["Wi nte r 2 0 2 3 | 51","*Honorees are listed in the positions they held at the time of the awards. Jothi Dugar Terry Lin Lance Scott Acting Deputy Director, CEO, Acting Technical Center for Information Planned Systems Director, Federal Technology, National International Electronic Health Institutes of Health Record Modernization Kathleen Matthew Quinn Mike Snyder Frisbee, PhD Science Director, President and CEO, Executive Director, Army Telemedicine & EM Key Solutions Connected Health Advanced Technology Office of Connected Research Center Rich Wilson Care, Veterans Health Administration, Monica Rosser Director, Health Department of Guidehouse Veterans Affairs Chief Growth Officer, Favor TechConsulting, George LLC Hoffmann Deputy Chief Information Officer, Deputy Director, Office of Information Technology, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services LTG (Ret.) Letitia Royal Gina Wolery Patricia Horoho Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Executive Officer, LeCor Technology Optum Serve Services Index Analytics 52 | Wi nte r 2 0 2 3","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine SUBJECT Wi nte r 2 0 2 3 | 53","*Honorees are listed in the positions they held at the time of the awards. Gil Alterovitz, PhD James Gfrerer Robin Kaiser Director of Artificial Intelligence, President and Chief Executive Department of Veterans Affairs Founder and Officer, SoftDev Principal, Fidelis Kirthi Anantharam Technology Y. Michele Kang Chief Growth Officer, Customer Value Partners JR Glass Founder and Chief Vice President - Government Executive Officer, Milad Bahrami Health & Safety Solutions, Leidos Cognosante Senior Vice Kirk Hendler Brian Moran President & Vice President, Military Health, Founder, GovernmentCIO General Manager, Philips Government Health Drew Myklegard & Safety Solutions, Brig Gen (Ret.) Executive Director, Demand Leidos Allison Hickey Management, Office of Information & Technology, Young Bang Chief Executive Department of Veterans Affairs Former Chief Growth Officer, Officer and President, Atlas Research All In Solutions Mark Byers President, DSS Melissa Fannin Dwight Hunt Kamal Narang Chief Strategy Officer, AM LLC President and Chief Executive Officer, B3 Group Vice President and Pat Flanders General Manager, Jeneen Iwugo Federal Health Chief Information Sector, GDIT Officer, J-6, Defense Deputy Director Health Agency Center for Clinical Camala Price Standards and Federal and Industry Engagement, Greg Gershman Quality, Centers for Federal Electronic Health Record Chief Executive Officer and Medicare & Medicaid Modernization Office Co-Founder, Ad Hoc Services Bill James President, FedSmarts 54 | Winter 2023","Shannon Stacy Tselekis \u201cGreat leaders are (Sartin) West Principal, Grant Thornton almost always great simplifiers, who can Chief Innovation Frank Tucker cut through argument, Officer, Ciox Health debate, and doubt Chief Executive to offer a solution Steve Schliesman Officer, Microhealth everybody can Chief Growth Officer, rockITdata understand.\u201d Jeff Shilling Rajiv Uppal - GENERAL COLIN POWELL Chief Information Officer, Chief of IT, National Cancer Institute, Chief Information National Institutes of Health Officer and Director of the Office Karthik Srinivasan of Information Vice President, Defense Solutions, Technology, Centers ECS for Medicare & Medicaid Services Jim St. Clair Kathryn Wetherby Executive Director, Linux Deputy Director, Marketplace IT Foundation Public Health Group, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services William Tinston Charles Worthington Director, Federal Electronic Health Chief Technology Officer, Record Modernization Office Department of Veterans Affairs We are passionate about leading with purpose At Cognosante, we work hard alongside our customers to lead transformative and innovative initiatives that improve service delivery to citizens, modernize and secure the nation\u2019s critical systems and infrastructure, and ensure resilience for those who serve. We congratulate all the passionate Women in Leadership honorees who work tirelessly to lead and innovate with purpose and are grateful for the honorees we work with daily: Amber Bellsdale, Acting Deputy Director, CMS, Division of Enrollment Policy & Operations Sue Burke, Senior Program Director, Cognosante Dr. Faye Curran, Program MWai nntaegr e2r0, 2 3 | 55 Cognosante","*Honorees are listed in the positions they held at the time of the awards. Anita Allen Douglas Burke Jason Cullum Small Business Specialist, President, Cofounder, Cognitive