FCC FAR Part 15 Negotiated Acquisition 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Under FAR 15.403-3, what information must an offeror provide when certified cost or pricing data are not required but the contracting officer needs to determine price reasonableness?
- A sworn affidavit of cost estimates
- Data other than certified cost or pricing data (Correct answer)
- A Defense Contract Audit Agency audit report
- An independent cost estimate from a third party
Correct answer: Data other than certified cost or pricing data
FAR 15.403-3 allows contracting officers to request data other than certified cost or pricing data to support price reasonableness determinations.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST describes the 'color rating' system used by some agencies during source selection?
- A mandatory FAR-prescribed method of rating technical proposals
- An adjectival system using colors to represent levels of merit (Correct answer)
- A numerical scoring system required for LPTA competitions
- A method for rating contractor past performance only
Correct answer: An adjectival system using colors to represent levels of merit
Color ratings (e.g., Blue/Outstanding, Green/Acceptable) are an adjectival evaluation approach some agencies use to rate proposal quality against evaluation criteria.
Question 3: Under FAR 15.101-1, when is the Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection process appropriate?
- When best value is better achieved through trade-offs between price and non-price factors
- When the requirement is clearly defined and risk of unsuccessful performance is minimal (Correct answer)
- When past performance is the most important evaluation factor
- When small business participation must be maximized
Correct answer: When the requirement is clearly defined and risk of unsuccessful performance is minimal
FAR 15.101-1(a) states LPTA is appropriate when best value is expected to result from selection of the technically acceptable proposal with the lowest evaluated price.
Question 4: What action must a contracting officer take when an offeror is excluded from the competitive range?
- Notify the offeror in writing and offer a pre-award debriefing upon request (Correct answer)
- Immediately award the contract to the remaining offerors
- Request the offeror to cure the deficiencies within 10 days
- Refer the exclusion decision to the Source Selection Authority
Correct answer: Notify the offeror in writing and offer a pre-award debriefing upon request
FAR 15.503(a) and 15.505 require the CO to notify excluded offerors promptly and provide a pre-award debriefing if requested.
Question 5: Under FAR 15.407-1, a defective pricing claim arises when the contractor provided cost or pricing data that was:
- Higher than the actual costs incurred during performance
- Not accurate, complete, or current as of the agreement date (Correct answer)
- Based on forward pricing rates not approved by the government
- Submitted after the required deadline in the solicitation
Correct answer: Not accurate, complete, or current as of the agreement date
FAR 15.407-1 provides for a price reduction when cost or pricing data was not accurate, complete, and current as certified at the time of price agreement.
Question 6: Which FAR 15 provision specifically addresses the exchange of information with industry BEFORE the formal solicitation is issued?
- FAR 15.201 (Correct answer)
- FAR 15.302
- FAR 15.401
- FAR 15.501
Correct answer: FAR 15.201
FAR 15.201 encourages early exchanges with industry, including market research, Requests for Information, and industry days before solicitation release.
Question 7: A contracting officer wants to use trade-off analysis in a source selection. Which statement CORRECTLY describes the trade-off process?
- Award must go to the lowest-priced technically acceptable offeror
- A higher-priced offeror may be selected if the perceived benefits justify the premium (Correct answer)
- The government must assign equal weight to price and non-price factors
- Trade-offs are only permitted when the solicitation is set aside for small businesses
Correct answer: A higher-priced offeror may be selected if the perceived benefits justify the premium
FAR 15.101-1(c) and 15.308 allow award to other than the lowest-priced offeror if the perceived benefits of a higher-priced proposal merit the additional cost.
FCC FAR Part 15 Negotiated Acquisition 5
Under FAR 15.403-3, what information must an offeror provide when certified cost or pricing data are not required but the contracting officer needs to determine price reasonableness?