Spend 1&1/2 days receiving cutting edge, absolutely dynamic, unavailable elsewhere insights from the nation's leading authority and pioneer in best value procurement - Ralph Nash - whose leadership and guidance have led the way in government procurement for decades.

• The keys to recognizing and managing the newest, most complex issues contractors and government professionals face today in source selection using trade off analysis
• How to rapidly anticipate and resolve the complexities that have been created by "simplification" - to make streamlining actually work
• How to benefit from the latest, most advanced developments in evaluation factors, communications, experience requirements, oral presentations, past performance analysis, and more
• The latest FAR 15 interpretations - how they impact your work

Best Value Procurement has moved to the forefront of the government’s purchasing procedures. Clear and seemingly uncomplicated in its intent--a focus on awarding contracts to offerors who offer the greatest number of advantages, the greatest value for money spent rather than on only awarding contracts based on the lowest price--its implementation has been uneven.

Innovation does not always lead to simplicity. In the case of best value procurement, a wide range of advanced issues that must be anticipated and understood has continually arisen since its inception as a purchasing mandate. Whether for a product or service, there are an extensive number of trouble spots, unclear directions, shifting interpretations and growing precedents that procurement professionals must not only recognize, but be able to swiftly and effectively manage.

Selecting evaluation factors and standards...capability factors...the genuine fairness and conduct of past performance evaluations...how information is now compiled and interpreted...on-going interpretations and reinterpretations of the FAR 15 rewrite...the newest precedents set by oral presentations...new definitions of what a proposal is...the expanding limits of oral communications...these issues, and more, have created the need for a dynamic, thoroughly up-to-date analysis of the advanced issues best value procurement poses to industry and government representatives on a daily basis.

Conducted by the nation’s leading authority and recognized pioneer on best value procurement, Professor Ralph C. Nash Jr., this highly concentrated course offers sharp, sophisticated, immediately-useable insights into the most complex, key areas of best value procurement. The course presents you with powerful subject-examination, highly-charged question-answer-discussion opportunities, and the opportunity to learn from the experiences and practices of your peers who will be in attendance. In addition, you will receive a copy of the new text entitled: Competetive Negotiation, a comprehensive textbook of 918 pages including the major regulations. The book is a useful desktop reference on the source selection process.

Course Curriculum

1. Overview of the FAR Part 15 Rewrite
   
   1. Organization
   2. Definitions
   3. Communications
   4. Competitive range
   5. Solicitations and award documents
   6. Pricing
   
   
2. Planning the Procurement
   
   1. Composition and role of the acquisition team
   2. The need for a “clean” RFP
   3. The new communication rule and procurement integrity
   
   
3. Selecting Evaluation Factors
   
   1. Minimizing the number of factors
   2. Distinguishing “offer” factors from “capability” factors
   3. Types of offer factors and their proper use
   4. Types of capability factors and their proper use
      1. Past Performance
      2. Experience
      3. Understanding the work
   
   
4. Technical Proposals vs. Oral Presentations
   1. Offers vs. Proposals
   2. Types of technical proposals and their use
   3. Oral presentations
      1. Advantages
      2. Rules for use
      3. Presentation format
   
   
5. Award Without Discussions
   1. Advantages
   2. Legal limitations on their use
   3. The amount of permissible clarification
   
   
6. Establishing the Competitive Range
   1. The new theory
   2. Permissible communications
   3. Selecting the “most highly rated proposals”
   4. Efficiency considerations
   
   
7. Negotiations/Discussions
   1. Intent of the new rule
   2. Requirement for meaningful discussions
   3. Breadth of negotiations permitted
   4. Limitations on discussions
   5. Correction of mistakes
   
   
8. Pricing
   1. Limitations on obtaining cost or pricing data
   2. Other data to assist in price reasonableness determination
   3. Cost realism analysis and probable cost determination
   4. Coordination with audit and field pricing personnel
   
   
9. Protest Avoidance
   1. Debriefings
   2. Solicitation improvement
   3. Agency protest procedures

The Course Instructor:

Ralph C. Nash, Jr. Nationally recognized as one of the leading and most respected authorities in Government procurement, Ralph Nash’s guidance, insights and innovations have been at the forefront of the contracting profession for decades. Now a Professor Emeritus of Law at The George Washington University, Professor Nash was first appointed to the faculty of the Law School in 1960, where he immediately established and became the founding Director of the Law School’s Government Contracts Program. Designed to provide a solid framework for teaching, research and writing in Government procurement, the program is a leading U.S. educational resource in Government contracting today and Professor Nash continues as a vital part of the program.

In addition to an active role in consulting for Government agencies, private corporations, industrial organizations and law firms on procurement matters, Professor Nash continues to educate the contracting community through programs sponsored by educational institutions, professional societies and professional associations. He has served as a member of the governing Council of the American Bar Association’s Section of Public Contract Law and as a Judge on the Atomic Energy Commission Board of Contract Appeals. In addition, Professor Nash is a Fellow of the National Contract Management Association and serves on the NCMA’s Board of Advisors.

Author of one of the most respected texts ever written on a procurement subject-Government Contract Changes-he has co-authored, with a fellow contracting pioneer John Cibinic, a number of the classic, most authoritative books produced on procurement matters, including: Formation of Government Contracts, 3d ed. 1998; Administration of Government Contracts, 4th ed. 2006; Cost Reimbursement Contracting, 2nd ed. 1993; and Competetive Negotiation: The Source Selection Process, 2d ed. 1999. Professor Nash is co-author, with John Cibinic, of the monthly publication, The Nash & Cibinic Report.

Professor Nash received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and his Juris Doctor degree from The George Washington University.