Vice President, Federal Health, Department of Health and Human Medical Systems Oddball Services Barclay Butler, PhD Stacy Cummings Jamie Baker J4, Component Acquisition Principal Deputy Assistant Sr. Sales Manager, Federal Executive, Head of Contracting Secretary of Defense for Civilian, Amazon Web Services Actions, Defense Health Agency Acquisition, Department of WWPS Defense Nadeem Butler Laura Bennett Managing Director (J4), Ivor D\u2019Souza Senior Director, Federal Civilian Technatomy Corp Chief Information Officer, National Sales, NTT DATA Services Library of Medicine, National Sara Byrd Institutes of Health Scott Blackburn Vice President, Solution Partner, McKinsey & Company Integration, Frontier Technology Fred Deese Owner, Visual Connections Horace Blackman Diana Ceban Vice President Public Sector, VP, Health, Civilian Markets, SAIC Aaron Drew, PhD Edifecs Chief Engineer and Chief George Chambers, PhD Architect of the Enterprise Supply Kenneth Bonner Innovation and Technology Chain Modernization (eSCM) Modernization Executive, Program, Department of Veterans President, Chief Department of Health and Human Affairs Growth Officer, Services Unissant John Enggren Suzanne Charleston Director, Grants.gov, Department Julie Boughn Senior Director Federal of Health and Human Services Healthcare and Beneficiary Director, Data and Markets, Neustar Neil Evans, MD Systems Group, Center for Medicaid Suzi Connor Chief Officer, & CHIP Services Chief Information Officer, Connected Care, (CMCS), Centers for Centers for Disease Control and Department of Medicare & Medicaid Prevention Veterans Affairs Services Alan Constantian, PhD Senior Advisor, Department of Veterans Affairs 56 | Winter 2 023","Mike Farahbakhshian April Nadeau Alastair Thomson AVP, Corporate Strategic Senior Vice President, Sentar Chief Information Officer, National Initiatives, By Light Professional IT Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Services Tom Naughton National Institutes of Health Division President, Maximus Kevin Galpin, MD Federal Services Lauren Executive Director, VHA Thompson, PhD Telehealth Services, Office of Andrea Norris Connected Care, Department of Director, Center for Information Director, Veterans Affairs Technology, Chief Information Interoperability, Officer, National Institutes of FEHRM Joe Grace Health President, Grace & Associates Paul Tibbits, MD Executive Director, Office of Dawn Halfaker Todd Pantezzi Technical Integration, Department of Veterans Affairs President and Vice President, CEO, Halfaker and Health Business Jim Traficant Associates Development, Partner, Pinkston Perspecta Hilmar Hamann, PhD Joseph Ronzio Mike Vogel Head of Information Management Deputy Chief Health Technology Division, European Medicines Officer, Department of Veterans Senior Client Agency Affairs Executive, Perspecta, Inc Theresa Hancock COL Kevin Seely Director, My HealtheVet, Office of Deputy CIO (J-6), Defense Health David Waltman Connected Care, Veterans Health Agency Vice President, Strategy and Administration, Department of Technology, Cerner Government Veterans Affairs Jay Shah Services Chief Operating Officer, Octo John Windom, III George Hou John Short National Account Manager, Chief Technology Integration Executive Director Department of Veterans Affairs, Officer, Office of Electronic for VA Electronic InterSystems Health Records Modernization, Health Record Department of Veterans Affairs Modernization Dan Levenson (EHRM), Department President, Digital Services Todd Simpson of Veterans Affairs Coalition and Chief Strategy Deputy Assistant Secretary, Officer, Agile Six Department of Veterans Affairs Kavita Kalatur Corey Stevenson Andrea Wright-Snader President, LeCor Technology Vice President, Defense CEO, President, Services Programs, Concept Plus NetImpact Strategies Edward Syms CEO, President, Syms Strategic Group Winter 2023 | 57","FedHealthIT Magazine Introducing the 2023 FedHealthIT100 Winners The FedHealthIT100 honors those individuals recognized for driving change and advancement in the Federal Health Information Technology Market. Nominated and chosen by their peers, some common themes among those who were selected include the desire and willingness to challenge conventional wisdom, to go above and beyond, to drive innovation, and to give back to the larger Federal Health IT and Consulting community.","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine EVENT Kevin Abraham Robert Bohn Chief, Adoption Integration, DOD Healthcare Deputy Director, Office of