(c)(90) Assuring that contracts are awarded to responsible prospective contractors necessitates the maintenance of contractor performance history and development of criteria for its use. Occasional quality deficiencies in contractor performance may be unavoidable, but if the defects are of a critical or repetitive nature and the contractor is not amenable to taking corrective action, such circumstances, may constitute support for finding a prospective contractor nonresponsible for award of contracts. Results, both positive and negative, from the System for the Analysis of Laboratory Testing (SALT) program, and other applicable quality history records, such as those from the Quality Evaluation Program (QEP) and from the Customer Depot Complaint System (CDCS), should be included in the contracting officer's determination and documentation of contractor responsibility. Contractor quality performance records will not be limited to product quality deficiencies, but also will include discrepancies due to inadequate packaging, improper or missing documentation, overages, shortages, misdirected or damaged shipments, and similar discrepancies. Individual and summary records of actions taken will be maintained for review by management. If there are overriding reasons for awarding a contract to a supplier who has an unsatisfactory quality history, the contract file will be documented accordingly, and a Quality Assurance Letter of Instruction (QALI) shall be submitted to the activity responsible for Government acquisition quality assurance at source or destination.
(c)(91) Contracting offices will maintain appropriate documentation to facilitate assessment of contractor's recent delivery performance. Contracting personnel should utilize performance data on both currently active and recently closed awards (if available) in responsibility determinations and when considering contractors for placement on the DLA Contractor Alert List (CAL). Absent identifiable positive corrective action, poor past performance indicates poor future performance. Documentation of contractor-caused delinquencies should serve as sufficient evidence to substantiate a nonresponsibility determination. (For procedural consequences of that determination with regard to small businesses, see, generally, FAR 19.6 and DFARS 219.6.) A supplier's repeated refusal to perform purchase orders issued in accordance with small purchase procedures may also be used as a basis for not awarding future contracts. Since inaccuracies in delivery data may occur, performance histories should be reviewed and furnished to the contractor before serious actions are taken. Overall delivery performance data shall be based on ship dates not receipt dates, due to problems in obtaining timely receipt data.
(e)(90) Use clause 52.209-9014, Vehicle Registration and Operations, for base
support acquisitions involving installation access to the Defense Logistics Agency
facility located in Richmond, Virginia.
(g)(90) Standards for drugs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cognizance of all quality aspects of certain medical items (predominantly drugs) in accordance with the DoD-FDA Interagency Agreement on Drugs, dated 17 December 1975. At the request of DSCP, FDA will review the capability of a supplier to produce drugs and biologics of an appropriate quality whenever acquisition by DSCP of such an item is pending. It is within the discretion of the contracting officer to rely upon FDA conclusions regarding the capability of such offerors to meet required quality standards. A determination by FDA of unsatisfactory quality based on regulatory action shall necessitate a mandatory rejection of the offer by the contracting officer.
(90) The "Defense Logistics Agency Contractor Alert List" (CAL) is a monthly listing of suppliers who may require special evaluation before a determination of responsibility can be made. The list is provided to contracting offices by the Defense Contract Management District East (DCMDE) based on input from all Defense Contract Management Districts (DCMDs) and other contracting offices. Suppliers are added to the list when they are recommended for a preaward survey (PAS) by a contract administration office (CAO) for a particular reason. Contracting officers shall consider the DLA CAL as they would other similar data related to contractor performance. Appearance on the list (or any other indication of questionable prior performance, as set forth in 9.106-1(a)(90)(1) through (9)) does not mean a supplier is nonresponsible, but it puts the contracting officer on notice to consider carefully and deliberately the need for additional steps in making a responsibility determination in individual cases. (Any questions pertaining specifically to the Alert data should be directed to the PAS monitor at the CAO that has cognizance over the contractor involved, rather than to the contracting officer.)
