1. The contracting officer for a complex services acquisition team is attending and leading his team's initial meeting. He knows from experience and training that risk identification is a critical process that will ensure a comprehensive, well-planned acquisition. During which stage of the acquisition life cycle must risk identification and analysis be performed?

Group of answer choices

• During the source selection step of the execution phase
• During the development of the acquisition plan
• During the current strategy review step of the planning phase of the services acquisition processi.e., early and often, a continuous process
• During the post-award monitoring process

2. The lead contracting officer assigned to an acquisition team tasked with acquiring specialized environmental consulting services. The program manager is familiar with the market and has reported to the team that there is an impending change in environmental regulations that will require potential offerors to develop or acquire new technical expertise. The CO has also received information about the upcoming budget that indicates that all departments will be required to cut spending by at least 15%. At the next acquisition team meeting, risk identification will be the main topic of discussion. Which statement best describes the initial assessment of the risks associated with this acquisition?

Group of answer choices

• The only risk is a business/programmatic risk: the development or acquisition of new expertise could have a negative impact on the program's required schedule.
• Multiple risks must be identified, assessed, and evaluated, including business/programmatic risk, technical risk, funding risk, and performance risk.
• Since all potential offerors are in the same situation, there is no need to separately evaluate risk.
• The only risk is a funding risk: in the current budget climate, it is unclear whether funding will be available to cover this program.

3. The lead contracting officer for a complex services acquisition, and the CO is concerned because the initial kick-off meeting was poorly attended. In addition, the CO is aware that certain senior-level stakeholders have expressed skepticism that the acquisition team will achieve the desired savings results. The CO know that having the necessary stakeholder support, buy-in, and participation is crucial for the overall success of the acquisition. Which approach would the CO most likely use to gain the necessary level of stakeholder support and team member participation?

Group of answer choices

• Ensure that each stakeholder signs the team charter so that they are committed, in writing, to the acquisition team
• Establish policy that each stakeholder must endorse the resulting contract, which will drive their behavior and encourage greater participation
• Ensure that each stakeholder is notified of all meeting times and locations
• Construct an effective communication plan to solicit and gain the buy-in of the identified stakeholders. Additionally, craft a team charter to document the acquisition team members' commitments and assign key responsibilities

4. Pollyanna is a highly respected contracting officer with more than 25 years of systems contracting experience. She has been both the procuring contracting officer (PCO) and the Source Selection Authority (SSA) on numerous successful source selections. Last year she was the Agency's "Contracting Officer of the Year".

Accordingly, Pollyanna's agency would now like to appoint her as both the PCO and the SSA for the upcoming XYZ Program, which has an estimated value of $160 million. Is this appropriate, and why or why not?

Group of answer choices

• No, the SSA must have a program management background in order to lead such a diverse, multi-functioning team.
• No, there must always be a separate SSA.
• Yes, the agency is allowed broad discretion in this area so long as the personnel appointed to the source selection team are knowledgeable of policy and procedures for properly and efficiently conducting the source selection.
• Yes, the PCO may serve as the SSA in accordance with FAR 15.303 unless the agency head or designee appoints another individual; however, for Department of Defense agencies, the SSA must be an individual other than the PCO for procurements above $100M.

5. Bruce Einstein, Ph.D., is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and a guest lecturer at Big Name University. The CIA recently hired Dr. Einstein to oversee the development of the technical requirements package for a new, highly complex weapon system, and he has been consulting with your agency on related technical matters as well. Although Dr. Einstein is not a government employee, he has been the quasi-leader of the technical team by virtue of his knowledge and standing. The program is now planning for the source selection and assembling the team of evaluators. Which role may Dr. Einstein fulfill in the actual source selection?

Group of answer choices

• He may only participate in the review and evaluation of past performance information.
• He can determine ratings or rankings of offerors' proposals.
• He may serve in any capacity, at the SSA's discretion.
• He may assist in and provide input regarding the evaluation, but he may not determine ratings or rankings of offerors' proposals.