Financial Information Management System Modernization (DHMSM), Systems (OFIS), Defense Health Management Systems Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Andy Acuna Tim Borchert Chief Information Officer, Chief Executive Officer, Federal Advisory Partners Planned Systems International, Inc. George Brittingham David Affeldt IT Project Manager and Technical Director, President & Chief Executive Officer, GRSi Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs Lauren Alexanderson Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Health Delivery, Susan Burke Office of Information and Technology, Sr. Program Director, Cognosante Department of Veterans Affairs Julie Bush Jerry Ambrosh Senior Vice President, Federal, Strategic Initiatives, Vice President, SAIC Palantir Doug Barton Gerald Caron, III Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer, Assistant Inspector Chief Engineer, Leidos General for Information Technology, Office of Inspector General, Tammy Beckham Department of Health & Human Services Associate Director, Resilient Supply Chain & Shortages Program, Office of the Strategic Jesus Caban, PhD Partnerships and Technology Innovation, Chief, Clinical & Research Informatics, NICoE, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Food & Drug Administration Department of Defense Jessica Berrellez Mohammed Sohail Chaudhry Executive Officer, Office of Digital Transformation, Chief Technology Officer, Food & Drug Administration Food & Drug Administration Joan Bishop Gary Cobb Vice President, HighPoint Program Manager, Enterprise Service Desk, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs Terry Adirim, MD Vid Desai Program Executive Chief Information Officer, Director, EHRM Integration, Food and Drug Administration Department of Veterans Affairs Wi nte r 2 0 2 3 | 59","EVENT FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com Rachele Cooper Shereef Elnahal, MD Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Under Secretary for Health, Aptive Resources Department of Veterans Affairs Robert Cunningham Acting Executive Director, Enterprise Command Operations, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs Ben Cushing Claude Hines Chief Architect, Federal Health and Life Sciences, Chief Operating Officer, North America Public Sector, Red Hat Consulting MicroHealth Kurt DelBene Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer, Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs Danita Dixon Senior Technical Advisor, Food & Drug Administration COL (Ret.) Francisco Dominicci Manish Malhotra Senior Vice President, B.E.A.T. LLC Chief Executive Officer, Mike Eddings Unissant, Inc. President & Chief Executive Officer, Optum Serve Technology & Consulting Solutions Rafael Fagundo Chris Martin Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Sierra7, Inc. Director, Financial Management Systems Group Elena Fenton (FMSG), Centers for Medicare HHS Account Relationship Director, KPMG & Medicaid Services Blaine Fitzgerald Diffusion Specialist, Community Manager, Department of Veterans Affairs Allen Fredrickson Liz Porter Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Signature President, Health Group, Performance Leidos Maria Gaboury Account Executive, Intersystems 60 | Winter 2 023","","EVENT FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com Matthew Garvey Ram Iyer Patrick McLoughlin Executive Vice President, Chief Data Officer, Vice President, Maximus Digital Services, Octo Food & Drug Administration Elizabeth McNamara Eric Gonzales Holly Joers Associate Director, Office of Vice President, Growth and Client Program Executive Officer, Strategic Partnerships and Development, Aptive Resources Defense Healthcare Management Technology Innovation, Center for Systems Devices and Radiological Health, Ronald Graham Food and Drug Administration Director, Division of Marketplace Atchut Kanthamani IT Operations, Centers for Chief Executive Officer, Softrams Shane McNamee, MD Medicare & Medicaid Services Senior Vice President, Strategic Michael Kennedy, PhD Growth, Smile Digital Health Jeff Grant Chief Data Officer, Deputy Director of Operations, SoftDev Incorporated Charlie McQuillan Center for Consumer Information General Manager, Health, Octo & Insurance Oversight, Centers Anthony Kerlavage, PhD for Medicare & Medicaid Services Director, Center of Biomedical Oki Mek Informatics & Information Chief Information Security Officer, Rhonda Greene-Bruce Technology, National Cancer Microsoft Federal Civilian Special Assistant, Office of Institute