A Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) Toolkit

Submitted by Dan Briest on Sunday, February 13, 2011 - 9:52 AM

Brad and I often get requests for assistance in reference to establishing Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA). By no means are the following samples provided at the end of this blog without fault. Please use the following documents as guides. During the professional services seminars that Brad and I present, we oftentimes call out our past transgressions that we have made ourselves. Recently, the Management Services Center (MSC) established a BPA for Construction Management/Project Management (CM/PM). One of the mistakes we talk about during our "Using GSA Schedules for Professional Services" seminar, is one that we learned the hard way when we posted the RFQ and evaluated the quotes. What we learned was that it was increasingly difficult to remove contractors from the competition due to the subfactors we included in the RFQ. We highly recommend that your RFQs "DO NOT" have any subfactors! The Schedule program is a streamlined program, try to keep it streamlined.

The following documents are provided to assist you in developing your own BPAs.

Here is a sample of a BPA RFQ. Click Here.

One of the unique aspects of this RFQ, is an explanation how GSA is going to provide preference to small business. For additional information: Click Here.

Here is a sample of an "established" BPA. Note: We did not establish the BPA with a 1449. Instead, we established the BPA as a letter agreement. I have redacted any source selection information and saved it as a word document that you will be able to edit. Click Here

When establishing BPAs, it is important during the development of your acquisition plan and the estimated value of your BPA, that you determine who will have the authority to award task orders from the BPA you establish. To assist GSAs CS/COs in properly using the established BPA, an ordering guide was established. Attached is a sample of the ordering guide. Click Here.

Is a BPA a "contract"? Click Here.

We would appreciate knowing if any of these samples are helpful! Also, let us know if there are other samples that we could add to assist your agency in establishing BPAs.

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Comments

allnsmit

<p>If a BPA is established with a single source (after competing the requirement among FSS holders and selecting the best value), are Calls placed against that single award BPA considered "sole-source" and therefore require Justification & Approval? Or, because the BPA was originally competed among FSS holders, are these Calls considered "competed" so long as only those supplies/services covered by the BPA are ordered?</p>

Posted 05/23/2012 4:05 PM

Dan Briest

<p>allnsmith,</p><p>You have met the competition requirements of FAR Part 8.4 when you established your BPA. You are not required to complete any additional documentation once the single award BPA has been established. I would like to point out that BPAs under FAR Part 8.4 do not have calls. Under FAR Part 8.4, an agency can award delivery and task orders, and establish BPAs. </p><p><span style="widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; display: inline !important; font: medium 'Times New Roman'; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; float: none; letter-spacing: normal; color: rgb(0,0,0); word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px">The terms for BPAs under the schedule contract are governed by FAR 8.405-3 which differs from FAR 13.303 BPAs.  Most are accustomed to the typical terms of art for BPAs under FAR part 13.303 such as "calls".  For FSS BPAs,  "orders" are issued rather than "calls." While this is a simple word choice meaning the same thing, the term "calls" tends to be thought of as "calls" against a FAR part 13.303 BPA.</span></p><p>Keep in mind that prior to establishing a single award BPA, you are required to make a determination in your acquisition plan explaining why a single award BPA is a better fit for you requirement than a multiple award BPA. Also remember the restriction that you are allowed to establish a single award BPA for 1 year, plus four 1 year options. Total of 5 years. Options are required on single award BPAs, but there is no requirement (nor do we suggest) that you put options an mutliple award BPAs. Finally, as a reminder, any single award BPA with an estimated value greater than $103 million must be approved by the head of your agency. </p><p>Thanks for asking the question. Have a great day!</p>

Posted 05/23/2012 5:39 PM

BrianR

<p>Greetings. I have a situation where we need to order items off of a mandatory (for our agency) FSS schedule. We would like to compete a BPA. However, for some unknown reason, an associated piece of equipment that is required for use of the items on the schedule are not included on the FSS contract.<br /><br />FAR 8.402(f) says: "For administrative convenience, an ordering activity contracting officer may add items not on the Federal Supply Schedule (also referred to as open market items) to a Federal Supply Schedule blanket purchase agreement (BPA) or an individual task or delivery order only if— (1) All applicable acquisition regulations pertaining to the purchase of the items not on the Federal Supply Schedule have been followed (e.g., publicizing (Part 5), competition requirements (Part 6), acquisition of commercial items (Part 12), contracting methods (Parts 13, 14, and 15), and small business programs (Part 19));..."<br /><br />I am having trouble understanding how we would go about competing a single FSS BPA for the items on the FSS, which by definition is set aside for FSS contractors, while at the same time conducting an "open market" competition for the items not on the FSS, resulting in a single BPA award.<br /><br />Do you know how we should go about doing this?</p>

Posted 02/15/2012 5:16 PM

Dan Briest

<p>Brian,</p><p>We should talk about this as it would be rather difficult to put in writing.  Please feel free to contact me.</p><p> </p><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); ">Daniel Briest</div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); ">Contracting Officer</div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); ">GSA/FAS/R10/MSC/AQSAA</div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); ">Auburn, WA 98001</div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); "><a href="tel:253-931-7553" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); " target="_blank" value="+12539317553">253-931-7553</a></div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); "><a href="mailto:daniel.briest@gsa.gov" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); " target="_blank">daniel.briest@gsa.gov</a></div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); "> </div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); ">"Services Ordering Solutions: Avoiding MAS Confusion" </div><div style="color: rgb(136, 136, 136); font-family: arial, sans-serif; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); "><a href="http://interact.gsa.gov/groups/services-ordering-solutions" style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204); " target="_blank">http://interact.gsa.gov/<wbr />groups/services-ordering-<wbr />solutions </a></div>

Posted 02/16/2012 11:16 AM

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