Marine Corps Installations West > Staff Offices > Regional Contracting Office > Guidance Policy

The Acquisition Process is made up of five phases.
    1.Planning Phase
    2.Solicitation Phase
    3.Evaluation Phase
    4.Award Phase
    5.Post Award Phase

These phases shall be conducted by a Planning Process Team that includes:
    • Contracting Officer
    • Procurement Chief
    • Contract Specialist
    • Technical Experts
    • Comptroller
    • Office Of Counsel

Once all the acquisition phases are covered, the purchase request will be accepted by the MCIWEST Contracting Office only if the Requirements Package is submitted with all the appropriate documentation to ensure a successful contract award.

MCIWEST customers are encouraged to review the request in order to identify any supplemental documentation that may be required from other organizations. A thorough review of their request will assist our customers in providing required waivers prior to submitting the purchase request to MCIWEST Contracting.

MCIWEST Contracting is committed to assisting its customers in:
• Improving lead-times for the timely delivery of supplies and services.
• Preparing a complete and accurate requirements package that will initiate the procurement action at MCIWEST Contracting via PRBuilder the first time it is submitted.
• Assisting in the development of acquisition strategies that provide the best value to the customer in a timely manner.

This section includes the necessary information to put together your Requirements Package for supplies/services purchase requests. The purchase request requirements package shall have the following documents:

• Funding document entered into PRBuilder
• Statement of Work (SOW), Statement of Objectives (SOO), Performance Work Statements (PWS)
• Brand Name Justification
• Sole Source Justification
• Justification for Urgency
• Independent Government Cost Estimate
• MCIWEST Purchase Request Checklist
• I MEFG4/G6 Waiver Form (Only units that are under I MEF)
• Additional waivers, Marine Corps Orders, NAVAIR Messages or approvals, etc.

A contract for the purchase of SUPPLIES or SERVICES that is entered into or proposed to be entered into by an agency after soliciting and negotiating with only one source or a limited number of responsible sources, and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements, full and open competition need not be provided for. Supplies or services may be considered to be available from only one source if:

• The source has submitted an unsolicited research proposal.

• The supplies are deemed to be available only from the original source in the case of a follow on contract for a provision of highly specialized services when it is likely that award to any other source would result in substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition or unacceptable delays in fulfilling the agencies requirements.

FAR 6.303:

• Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) mandate Contract activities to obtain competition in procurements to obtain the lowest priced, technical acceptable requirements. One of several exceptions to the FAR requirement to coordinate for competition is “unusual and compelling urgency.” However, this exception may not be what you think. The FAR describes this exception as applicable when the agency’s need for the supplies or services is of such an unusual and compelling urgency that the Government would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals. Serious injury means that a delay in award of a contract would result in financial or other injury to the Government.

Many customers believe their requirement is “urgent” and compelling. “I need it now,” or “I have to have this by next week.” Most of the time a requirement becomes “urgent” because the requiring activity did not plan ahead and anticipate their needs. Therefore, the requirement cannot be given to Contracting in appropriate time to make an award in a proper manner. Another reason customer’s would like to use is it’s the end of the year and money is running out so we have to spend it.

Although these may seem like valid reasons to consider something urgent and compelling, the FAR does not agree. The FAR is very clear, as stated earlier, that a lack of advance planning by the requiring activity, or concerns related to the amount of funds available are not valid justifications for using an exception to competition.

• Justification for Other than Full and Open Competition

A critical step of acquisition planning is defining the who, what, where, when, and why aspects of the requirement to the Contracting Officer. As the end user for the request, you must be able to:

    • Identify the purchase's mission.
    • Describe the request's relevant history.
    • Detail the desired scope and requirements, including descriptions, specifications, and other technical information.
    • Detail the requirement history if applicable.
    • Provide criteria for proper evaluation and selection of vendor.

Requirements for Supplies or Services should be stated in terms of:
     • Functions to be performed.
     • Performances required.
     • Essential characteristics.

As a customer you must conduct enough market research to understand and define the requirement. In addition, become familiar with important performance parameters of your requirement.

Be as thorough as possible to avoid having your purchase request returned for lack of information, or other oversights that could result in unnecessary delays.

• GSA REVERSE AUCTION Marines 03102014 (1).pptx

• AAS-Presentation - 22 Jan 2014.pptx

• ****** Presentation.pptx

• MFR Lifting of the Hiring Freeze.doc -all services

• MCICOMBul 4200 - FY18 Contract Execution PR Guidance.pdf

• PR Builder Pre-Submission Cheat Sheet.pdf

• Certification of NonPersonal Services Template 2016.doc - all services

• Inherently Governmental Functions Determination (V1.1 8-4-17).doc -all services

• MCIWEST Customers: MANDATORY USE OF GARRISON RETAIL SUPPLY CHAIN FOR GARRISON SUPPLY REQUIREMENTS AND STATEMENTS OF NON-AVAILABILITY

• PR Submission Checklist.pdf - all purchase request.

• Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)

• Defense Federal Acquisitions Regulation (DFAR)

• Navy Marine Corps Acquisition Regulation Supplement (NMCARS)

• DFARS Procedures Guidance and Information (PGI)