Information Technology, Centers Ray Mierwald for Medicare & Medicaid Services Prashanthi Kuchikulla Senior Data Scientist, Director, Service Management Visual Connections Macon Hardy Platforms & Tools, Senior Vice President Business Department of Veterans Affairs Sophia Myers Development, Unissant, Inc. Director of Veteran Experiences Joshua Lashbrook Services Portfolio, Derrick Heard Digital GI Bill (DGIB) Program Department of Veterans Affairs Director, Office of Acquisition & Management Officer (PMO), Grants Management, Centers for Education Service, Veterans Chris Nichols Medicare & Medicaid Services Benefits Administration Enterprise Intelligence and Data Solutions (EIDS) Program Jane Hite-Syed Jake Lewis Manager, Defense Healthcare Vice President & Chief Operating Deputy to the Deputy Assistant Management Systems Officer, National Government Director \u2013 DHA Contracting Services Activity (DHACA), Mark Niemi Defense Health Agency Project Controller, Data Quality Ray Holder & Integration, Defense Health Executive Strategist, US Federal, Jason McCarthy Agency AWS Senior Vice President, Military & Veterans Health Solutions, Leidos Wendy Nilsen, PhD Karen Holloway Deputy Division Director, Senior Vice President, Chief Sandra Mcintyre Information and Intelligent Market Innovation and Strategy Acting Program Manager, Joint Systems, NSF Officer \u2013 Public Sector, ICF Operational Medicine Information Systems (JOMIS), Defense Healthcare Management Systems 62 | Wi nte r 2 0 2 3","","EVENT FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com David Norley Edwin Rosas Program Manager, Joint Operational Medicine President, Information Systems (JOMIS), Defense Healthcare Management Systems EM Key Solutions, Inc. Jenna Norton, PhD Program Director, social determinants of health & health data standards, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health Nicole Oxley, PhD COL (Ret.) Bobby Saxon President and Chief Executive Officer, Deputy Director (Deputy Oxley Enterprises, Inc. CIO), Office of Information Technology, Centers for Michael Parrish Medicare & Medicaid Services Chief Acquisition Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs Melinda Pitchford Executive Director, National Government Services Laura Prietula Craig Taylor Deputy Chief Information Officer, EHRM-IO, Chief Information Security Department of Veterans Affairs Officer, Food and Drug Yuri Radams, PhD Administration Chief Transformation Officer & Executive Vice President of Growth, Chags Health Information Technology, LLC (C-HIT) Max Ramirez Jacklyn Wynn Assistant Program Manager for Healthcare Delivery Vice President, Strategic to Roles 1 and 2, Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems (JOMIS), Defense Healthcare Programs, GDIT Management Systems Rachel Rayfield Project Manager, Visual Connections Marc Richardson Director, Marketplace IT Group, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Lewis Runnion Managing Partner, Eleven09 and King Street Technology Partners 64 | Winter 2023","","EVENT FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com Takisha Schulterbrandt, PhD Tanisha Williams Chief Executive Officer, BCOMPLEX Deputy Director, Division of End User Support\/CMS Connect 2.0 Platform Owner, Office of Information Amit Sharma Technology, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Director, Division of Technical Operations, Centers Services for Medicare & Medicaid Services Jason Windsor Lynette Sherrill Vice President, Health IT, GDIT Deputy Assistant Secretary of Information Security and Chief Information Security Officer, Office of Robert Wood Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Chief Information Security Officer, Centers for Affairs Medicare & Medicaid Services Sean Smith Krista Yager Medical Information Delivery Lead, Naval Chief Digital Officer, National Government Services Information Warfare Center - Atlantic, Department of Defense Jane Zentmyer Director, Architecture and Transformation Division, Travis Sorensen Office of Inspector General, Department of Health Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, Oddball and Human Services Steven Sousa Matthew Zullo Senior Vice President, Health & Human Services, Director, Agile Center of Excellence, Office of CGI Information Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs Sumesh Sundareswaran Vice President, Health & Human Services , GDIT Theresa Kim Thomas Chief Executive Officer, Resolution Think, LLC Mitchell Thornbrugh Chief Information