Contract Files

 

Q. What should the contract file contain and why? What are the primary contract planning inputs and why? What should the Contract Management Plan contain? A. FTA Circular 4220.1E, Paragraph 7.i - Written Record of Procurement History requires grantees to maintain records detailing the history of a procurement. At a minimum, these records must include: the rationale for the method of procurement; selection of contract type; reasons for contractor selection or rejection; and the basis for the contract price. The contract file documentation should represent the history of the procurement, including the basis for important decisions that were made (e.g., how the contractor was selected, the basis for the price, etc.). The documentation is important for those who must review the action later, and a review of contracts that spend public funds is required by those agencies supplying the funds to ensure that regulations are followed and good business decisions are being made. The subject of contract documentation is discussed at length in the Best Practices Procurement Manual (BPPM), Section 2.4.1 - File Documentation, 5.4 - Documentation of Procurement Action, and 9.1 - Documentation of Contract Administration. Guidance concerning contract planning may also be found in the BPPM, Chapter 2, and other Sections such as 5.2 - Cost and Price Analysis, 5.4.2.2 - Pre-Negotiation Plan.

Q. How do you set up a contract file? What should the file contain? A. An organizational entity such as the procurement office should be assigned responsibility to maintain the official contract file. There should be a uniform numbering system for all contract files. The number may be the solicitation number, contract number, funding identification or some other construction as long as it is uniform and facilitates reliable file retrieval. If the official contract file is divided into two parts (contract placement and contract administration), the contract administration file may be assigned to the program office for maintenance. The two parts would ideally be merged after or during contract closeout. The official contract file should contain the following: A signed copy of the complete contract All signed amendments including rationale for the contract change and justification for the resulting cost/price or delivery date change All correspondence with the contractor Approvals or disapprovals of contract deliveries Requests for waivers or deviations and the associated responses Documentation regarding settlement of claims and disputes Documentation regarding stop work or suspension of work orders Contract closeout documentation Written record of Procurement History.

Q. What is considered necessary for a written record of procurement history? A.  A good record of procurement history would contain more than the minimum required by FTA Circular 4220.1E. This minimum consists of: The rationale for the method of procurement. [E.g. full and open competition under IFB (one or two step) or RFP, small or micro purchase, sole source, use of qualified products list or qualified manufacturers list, geographic preference, brand name or other restrictions] Selection of contract type. [Firm fixed price, cost reimbursement, incentive, multi-year, time and materials, labor hour, task order, basic ordering agreements, etc.] Reasons for contractor selection. [Responsibility determination, tabulation and evaluation of bids, competitive range determination, technical evaluation, cost/technical trade-off decision] The basis for the contract price. [Independent cost estimate, cost/price analysis, extent of competition, record of negotiations] In addition to these minimum requirements of the FTA Circular , the following should be included in the record of procurement history: The original purchase request Any acquisition planning documentation Evidence of availability of funds List of sources solicited Statement of work Copies of published notices Copy of solicitation including all addenda and amendments Liquidated damages determination Contractor’s certifications and representations Notice of award Notice to unsuccessful offerors Record of debriefings Record of protests and their resolution Bond and insurance documentation Notice to proceed Q.  Is there a checklist to go into each contract file of the required documents that need to be in the file, i.e., Purchase Request, Bidders List, Type of Contract, Record of Pre-Proposal Conference Correspondence, Evaluations, etc.  We have a Table of Contents for each file but we'd like a more complex checklist of required items required in the file. A.  The FTA Best Practices Procurement Manual (BPPM) discusses contract file content in section 2.4.1–File Documentation. This is available online at http://www.fta.dot.gov/funding/thirdpartyprocurement/bppm/grants_financing_6186.html#C2_4_1. Although this is not a checklist per se, you could easily develop a contract file checklist from this suggested contract file content list.