6. The contracting officer is seeking to acquire a new financial system for the federal government. Market research has determined that cutting edge technology will be required as no such system currently exists. It is critical that the transition be transparent to the users with 100% accuracy. What contracting strategy should he recommend?

Group of answer choices

• A strategy in which the source selection is based on a trade-off process where past performance is a significant evaluation factor
• A strategy where the contract is awarded on a sole-source basis to the incumbent contractor
• A strategy in which the source selection decision is based on the lowest-priced technically acceptable proposal
• A strategy in which the contract is awarded on a firm-fixed price basis since individual agencies have replaced their financial systems in the past

7. The quality assurance surveillance plan (QASP)musthave portions that describe which one of the following?

Group of answer choices

• Customers' continuous improvement processes
• Positive and negative incentives
• Direct linkage with the requirements of the performance work statement
• Penalties for nonperformance

8. The Contracting Officer's role as a business advisor is paramount in the source selection process. Given an acquisition program with an estimated value of $105 million, select the response that accurately reflects one of the CO's specific responsibilities during a source selection of this value.

Group of answer choices

• Ensures that procedures exist to safeguard source selection information and contractor bid or proposal information
• Directly oversees the evaluation team to ensure the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the evaluation criteria specified in the solicitation
• Makes a determination to award without discussions or to enter into discussions
• Selects the source whose proposal represents the best value to the government incentive-firm

9. Market research conducted for an upcoming requirement (estimated at $62.7 million over five years) revealed that there is only one small business that may be capable of performing the contract in its entirety. In the past, there have been many smaller contracts that were focused on supporting individual base functions. The new contract will consolidate many of those functions under a single award and will result in substantial cost savings and benefits to the government.

Previously, the smaller contracts were all accomplished by small businesses. The market research report shows that there are eight large firms capable of performing the entire contract, and approximately 55 small businesses that can perform portions of the work. How should the acquisition team proceed?

Group of answer choices

• Return to the previous acquisition strategy and award individual smaller contracts again
• Set aside the effort for the small business, and plan to re-solicit if adequate proposals are not received.
• Conduct a full and open competition
• Hold one-on-one meetings with all 55 small businesses and hope to find another one capable of performing the new consolidated contract

10. The customer is asking the contracting officer about market research steps and the contract/acquisition process for his upcoming project. While acknowledging that the performance requirements are not yet finalized, the CO mention the possible involvement of the small business specialist. What do the CO tell the customer about when to involve the small business specialist during the contract/acquisition process?

Group of answer choices

• Do not involve the small business specialist until after you synopsize the requirement.
• Involve the small business specialist immediately as the requirement is being developed.
• Involve the small business specialist after solicitation closing but prior to award.
• Involve the small business specialist after approval of the acquisition plan.

11. When determining the estimated cost to the Government during acquisition planning and market research, the Contracting Officer can look at historical pricing. When using historical pricing information to estimate current or future costs, the estimator and/or the CO must:

Group of answer choices

• Determine if a cost reimbursement contract would be necessary
• Use outside (independent) experts and estimators to develop the Government Estimate
• Only consider upwards adjustments
• The present requirement is very similar to the previous requirement and that adjustments are made to the IGCE to reflect any differences

12. A presolicitation conference will be held next month and you are preparing the synopsis to be posted on the Governmentwide Point of Entry at https://beta.sam.gov. A draft RFP will be posted with the synopsis with a note that conference attendees will be given a CD containing RFP attachments comprising very large, numerous technical files that could not be posted on the Internet. Since the program office manages the technical files, the program manager tasked her technical specialist, John Smith, to produce the CDs for distribution at the conference. For those potential offerors or potential subcontractors who cannot attend the presolicitation conference but want to request the CD, which person do you identify as the point of contact in the synopsis?