Officer, Indian Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services Augie Turano, PhD Director, Data Migration and Data Syndication, EHR Modernization, Department of Veterans Affairs Quentin Tyson Chief Technology Officer, Information Systems Group, CCSQ, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Chris Van Berkel Managing Director and Military Health Lead, Accenture Federal Services 66 | Winter 2023","","The Magical Mystery Tour of Point-Scoring Bids We at Red Team Consulting get more questions about the recent spate of point-scoring bids than any other topic. Whether it\u2019s NITAAC\u2019s CIO-SP4 in 2020\/21, GSA\u2019s Polaris and OASIS Plus this year or the upcoming GSA Alliant 3, we are asked a variety of questions ranging from how to win to \u201cWhy does the Government compete these contracts in this way?\u201d and \u201cDo these contracts really give the Government what they need?\u201d We\u2019ve done some digging and thought through our experience helping companies submit point-scored bids to determine whether point-scoring bids actually accomplish the goals set forth by the Government and what the future holds for this type of procurement. +1 +1 +1","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine SALGADO Point-Scoring History \u2022\t 16 Protests on GSA Alliant 2 Unrestricted \u2022\t 11 Protests on Alliant 2 Small Business Our current thinking around point-scoring bids is \u2022\t 20 Pre-Award Protests on CIO-SP4 largely informed by the three most prominent bids \u2022\t 1 Pre-Award Protest on GSA Polaris in the past two years: NIH CIO-SP4, GSA Polaris and GSA OASIS Plus. These contracts represent Since protests elongate the time between RFP over $300B in ceiling value, and over $74B has been release and contract award, they require thorough spent across the current versions of these vehicles record keeping. As a bidder, you must be prepared in the past 10 years. In our review of those three to respond to clarifications, months and even years, opportunities and others over the past ten years, after submission. Nonetheless, the ceiling value, we looked at the challenges the Government was potential contract value and number of awards trying to address, the commonalities among the makes protesting an enticing strategy. opportunities, what was needed to maximize scoring and how the Government views teaming and joint We are hopeful that the ongoing volume of protests ventures. on point-scoring bids is helping the Government improve their solicitations. A protest on GSA Alliant GSA leapt with both feet into point-scoring 2 Small Business was sustained, resulting in the procurements with OASIS in 2011. OASIS is a eventual cancellation of the procurement and 81 Professional Services IDIQ lasting 10 years with a awards being rescinded. The protest was related variety of domains focused on engineering, program to compliance with cost accounting evidence and management and technical professional services. pricing methodology. In more recent point-scoring GSA believed that using binary, non-subjective bids, GSA drastically reduced cost accounting point evaluation criteria would streamline their proposal values and removed pricing as a scored element. evaluation process and limit protests. Awards would be made to the top percentile of point-scored The Near-Future submissions. The OASIS RFP focused primarily on Corporate Experience and Certifications. Early in 2022 GSA released the Polaris RFP, which was paused due to a pre-award protest related Since GSA OASIS was awarded in 2014, GSA has to the use of Joint Ventures and then recently re- transitioned all their GWACs to point- and\/or credit- started. Polaris is the replacement for Alliant 2 based evaluation models. This includes the on-ramp Small Business. Also, GSA has released preliminary for OASIS (SB and Full and Open), GSA ASTRO, and information on OASIS+ (initially called, \u201cServices Alliant 2 Full and Open. Alliant 2 Small Business was MAC\u201d), which is the follow-on to OASIS. Both competed as a point-scored procurement but was procurements use point-based or credit-based eventually cancelled due to protest. In 2021, NIH evaluations. competed their extremely popular CIO-SP4 vehicle as a point-based evaluation. GSA OASIS+ could represent the future of this type of contract vehicle. GSA is going out of its way to Protests not call this a point-based solicitation. Rather, GSA refers to OASIS+ as a credit-based solicitation. The We can\u2019t talk about the history of these contracts procurement has the following attributes: