Defense updates competitive sourcing software
Latest version further automates, standardizes cost calculations.
The Defense Department on Monday released an updated version of the software that officials use to estimate costs and compare bids in public-private job contests.
The latest version is more user-friendly and automates calculations to minimize the potential for errors, said Annie Andrews, assistant director of housing and competitive sourcing at the Office of the Secretary of Defense. It incorporates terminology from the May 2003 revisions of Circular A-76, the Office of Management and Budget's competitive sourcing rulebook, she said.
The update, announced in Monday's Federal Register, also is designed to help competitive sourcing officials calculate the baseline cost of performing work "as is," Andrews said. This estimate later allows agencies to say how much money they expect the contractor or in-house team that wins the competition to save them.
The baseline cost estimate tool is optional for civilian agencies, but will be mandatory for the Defense Department, Andrews said. The Pentagon is preparing to issue a policy on estimating baseline costs and would like all of its branches to use a standard method for calculating them, she noted.
The updated software will ensure that agencies are using a consistent method of estimating contract administration costs as well, because the calculation will be fully automated. The update takes a lot of the human error out of a process that--in the days before spreadsheet software--was completed by hand, Andrews said.
The latest version of COMPARE, as the software is called, has been in the works for a while but had to go through testing before it could be published, Andrews added. It is the first major update since the release of May 2003 revisions to Circular A-76.
The circular instructs agency officials to use COMPARE when analyzing the cost of proposals submitted in both standard and streamlined job contests. The Defense Department maintains the program and requires agencies to use the most recent version.
The update can be downloaded from the COMPARE Web site.