General Services Administration
Department of Commerce
Previously, when developing a scope of work for operating a Federal facility, whether using an Operation and Maintenance (O&M) contract or a Commercial Facilities Management (CFM) contract, normal practice was to prepare a Scope of Work (SOW) using an existing format or template, then go to procurement staff for contracting services.
Under the new method, during the development of an SOW for a newly constructed facility for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the customer was included in every possible step of the procurement. The customer had several options to operate their new facility. We met with the customer on a weekly basis for several months to review comments or changes and update the SOW. We agreed to include several special sections that the customer wanted, such as conference room management, vehicle fleet maintenance, and operating the IT service call desk. These items were separately listed in the bid documents so that GSA would be reimbursed.
The most significant achievements of our innovative practice included:
- Customer participation and satisfaction with the procurement process.
- Using the FSS schedule resulted in a cost about 10% lower than the benchmark or independent Government estimate (IGE).
- Time savings, in that the procurement was advertised and processed in less time than normal, and did not require extensive internal reviews.
- Scope of Work that included:
- Green building features (green roof, LEED design, recycling, etc.)
- Performance measures.
- Selection criteria tailored to this facility.
Simplifying the SOW now permits us to better understand what we are requiring of the O&M vendor, thereby avoiding waste. The practice also keeps facility management expenses in line with commercial properties, by comparing proposals to the benchmarks.
For more information, contact Charles Polinger on 202 401-1025, or by email at charles.polinger@gsa.gov.