without also talking about protests. Due to the value and length of these contracts, pre- and post-award \u2022\t No limit on awardees protests are common in this type of competition, to \u2022\t Open, ongoing enrollment to the contract wit: \u2022\t A minimum threshold of credits to be provided \u2022\t 16 Protests combined on GSA OASIS in the final RFP Unrestricted and Small Business \u2022\t Revised teaming elements that employ limits on the use of experience Wi nte r 2 0 2 3 | 69","SALGADO FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com \u2022\t Open teaming enrollment through the life of This verification effort is generally the most labor- the contract intensive component of a point-scoring proposal effort. The Government evaluator must be able to Open enrollment and minimum thresholds should skim the contract SOW or description and other increase the number of awards and theoretically contract data you provide and quickly determine if decrease the number of protests. The new teaming the work you did is indeed relevant to the scope of rules, combined with the ability to submit when the new contract\u2019s SOW, or was performed outside an organization is qualified, could also reduce the continental US, or included the claimed \u201cleading the number of Mentor Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Joint Ventures and edge\u201d technology. subcontracting. The Government evaluators will be Components of Point-Scoring Bids - Corporate Experience reviewing countless experience The two most common categories of point-scoring criteria are corporate experience and certifications. examples from a multitude of For corporate experience, bidders are required to cite specific contract examples for which the work bidders, so if they can\u2019t find proof performed was directly relevant to the statement of work. The number of allowable contracts cited has right away of the points you claim, ranged from 2 to 30. they may decrease your point score In addition to earning points for having executed contracts with work similar to the SOW, some because in their view, you did not procurements provide additional points for contracts that show experience with similar \u201cemerging\u201d or prove you had the experience for \u201cleading edge\u201d technologies. Also, points may be claimed if the contracts you are citing have these which you are claiming points. criteria: To further complicate matters, GSA has previously \u2022\t Multiple unique\/different technical areas used SIC codes to verify experience and is now covered, generally determined by NAICS or using NAICS codes. This creates issues for SIC codes or substantiated evidence references that are commercial, and for subcontracts which do not have these codes assigned by the \u2022\t Multiple separate and unique Federal Government. Contractors may also find that a customers referenced contract included relevant work but was assigned a different SIC or NAICS code. In these \u2022\t Multiple Federal multiple-award contracts cases, if you start your work early enough you may \u2022\t OCONUS experience be able to persuade your customer to modify the \u2022\t Classified experience contract to change the SIC\/NAICS code so you can use the contract in your point-scoring bid. While these procurements use \u201cself-scoring,\u201d in which you claim your points yourself instead of Instead of providing contract documentation to the Government calculating your points for you, verify the points you are claiming, you may be able there still is a requirement to provide evidence to provide a form signed by your customer that of the scoring elements you claim. Unlike Past verifies that your contract experience is relevant. Performance, where the Government contacts your This process may not be as easy as it seems; for customers and validates your claims themselves, example, you may be citing a contract that was you must provide written proof that the contracts completed a couple of years ago and it may be you are citing meet the point-scoring criteria you are claiming. 