimum values. This may enable some small businesses to participate in the OASIS opportunity who thought they were excluded due to a lack of projects.

OASIS is a complicated solicitation, and after 3 amendments, each with numerous updates, many proposal writers are lost in the quagmire. Save yourself the trouble of trying to decipher – not only the solicitation itself, but the modifications to the RFP you begin working with. Fedmarket offers updates to customers who purchase our OASIS Model Proposal product. We are currently up-to-date with the most recent amendment issued on September 11, 2013.

OASIS: More Amendments and an Extension, Yes or No?

September 8, 2013 Federal Contracting, GSA Schedules No comments

Currently it appears that GSA is not going to amend the OASIS Small and Large Business Solicitations again or extend the due date of 9/17/13.

Multi-disciplined professional services companies cannot afford to pass up the large revenue potential of OASIS. OASIS is one of a kind and offers great flexibility for federal contracting officers. Historically contracting officers have experienced trouble procuring multi-disciplined professional services through a multiple award contract and have been forced to use expensive and time consuming public bids.

Small businesses are questioning their project experience qualifications because the experience criteria in the solicitation is stringent. Small businesses on the edge should consider bidding because:

  • GSA may have trouble qualifying enough small businesses to be politically correct with Congress and the small business community.
  • The solicitation scoring scheme encourages bidders to submit qualifications that partially meet the solicitation criteria.
  • Proposal writing is largely mechanical using Fedmarket’s OASIS model proposal template with its compliant file structure, file names, and required forms. Technical content is not required and the bulk of the proposal effort involves assembling proof of project experience. Project experience criteria in the solicitation require the bidder to show contract size, work scope, the NAICS code(s) for the contract and proof of performance from (1) contractual documents, (2) federal performance databases, or (3) a questionnaire completed by the federal customer.

It’s all about your score across a wide range of criteria and the number of bidders that qualify for each of the seven pools.

Questions about OASIS call 888 661 4094, Ext.2.

OASIS: More Amendments and an Extension, Yes or No?

September 8, 2013 Federal Contracting No comments