QUALITY MONITORING GUIDELINES

BACKGROUND

• In order to ensure that each Operating Administration is monitoring PBSC activity, the Deputy Secretary has directed that each PBSC Advocate develop a quality monitoring system to ensure that all existing and future contracts identified as PBSC include the key PBSC elements.

PAST APPROACH

• Typically in our service contracts, we not only tell the contractors what to do, we tell them how to do it, how many people to use, who those people should be – in effect, we usually have given them a detailed design specification.

PBSC APPROACH

• Requires that we tell the contractor what performance requirements they are expected to meet and then step out of their way and let them determine how best to meet that level of performance.
• The key is to pay for results, not just best efforts. We need to avoid over-specifying the government’s contractual requirements and telling the contractor what to do.
• Ensure that process requirements have been avoided (e.g., telling contractors how to do things, prescribing job categories and qualifications, requiring agency approval of resumes or changes to contractor personnel etc.

ISSUES THAT MONITORING SYSTEM NEEDS TO ADDRESS

• Review process for all requirements for services, regardless of funding source, estimated to exceed $500,000 to identify potential candidates for PBSC conversion.

• Identify which organizations/positions will be responsible for reviewing all existing and future contracts identified as PBSC to ensure that they include the key PBSC key elements.
• Identify how your organization will review PBSC activities to gather data on any identified savings and performance improvement.

REFERENCES

• The following are summaries of the information provided in each reference identified. Complete and updated versions of these references can be obtained at our web site.
• Federal Acquisition Regulation, Subpart 37.6, Performance-Based Contracting states that performance-based contracts --
(a)“Describe the requirements in terms of results required rather than the methods of performance of the work;
(b) Use measurable performance standards (i.e., terms of quality, timeliness, quantity, etc.) and quality assurance surveillance plans;
(c) Specify procedures for reductions of fee or for reductions to the price of a fixed-price contract when services are not performed or do not meet contract requirements; and
(d) Include performance incentives where appropriate."

• OMB PBSC Solicitation/Contract/Task Order Review Checklist – OMB has provided a checklist to be used as a guide that may be used to aid in developing a performance-based solicitation, contract or task order, and to assist in determining whether an existing solicitation, contract or task order may be appropriately classified as performance-based.
• The following are the minimum mandatory PBSC requirements that they identify:
1. Performance requirements that define the work in measurable, mission-related terms;

2. Performance standards (i.e., quality, quantity, timeliness) tied to the performance requirements

3. A Government quality assurance (QA) plan that describes how the contractor’s performance will be measured against the performance standards;

4. If the acquisition is either critical to agency mission accomplishment or requires relatively large expenditures of funds, positive and negative incentives tied to the Government QA plan measurements.