70 | Wi nte r 2 0 2 3","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine SALGADO hard to track down the Contracting Officer to fill out Federal certifications can be a barrier to entry for the form. Also, some Contracting Officers may be small businesses and primarily commercial bidders. reluctant to verify that they had used the incorrect Many small businesses have not yet earned the SIC\/NAICS code by signing your form. Again, the needed financial certifications, generally because secret to success is to get started early with the the contracts they have executed do not require point verification process. them. Since many of these companies are already working with systems that operate at the needed Over the past ten years, the corporate experience level of sophistication, it may just be a matter component of point-scoring bids has only increased of having the systems audited. However, the in importance. When you combine the requirement Government generally will not audit a company\u2019s to provide verification of experience with the various financial systems unless there is a live contract that secondary-level point-scoring elements (number requires it. The NIH CIO-SP4 bid allowed third-party of multiple-award contracts, OCONUS experience, audits for cost accounting systems but other recent etc.), you end up with the need for the perfect \u201cpoker solicitations have required Federal certification. For hand\u201d of experience references to maximize points. purchasing systems and all facility clearances, the audit must be performed by the Federal Government. Components of Point-Scoring Bids \u2014Certifications The points available from certification-type criteria The second major area of point-scoring elements is have diminished over the past ten years, such certifications. This typically includes: that current procurements only assign about 10% of the total possible points to certifications. We \u2022\t Quality certifications such as ISO and CMMI recommend that bidders have at least 60% of \u2022\t Financial certifications such as approved Cost the points allotted to certifications to consider themselves viable. Nonetheless, the key again is to Accounting Systems and Purchasing Systems start early \u2013 you may have the time needed to get \u2022\t Facility clearance level a CMMI or ISO certification, or to get your financial Winter 2023 | 71","SALGADO FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com systems audited, if you start the process well in As a separately formed entity, JVs take on all the advance of the proposal phase. experience and certifications of the individual members. For Small Business set-aside awards, Teaming Considerations this common strategy may create powerful bidding entities, as a small business can take credit for the Many companies pursuing point-scoring bids look at experience and certifications of its large business teaming as a way of filling gaps to maximize points. MPJV partner. In most cases, subcontracted experience is allowed, with some common caveats: GSA has put parameters around JVs and teaming with their \u201corganizational risk\u201d point scoring element. \u2022\t For GSA contracts, the subcontractors\u2019 This element awards points for JVs who have experience is not allowed to be used more previously worked together. than once in any competed pool GSA and NIH have attempted to limit the number of \u2022\t Cross-teaming among teammates (multiple references submitted by JV Mentors in SBA MPJVs. bids with different primes) will not result in Most of these limits have resulted in protests and award requirements have, for the most part, been relaxed. \u2022\t Subcontractors\u2019 qualifications for Submission Portals certifications are usually not allowed Another common element across these submissions \u2022\t SBA changes to first tier subcontractor is the use of a portal for ingesting proposal requirements, made in the Fall of 2020, have submissions. GSA has refined their original portal impacted this issue Many bidders are choosing to form Joint Ventures and SBA-approved Mentor Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Joint Ventures. 72 | Winter 2 023","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine SALGADO used for OASIS to accept proposals for Alliant the final RFP, which was the result of a pre-award 2 and now for Polaris. NITAAC created a portal protest. Also, both CIO-SP4 and Polaris have had simultaneously during the CIO-SP4 contract that separate challenges with portal submission software was used and then discarded after multiple protests performance and instructions. due to functionality issues. But we still have hope. GSA OASIS+ shows signs The self-scoresheets and matrices provided in excel of providing a clean GWAC proposal evaluation format from the Government during final RFP are approach. By providing for rolling submissions, oftentimes not calculating scoresheets. They provide GSA allows small businesses to grow into their the total