Procurement

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What are the Top 10 Procurement under Grant Mistakes

Top 10 Procurement under Grant Mistakes that Can Lead to Loss of FEMA Public Assistance Funding are:

1. Restricting full and open competition (i.e., placing unreasonable requirements on firms, requiring unnecessary experience, specifying only a “brand name” product,giving an advantage to local firms, etc.).

2. Not performing a detailed price or cost analysis for procurements above $250,000.

3. Engaging in a sole-sourcing (non-competitive) procurement without carefully documenting how the situation has created an urgent need to perform the work sooner than a competitive procurement process would allow.

4. Continuing work under a sole-source contract after the urgent need (see # 3) has ended, instead of transitioning to a competitively procured contract.

5. Not making and documenting efforts to take all “affirmative” steps to solicit small businesses, minority businesses, and woman’s business enterprises.

6. Awarding a “time-and-materials” contract without a ceiling price and without documenting why no other contract type is suitable.

7. Not including the required contract clauses (template is available here or on the PDAT website).

8. Awarding a “cost-plus-percentage-of-cost” or “percentage-of-construction cost” contract.

9. Awarding a contract to contractors that were suspended or debarred (visit www.sam.gov).

10. Not properly documenting all steps of a procurement to maintain a record sufficient to answer questions that could arise months or years later.

This website  is intended as a national source of information about  the delivery of  financial recovery services. It includes resources on eligibility, procurement, grant management delivery, and issues related to various Federal Programs currently supporting FEMA  Public Assistance program  financial recovery for governments and non-profits. This website is not affiliated or endorsed or sponsored  by  FEMA  or any other Federal grant program. The information provided in various webpage documents is derived largely from Federal  published materials. In general, under section 105 of the Copyright Act, such works are not entitled to domestic copyright protection under U.S. law and are therefore in the public domain.  The goal is to help navigate the various Federal websites and summarize grant information and requirements. It does not constitute legal advice or grant management advise and is provided for general informational purposes only. Only the Federal Agency responsible for grants can make determinations on eligibility and grant amounts. You should consult with your professional services advisors and State and Federal Grant Coordinators for more detailed guidance on specific FEMA Public Assistance financial recovery issues.

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