Federal Construction Contracting Blog : Federal Construction Contracting Law Firm : Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC : Construction Law, Dredging and Claims

On May 17, 2007, we presented a seminar in Richmond where we discussed the “New World of Federal Construction Contracting” with a number of contractors interested in obtaining and performing Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) and Multiple Award Task Order (MATOC) contracts. Federal agencies are turning to IDIQ and MATOC contracts more and more often for construction projects, particularly in conjunction with the military construction involved in the Base Relocation and Closure Program (BRAC).

A recent article in the May 24, 2007 on-line publication Mid-Atlantic Construction stresses the substantial market opportunities for contractors in the Richmond area, as well as in all of Virginia.  Many of these opportunities involve military construction for the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy.  Quoting Harold B. Kelly, president of the Virginia Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, "2007 looks terrific for many, many of our members." He predicts that the consolidation of Army logistics units at Fort Lee in Prince George County alone will have a major impact on the market. The Army plans to spend at least $1 Billion to build 6 million square feet of new space. Chris Jarling, general manager of Turner Construction Company in Virginia, noted that he anticipated that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will use the design-build delivery method to construct many of the BRAC projects in Virginia.

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A client new to Federal contracting was requested recently to submit a "BAFO" by an agency contract specialist. Our client asked what was meant by a "BAFO," and the government representative responded "your best and final offer," and suggested that our client read the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). When our client could not find any reference to a "BAFO" or a "best and final offer" our "baffled" client called us. "Best and Final Offer," or "BAFO" was a term used in the FAR many years ago, before the major revision to Part 15, "Contracting by Negotiation," in 1997. In a negotiated procurement, following the conclusion of discussions with offerors, the contracting officer would issue a request for best and final offers to all offerors still within the competitive range. The pre-1997 FAR contained an entire section that described the "best and final" process. In Federal procurement today, “BAFO” has been replaced by "final proposal revision," as referenced in FAR 15.307. However, some agencies still refer to an “FPR” as a “BAFO.”

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