I must admit that I kind of love how clever and creative we humans continue to be, even as AI threatens to overtake us.
Just this week I came across a post from a specialty law firm encouraging government contractors to take advantage of “an overlooked and infrequently used tool provided for in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR Subpart 15.6).”
Unsolicited Proposals – or UPs – are exactly what they sound like.
If you have an idea that you believe is truly new and innovative, you can simply submit a proposal directly to a government agency and if that agency favorably evaluates the proposal and funding is available, well hidey-ho, the contracting officer may award a sole-source award to the offeror.
And all this time, you thought you had to wade through endless lists of RFPs, RFOs, RFIs and all the other RFs, then invest endless hours developing a proposal that you hoped was good enough to put you in competition for a bidding war that you might win and that might actually get executed sometime in the future.
But no, you do not have to wade and you do not have to bid and you do not have to wait. You just need a new, unique and innovative idea that you independently created and developed (you know, like a better mousetrap). And just so long as your idea is prepared without government involvement and does not address previously published requirements or known future requirements, then you are good to go.
You just have to follow all the rules and requirements – FAR 15.603, 15.605, 15.606, 15.607, 15.608, 15.609… well, you get the idea – and UP you go.
According to the law firm, UPs are low-risk and high-reward… involving just the time it takes to develop the proposal. And while it seems too good to be true, we are reminded that Executive Order 14275 (Restoring Common Sense to Federal Procurement) seeks to make contracting more agile, effective and efficient.
So, even though it sounds too good to be true, I say go for it before someone on the Hill realizes their mistake and closes the loophole of common sense.