Group of answer choices

• No one - the Government is not required to provide information to a company that elects not to attend the presolicitation conference
• The Contracting Officer
• The Program Manager
• The Technical Specialist

13. A Request for Information is a technique used primarily to:

Group of answer choices

• Establish a competitive range of contractors.
• Pre-qualify potential contractors by evaluating their capability statements.
• Determine when to release a solicitation.
• Engage early with potential contractors to determine capabilities, strategies, and industry expertise related to the requirement.

14. The Source Selection Advisory Council (SSAC) is primarily responsible for:

Group of answer choices

• Providing a written comparative analysis of offers and recommendation to the SSA.
• Appointing the Contracting Officer.
• Evaluating contractor proposals.
• Establishing the competitive range.

15. The role of the Source Selection Evaluation Board (SSEB) is to:

Group of answer choices

• Conduct a comparative analysis of the most highly rated proposals.
• Evaluate the contractor's ability to perform by assessing the contractor's responsibility.
• Conduct a cost realism analysis.
• Evaluate proposals against the stated evaluation factors, and identify proposal strengths and weaknesses.

16. This document enables the CO to assign responsibility for specific actions to be accomplished throughout the contracting process, and develop a time line for how long it will take him to get to performance management.

Group of answer choices

• Communication Plan
• Acquisition Strategy
• Team Charter
• Source Selection Plan

17. The contracting officer has just been informed by the program office of a new $600,000 requirement for services that will be coming his way. This is the first time he has heard of this requirement. When should the contracting officer reach out to the small business specialist for advice and support?

Group of answer choices

• Immediately, as the small business specialist should be involved as early as possible in the acquisition process.
• Since this acquisition is under the dollar value to require a subcontracting plan ($700,000), the small business specialist does not have to be involved.
• The small business specialist shall be called when the contracting officer first completes the DD Form 2579, Small Business Coordination Record.
• The contracting officer shall notify the small business specialist on his first meeting with the program office.

18. The CO has been tasked to conduct market research for an acquisition focusing on wireless devices (cell phones, tablets, etc.). The results of the research will be presented to both management and the Integrated Process Team (IPT) that will work on this requirement and will be relied upon throughout the life of the resulting contract. This acquisition will incorporate requirements for several different federal agencies with an annual estimated value of $2 million. Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding how the CO should execute the market research for this acquisition?

Group of answer choices

• Pursue alternative methods for acquiring wireless devices that may meet the IPT's requirements and lower costs to the government (i.e., standardization, minimum order quantities, etc.).
• Seek all commercial sources that may satisfy the government's needs, including small businesses or large businesses that are not normally linked with this particular industry.
• Conduct a one-time, thorough market research analysis on all wireless devices so management and the IPT have a complete understanding of the intricacies related to the wireless market.
• Research best practices in consolidating wireless devices and determine if these practices are applicable to this acquisition.

19. The program office is formulating the strategy for an upcoming program to acquire government-unique, operational support services for a period of up to 5 years. The total estimated contract value is approximately $12.5 million. Market research also revealed that all of the likely competitors are new technology firms who do not regularly perform under government contracts. None of them have a government-approved accounting system. Given these circumstances, which contract type would the CO be able to award?

Group of answer choices

• Cost plus incentive fee
• Cost plus fixed fee
• Firm-fixed-price
• Fixed price incentive firm

20. The contracting officer is reviewing a recently completed market research report for a new omnibus service contract expected to be worth $100 million. The report describes the current market conditions as having a number of small businesses that can accomplish portions of the work anticipated under the contract, with none of those small businesses able to do the entire project. The contracting officer's office has awarded many contracts with the firms named in the report, but none approaching the value of the new omnibus contract. Which strategy should the contracting officer employ at this time?

Group of answer choices

• Allow the small business specialist to comment on the procurement request as it goes through the approval process.
• Do a complete small business set-aside since there are many small businesses noted in the report, and this is validated by the contracting officer's own experiences.
• Use full and open competition procedures without regard to small businesses, since none are capable of performing all the required work.
• Include the small business subcontracting plan requirement in the solicitation and resulting contract.