(a) An invitation for bids for supplies, equipment, and services must be serially numbered at the time of issue. Numbers assigned locally must consist of the facility or VA National Acquisition Center division number, the serial number of the invitation, and the fiscal year in which the VA facility issues the invitation, e.g., 533-24-07 for the 24th invitation issued by VA facility 533 in Fiscal Year 2007. A series beginning with the number 1 must be started each fiscal year. Numbers assigned from a national register may be sequential, without regard to year, and use whatever numbering system assigned by the national system or VA’s Electronic Contract Management System (eCMS). VHA shall use eCMS for all solicitation numbering.
(1) An invitation for bid for supplies, equipment, and services that is numbered locally must be numbered in the series of the year in which it is issued, will be accepted, and will become a contract in the same fiscal year but, because of procurement lead time, will not be performed until the next fiscal year.
(2) An invitation for bid that is numbered locally must be numbered in the next fiscal year series if it is issued in one fiscal year but the contract will become effective and will be performed only in the next fiscal year.
(b) An invitation for a construction contract must bear the applicable invitation for bid number and the project number, if assigned.
(c) An invitation for bid containing a summary bid request must include the following statement:
“The award will be made on either an individual item basis or summary bid basis, whichever results in the lowest cost to the Government. Therefore, to assure proper evaluation of all bids, a bidder quoting a summary bid price must also quote a price on each individual item included in the summary bid price.”
(d) When a contracting officer determines that it will be to the Government’s advantage to make an award by group or groups of items, the contracting officer must include a provision for the award by group or groups of items in the invitation for bids. This may apply when the items in the group or groups are readily available from sources to be solicited; and one of the following apply:
(1) It is desirable to award a minimum number of contracts.
(2) Furniture or fixtures are required for a single project and
uniformity of design is desirable.
(3) The articles required will be assembled and used as a unit.
(e) A solicitation for a construction contract must contain a statement on the order of priority in which VA will award any alternative bid items, based on the relative importance of the items, VA’s cost estimate, and the amount of funds available, when the following apply:
(1) VA intends to make a single aggregate award for all items in the solicitation within certain fiscal limitations.
(2) The solicitation asks for prices on an item and alternate item basis.
(f) A bid item schedule in a solicitation issued in compliance with paragraph (e) of this section should be structured substantially as follows:
A single award will be made on Item No. 1, but in the event the offer exceeds the funds available, a single award will be made on Item No. 2 or Item No. 3, in that order, based on available funding. Offerors should quote a price on each item listed.
Item No. 1-Furnish all labor, material, equipment, etc., to paint Buildings No. 1, 2, and 3: $----.
Alternate items in order of priority:
Item No. 2-Furnish all labor, material, equipment, etc., to paint Building Nos. 1 and 2: $----.
Item No. 3-Furnish all labor, material, equipment, etc., to paint Building No. 1: ----.
