SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES

Simplified Acquisition Procedures



Simplified Acquisition Procedures

Simplified Acquisition

Simplified acquisition is a contracting method which seeks to reduce the amount of work the government must undertake to evaluate an offer. When choosing a vendor in simplified acquisition procurement, agencies need not bother with establishing a competitive range, formal evaluation plans, scoring offers or conducting discussions. Also, a contracting officer, not necessarily a source selection team, can choose the contract winner. Other contracting methods include sealed bidding and negotiated procurement (GAO, 2001).

U.S. government agencies may purchase goods and services worth U.S. $3000 or less without complying with laws encouraging purchases of United States (Buy American Act) and laws requiring that contracts be reserved Small Business America. The micro-purchase threshold for construction contracts of the U.S. government is 2000 U.S. dollars (FOIA, 2011).

In addition, if a particular supply supports a contingency operation or contributes to defense against nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological recovery after such an attack, the threshold increased from 3000 to 30000 U.S. dollars for purchases made outside the United States and 15000 U.S. dollars for purchases made within the country. Micro-purchases may be made without competitive bidding if the buyer believes that the U.S. price is reasonable (FOIA, 2011).

Authorized officials of the Government of the United States now have a card (credit) for commercial acquisitions across government that allows them to make micro-purchases without prior approval of a centralized purchasing department, and is the preferred method for the resolution of micro-purchases.

Micro-purchases have a window of opportunity for Canadian entrepreneurs who are able to promote their products or services to potential customers, especially if they are products related to nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological, primarily because Buy American laws and other barriers do not apply at the micro-purchases. Simplified acquisitions include simplified procedures that reduce costs, promote economy and efficiency in making contracts and to evade avoidable burden for contractors and agencies.

The Federal Acquisition Regulation, FAR Part 2, sets the threshold for simplified acquisition of base to 150 000 USD. Procurements over the micro-purchase threshold but not exceeding $ 150 000 USD (with exceptions), "will be reserved for small businesses unless the contracting officer considers it unlikely that least two qualified small businesses are able to submit competitive bids for price, quality and delivery time." Otherwise, it takes into account the provisions of NAFTA, joint defense agreements and BAA (FOIA, 2011).

As in the case of micro-purchases, there is an exemption for supplies that contribute to defense against nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological recovery following this type of attack. In scenario, the simplified acquisition threshold is 300,000 USD for purchases made in the United States and up to 1.0 million USD for the procurement completed outside the country.

[UPDATE] The test program which raised the threshold of article and service(s) purchased as "commercial items" according to FAR Part 12, expired on 1 January 2012. The officer may award contracts negotiations after the program for solicitation issued prior to the due ...