Procuring Bulk Petroleum for the Federal Government. Why Vendors’ Offers are Rated Technically Unacceptable

Abstract

Every fiscal year, DLA Energy procures global military jet fuel and marine diesel fuel requirements through four major purchase programs: Inland East Gulf Coast; Rocky Mountain West; Atlantic, Europe and Mediterranean; and Western Pacific. DLA Energy’s Bulk Petroleum Products Division oversees these procurements and delivers contracting support for all bulk petroleum requirements. Offerors develop proposals and submit proposals, and when proposals are evaluated, some are determined technically unacceptable based on the evaluation factors. When offerors’ proposals are deemed technically unacceptable, that reduces the level of competition for that procurement and competition is reduced, resulting in a greater challenge for DLA Energy to award contracts based on fair and reasonable prices. The more proposals that are deemed technically acceptable, the greater the competition in the procurement, which results in DLA Energy being better able to support its mission. The purpose of this research is to provide an analysis of the reasons why offerors’ proposals are deemed technically unacceptable during proposal evaluation of the contract source selection. Based on the analysis, this research provides recommendations for how DLA Energy could improve its procurement of bulk petroleum. This also helps inform the industry by making recommendations of how to improve their proposals so that they can be technically acceptable.