Contracts

Finding a Contract Solicitation

All contract solicitations are posted on the Contract Opportunities page in Sam.gov. This site serves as the fed-wide portal that supports searching, monitoring, and retrieving contract opportunities for the federal government.

Or you can search for NIH specific opportunities in the NIH Request for Proposal Directory by the NIH institute or center of interest.

Types of Contracts

Fixed Price

• Firm price for delivery of a product or service
• May result from sealed bids or negotiations
• Most often for supplies and standard services

Cost Reimbursement

• Contract contains a negotiated estimate
• May or may not have a fixed fee
• Used when
  • Uncertainties involved in contract performance do not permit costs to be estimated with sufficient accuracy to use any type of fixed-price contract
  • Used when costs cannot be estimated with sufficient accuracy to use any type of fixed-price contract
• Most Research and Development (R&D) contracts are cost-reimbursement

How Contracts Are Evaluated

• Contract awards from proposals are usually made on the basis of best value.
• Evaluation factors for award
  • Technical criteria
  • Cost
  • Past performance
  • Small disadvantaged business participation
• Best value considers all factors based on the relative importance
• Technical evaluation criteria are reviewed by independent peer review
  • Sample technical evaluation criteria
    • Technical approach
    • Personnel
    • Facilities
• Technical criteria are often weighted
• Reviewers determine technical acceptability

Submitting a Contract Proposal

Search for a contract opportunity on Contract Opportunities page in Sam.gov or NIH Request for Proposal Directory.

Read the solicitation carefully!  It should contain all the information needed to prepare a proposal.

• Registration requirements
• Statement of Work (SOW) or Statement of Objectives (SOO)
• Instructions to offerors
  • Type of contract
  • Set- aside restrictions
  • How and where to submit the proposal
• Evaluation factors for award

When Developing a Proposal

1. Convince reviewers of your technical abilities!
   • Demonstrate your understanding of the requirement
   • Demonstrate the soundness of your technical approach
   • Show the strengths of your technical team
   • Present facilities
   • See Technical Proposal Instructions
2. Ensure your proposal is cost competitive
   • See Business Cost Proposal Instructions

Review Criteria

To find the criteria reviewers will use to evaluate your application, see Section V of your funding opportunity.