FAR Source Selection Evaluation Board Decisions

Government contracting agencies’ Source Selection Board decisions often come under fire in bid protest when there is a large and complex acquisition.  The evaluation board helps the contracting officer to develop the source selection plan.

• The plan is supposed to evaluate bidders against the proposal evaluation criteria.

However, government contracting agencies make mistakes. Unless you file a timely bid protest and can articulate the legal mistake before the court, you will find yourself giving up a lucrative government contract.

• Understanding the underlying FAR source selection regulations can often avoid costly mistakes.
• Learning the selection process is the only way to adequately deal with agency source selection evaluation mistakes.
• Make sure you understand the expressed evaluation factors for a government source selection in the RFP.

What is the Source Selection Evaluation Board in Government Contracting?

Once the Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) completes its evaluation and provides its findings and recommendations, the source selection authority, often referred to as the source selection official (SSO), reviews the SSEB’s report and makes the final decision on contract award. The SSO takes into account the SSEB’s evaluation, along with any other relevant factors, to determine the contractor that best meets the government’s requirements and offers the best value.

The SSEB serves as an impartial body, ensuring that the evaluation process is conducted in a consistent and unbiased manner. Its members are typically chosen for their expertise and experience in the relevant field or industry. The Source Selecttion Evaluation Board’s collective knowledge and evaluation help the government make informed decisions, mitigating the risk of improper contractor selection and promoting fair competition.

It’s worth noting that the SSEB is just one component of the overall source selection process, which may involve other boards, committees, or individuals depending on the complexity and scale of the procurement. The goal of the SSEB is to provide a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of proposals, facilitating the government’s selection of the contractor that offers the best value and meets the specified requirements.

Source Evaluation Board Members

Source selection evaluation board personnel have various technical backgrounds that are essential to a proper technical proposal evaluation of bids. Members can also include cost experts and other key players. Typically, there is not a regulation that mandates who should be on a source selection authority panel board. For large procurements, agencies may assign chairpersons and various levels of team leaders to make decisions on the Source Selection Evaluation Committee.

Qualifications and Experience of  FAR Source Selection Evaluation Board Members

To make sound Source Evaluation Board decisions, members should have the level of expertise needed to thoroughly evaluate bids and proposals. This not only improves the level of expertise, but it also provides room for fewer mistakes.

A common problem occurs when bidders have reason to believe the technical proposal evaluation was conducted by inexperienced ratings from committee members. If filing a bid protest, this argument will more than likely fail since GAO will not substitute the Agency’s judgment.

• The proper approach would be to stick to the facts of why your proposal was improperly evaluated using the expressed Source Selection Evaluation criteria.
• Introducing matters of common industry practice and pointing out where members of the Source Selection Evaluation team evaluated your proposal against a standard, not in the solicitation might prove more fruitful.

FAR Source Selection Process and Legal Requirement for Source Selection Authority Evaluation Decisions and Documentation

Important of Proposal Evaluation Criteria: Federal procurement regulations require agencies to make reasonable award decisions during the source selection process that are based on the stated proposal evaluation criteria. Government agencies spend taxpayer dollars and must account for their source selection evaluation team decisions. However, there is no stated level of documentation anywhere in FAR Part 15 or otherwise.

In the event of a bid protest, one must look at the whether the Source Selection Authority concurred with the evaluation panel’s award decision, whether the FAR Source Selection Authority document its reason for agreeing or disagreement, and whether the decision was reasonable.

• The GAO looks at the reasonableness of the Source Evaluation Board and overall agency documentation.  
• Although there is case law suggesting that conclusory statements do not meet the level of documentation required, the reality is that Agencies tend to prevail still in most bid protest cases.

Given the variety of mixed language, protestors may want to stick to the differences in the stated evaluation requirements and be able to show where the Source Selection Evaluation Board decisions either misapplied the evaluation factors for a government source selection in the RFP or failed to give meaningful consideration to a particular aspect of the submitted proposals. 

• Find out more about SBA Certificate of Competency rules.
• Find out more about agency source selection plans.

Overcoming Agency Source Evaluation Board Decisions In Bid Protests

Bid protest law states that a protestor’s mere disagreement with the agency’s Source Selection Evaluation decisions is not sufficient to call an evaluation into question. GAO decided this issue in Ben-Mar Enters., Inc., B-295781, Apr. 7, 2005, 2005 CPD ¶ 68 at 7.

Agencies will typically argue that your protest is simply disagreeing with the Source Selection Evaluation Board’s decision. Therefore, the protest letter must be crafted in such a way to avoid this dangerous response. Failure to overcome the Agency’s response will more than likely get the case dismissed. 

For help and analysis about whether a government contracting agency’s FAR Source Selection Authority or TEP Source Selection Evaluation Board decisions complied with the solicitation’s and proposal evaluation criteria, call our bid protest lawyers at 1-866-601-5518.