December 1, 2016
Ambiguous Contractor Teaming Agreement Sinks CIO-SP3 Proposal
Source: SmallGovCon, Steven Koprince, November 18, 2016
Joint venture partner or subcontractor? An offeror’s teaming agreement for the CIO-SP3 GWAC wasn’t clear about which tasks would be performed by joint venture partners and which would be performed by subcontractors–and the agency was within its discretion to eliminate the offeror as a result.
A recent GAO bid protest decision demonstrates that when a solicitation calls for information about teaming relationships, it is important to clearly establish which type of teaming relationship the offeror intends to establish, and draft the teaming agreement and proposal accordingly.
Here at SmallGovCon, my colleagues and I discuss teaming agreements and joint ventures frequently. As important as teaming is for many contractors, one might think that the FAR would be overflowing with information about joint ventures and prime/subcontractor teams. Not so. Most of the legal guidance related to joint ventures and teams is found in the SBA’s regulations. The FAR itself is much less detailed. FAR 9.601 provides this definition of a “Contractor Team Arrangement”:
“Contractor team arrangement,” as used in this subpart, means an arrangement in which—
(1) Two or more companies form a partnership or joint venture to act as a potential prime contractor; or
(2) A potential prime contractor agrees with one or more other companies to have them act as its subcontractors under a specified Government contract or acquisition program. READ MORE….
Joint venture agreements and prime/subcontractor teams are very different arrangements. Contact your nearest PTAC to learn more these arrangements.
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