Abstract

The Past Performance Handbook has long been the resource contracting professionals have turned to for guidance on evaluating contractor performance and making award decisions in competitive acquisitions based on the evaluation results. Now this essential resource has been completely updated and revised to bring readers the most up-to-date information they need to conduct past performance evaluations. Past Performance Handbook: Applying Commercial Practices to Federal Procurement, Second Edition, not only includes a detailed explanation of the process of past performance evaluation, but also presents new approaches to standardizing assessment areas and rating scales, streamlining the source selection process, and ensuring that awards are made to the most qualified offerors. This thoroughly revised second edition offers: Additional focus on the collaboration between the government and contractors in providing past performance information Enhanced definitions of numerical scoring, adjectival ratings, color coding schema, and risk assessments — all consistent with the current guidelines issued by the Department of Defense and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Updated citations from the Federal Acquisition Regulation, OFPP, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Abridged GAO decisions that provide details for citations included in the text. Contracting officers and contractors working with the government will find value in every chapter of this updated edition. Contents Evaluating Past Performance Pre-Award: Using Past Performance as an Evaluation Factor Pre-Award: Obtaining Past Performance Information Pre-Award: Weighting Past Performance Information Pre-Award: Evaluating Past Performance Pre-Award: Past Performance and Source Selection Post-Award: Contractor Performance Evaluations Post-Award: Designing a Contractor Performance Evaluation System Post-Award: Evaluating Contractor Performance Post-Award: Contractor Review and Response Post-Award: Resolving Disagreements Post-Award: Maintaining Past Performance Information and Making It Accessible Legal Issues in Past Performance Abbreviations and Acronyms GAO Decisions Past Performance Information Form About the Author Joseph W. Beausoleil served as an advisor to the U.S. Agency for International Development in implementing past performance requirements and as the agency’s liaison with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Mr. Beausoleil participated in interagency working groups in developing the sample report form and related procedures used to evaluate contractor performance and rewriting the best practices guide for past performance. Based on that experience, he was invited to work on another interagency team in preparing OFPP’s Best Practices for Collecting and Using Current and Past Performance Information.