GSA Alliant 2 RFPs Released – What Is New?

Alliant 2 SB and Unrestricted RFPs were finally released on Friday afternoon, June 24, 2016. The proposals are due on August 29, 2016, so companies have 2 months to get their documentation in order, including their teaming arrangements. Yes, teaming is now allowed on Alliant 2, which opens up a new window to many companies who had stayed away from Alliant 2 due to its initial restrictions on new teaming arrangements.

For those of you who have studied the initial Draft RFP, here are some of the most important changes that I could pick out (as far as proposal preparation is concerned):

  1. The total score on the self-scoring system has changed from 75,600 to 83,100. Everything in the scoring system has remained the same except 7,500 points has been added for “Organizational Risk Assessment” meaning that you lose this if you are a new JV or teaming arrangement but if you are going solo or on a JV or teaming arrangement that has the suitable projects under its name, you get this score.
  2. Teaming is allowed (each member can use its own past experience projects). This opens doors for a vast possibility of teaming arrangements between companies. However, let me emphasize that you need to step carefully into this realm because there are many traps and pitfalls in the RFP on this. For many companies, it might not be to their best interest to team up even if they are lacking some specific PSC past experience. I will cover this issue in a separate post, as it is very important for many companies.
  3. You cannot get points for L.5.2.2.3 (Multiple Federal Gov Customers), L.5.2.2.4 (contracts with Cost-Reimbursement), and L.5.2.2.5 (task orders against MA/IDIQ contracts) if your contract is not entered into FPDS database. You can get points for L.5.2.2.1 and L.5.2.2.2 (PSC experience and size differentiated projects) even if you don’t have your projects entered properly into FPDS but not for the 3 items mentions initially. Worst-case scenario in which none of your projects are entered into FPDS (which would be extremely rare unless you are you offering commercial projects and not Government contracts) would be that you would lose 10,500 points due to this.
  4. The new RFP allows you to use a project for a different PSC code than that shown in the FPDS-NG records of that project, if proper documentation is provided.

Also, note that a pre-proposal conference is scheduled in DC on or around the week of July 10th. I suggest all interested parties to participate to get their various questions answered.

I will provide another article on the teaming issue as we think it is a very delicate item to consider in your strategy. Nonetheless, if you need any other consultation, please let us know.