scores and some instruction on how to self- capabilities naturally rather than rushing to team to score a bidder. The portals themselves (often created meet a single bid deadline. By avoiding declaring a using a software from Symphony) are the actual set number of awards and by providing the minimum scoring mechanisms. The rules that are created qualification score, OASIS+ allows the Government within them are as vital for bidders as Sections L and to add the most qualified small and large businesses M from a final RFP. over time. Most of all, the procurement approach GSA is implementing for OASIS+ may reduce the These portals are crucial to the overall strategy potential for pre-award protests. Time will tell! because of their ability to accept and, in some cases, reject information from bidders. It is important for ABOUT JOE SALGADO the Government to provide access to these portals as early as possible during the Draft RFP phase Joe Salgado is the General Manager at Red to ensure that any questions on interpretation Team Consulting. He is a professionally or contradictions are worked out prior to final trained capture and proposal professional RFP release rather than in the latter stages of a with over 20 years of Federal contracting procurement lifecycle. experience. With his diverse background, Joe has successfully run large technical sales and engineering Conclusion: Do point-scoring bids streamline acquisition? organizations as well as complex capture efforts and large multi-billion-dollar proposal engagements. He has In theory, point-scoring schemes for large, multiple- management annual sales of over $300M and captured award GWACs were designed to simplify and over $30B in federal contracts. expedite evaluation and remove subjectivity for the hundreds of bids submitted. In reality, subjectivity Red Team Consulting, LLC still exists in point-scoring bids. And some believe Red Team is a strategic growth consultancy that helps that the current approaches favor large businesses companies scale in the Government contracting market. and limit the opportunities for primarily commercial Over our 17+ years, we\u2019ve helped thousands of companies companies to enter the Federal market. Small achieve their growth targets with our full lifecycle business Business set-aside contracts attract a proliferation development, capture, proposal development, pricing, and of Joint Ventures which frustrates stand-alone Small training services. With our support, our clients continue to Business bidders and the Government. The perfect beat their largest competitors, diversify their portfolio of point-scoring RFP has yet to be created. customers, and achieve their financial goals. Protests - both pre- and post-award - have frustrated the Government\u2019s efforts to execute a GWAC procurement quickly. CIO-SP4 had 20 pre-award protests which resulted in multiple changes to the RFP, which are still having effects on the evaluation nearly a year past submission. GSA Polaris was put on hold this Spring due to a substantial change to Wi nte r 2 0 2 3 | 73","CORPORATE MEMBERS FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com Our G2Xchange Health Corporate Members All In Solutions TRANSFORMING WITH PURPOSE People \u2022 Process \u2022 Technology 74 | Wi nte r 2 0 2 2","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine CORPORATE MEMBERS SM Wi nte r 2 0 2 2 | 75","CORPORATE MEMBERS FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com 76 | Wi nte r 2 0 2 2","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine CORPORATE MEMBERS \u0001\u0002\u0003\u0004\u0005\u0006\u0001\u0007\b\t\b \u000b\u0006\t \u0001\u0002\f \u000e\u000f \u0006\u0001\u0005\u0010 77","CORPORATE MEMBERS FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com MBL SOLUTIONS 78 | Wi nte r 2 0 2 2","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine CORPORATE MEMBERS Winter 202 2 | 79","CORPORATE MEMBERS FedHealthIT Magazine Visit us at FedHealthIT.com TM 80 | Wi nte r 2 0 2 3","Follow us @FedHealthIT FedHealthIT Magazine CORPORATE MEMBERS","Visit us at FedHealthIT.com Secure IT solutions for better healthcare We deliver modernized IT systems and streamlined infrastructure to federal health agencies so they can stay focused on what matters most \u2013 improving outcomes. SEE HOW AT leidos.com\/health \u00a9 2022 LEIDOS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 22-679803. AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER\/DISABILITY\/ VET."]
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