Past performance is key to any contractor's ability to obtain future business with the Federal Government. Accordingly, if you are a government contractor, you should implement a well defined and developed past performance program or process to insure accountability within your organization and to insure appropriate measures are taken to favorably influence the evaluation. The following recommendations provide the basic outline for such a program:
- Make sure the appropriate personnel in your organization -- i.e., those involved in program management, contracts, business development -- understand the increasing significance of past performance in federal procurement.
- Actively monitor your organization's past performance history, and obtain all evaluations on current contracts and those completed within the past three years. In addition, establish a common control point/process for reviewing, responding to, and retaining past performance evaluations.
- If you receive a discussion question -- after submission of a proposal --regarding allegedly poor past performance, REACT!! Provide clear and convincing evidence that the evaluation was inaccurate, incomplete, or unreasonable; and/or any performance problems have been addressed through corrective action.
- Meet with the customer immediately after award, to reach mutual agreement on the criteria that will be used for evaluation and on what performance areas the customer will focus.
- For each new contract, understand the specific past performance rating system that will be used and look for opportunities to influence that evaluation.
- Request a "preassessment" meeting prior to the customer's evaluation of your performance. At such meeting, provide a detailed briefing to the customer on your performance during that evaluation period and how well you met the contract requirements. Consider providing objective performance data that you have collected that will support a favorable rating.
- Respond promptly and strongly with the "first team" to all past performance evaluations that are inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise unfair. Treat the response like a "must win" proposal: strategize, document your position, and "red team" it prior to submission. Seek review above the Contracting Officer if necessary.
- Consider filing a "claim" under the applicable contract seeking a declaration of satisfactory performance on the subject contract, if you have exhausted the remedies available from the agency.
- If preparing a claim on a troubled contract, always consider whether you should also challenge the performance evaluation as part of the claims process, by seeking a declaration that your performance was satisfactory.
- If settling a claim, always consider including appropriate language in the settlement agreement acknowledging your performance was satisfactory and limiting the agency's use of adverse evaluations resulting from the performance at issue.
Recommendations for Dealing With Past Performance References
Recent GAO protest decisions emphasize that the Government is not required during source selections to contact every past performance reference listed by a contractor -- and is not obligated to follow-up with references that do not respond to Government inquiries. As with most aspects of past performance, there are procedures that contractors can implement to increase the likelihood that references will be responsive to requests for past performance information:
- When deciding which references to list in a proposal, do not focus solely on those references that will give the most favorable past performance evaluation. Consider also which references are likely to respond -- a reference that responds with a "good" rating is more valuable than the "excellent" rating the agency never sees because the reference does not respond.
- Contact the prospective references and inform them their response is needed in an up-coming source selection. If possible, try to get a commitment that they will respond.
- Follow-up with a written Past Performance "Information" sheet, in which the reference is provided the essential facts and information likely needed to complete the agency's past performance questionnaire.
- During discussions with the agency, ask if references are responding, or if additional references are needed so the agency can conduct a meaningful past performance review.
- After the award decision -- win or lose -- let the references know their participation in the process is important.