Competitive Bids vs Sealed Proposals Essay

The political relation often usances disregards to acquire needed products or services. Every government purchase uses globe funds. Contracting officials are tasked with ensuring that government purchases use public funds responsibly. When honour contracts, promise officials must be sure to use the high hat method possible to acquire goods and service at the best price possible.Two ways in which contracting officials do this is by using squiffy bids and competitive proposals. Each form of awarding contracts has its bear specific benefits and pitf eachs while sharing some characteristics with the other. Sealed bids are a form of awarding contracts that uses competitive bids and public opening of the sealed bids which leads to the net award of the contract. In order to award a contract through sealed bids, a few things must occur. First a temptingness for bids must be drafted. The solicitation must include the governments requirements in a detailed enough fashion to avoid m isunderstandings from probable bidders.Sealed bidding and competitive proposals are both approved methods for awarding contracts according to federal regulation. When deciding whether or not to use sealed bidding, contracting officers should consider the time that will be required for bids to be solicited, submitted, and evaluated. The evaluation process for sealed bids may be lengthy peculiarly if bidders are not prescreened to reduce the pool to only qualified firms. When all bids are received from qualified firms, sealed bidding can shake up an award decision quite simple. The lowest bidder is awarded the contract..Unfortunately, sealed bidding depends on competitive pricing. Competitive pricing cannot be insured unless more than 1 bid is received. Competitive proposals are best used when a contracting officer determines that the nature of the contract makes it difficult to establish exact specifications or methods of performance. Often, the means of contract performance ca nnot be easily defined and the offerors proposal may need to include an explanation of how the contract will be performed. Unlike sealed bid contracts, competitive bids do not have to be awarded to the firm with the lowest price.Other considerations may be considered to determine the best firm. This determination may be do based on a firms performance of antecedent contracts, the proposed method of performance for the existing contract, or a firms specific capabilities in relation to other firms. While sealed bidding results in a fixed price or one with scotch adjustments, competitive proposals allow for various kinds of contract types. http//www. governmentbids. com/cgi/en/bidding. advice. articles/Article/federal-contract-opportunities-for-your-business