Evaluation Areas A supporting narrative must be provided for each factor used.
Evaluate each area based on the following criteria:
Each area of evaluation must be supported by objective data (or subjective observations) that will be provided in the Assessing Official Comments. Facts to support specific areas of evaluation must be requested from the PM, Contracting Officer, and other Government specialists familiar with the Contractor's performance on the contract or order under review. Such specialists may, for example include the Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) for the program, Senior Resident Engineer (SRE), Resident Engineer (RE), Project Manager (PM), Program Manager (PgM), and may also be from engineering, manufacturing, construction, quality, logistics (including provisioning), contracting, maintenance, security, data, etc.
The amount of risk inherent in the effort should be recognized as a significant factor, and taken into account when assessing the contractor's performance. When a Contractor identifies significant technical risk, and takes action to abate those risks, the effectiveness of these actions should be included in the detailed narrative supporting the ratings.
The evaluation is designed to assess Prime Contractor performance. In those evaluation areas where subcontractor actions have significantly influenced the Prime Contractor's performance in a negative or positive way, record the subcontractor actions in the Assessing Official Comments.
While the evaluation areas represent broad categories, the AO should include clear, supportable information for each area based on objective facts supported by program, quality, and other performance data tailored to the type of contract, dollar value, and complexity of the requirement. The AO should present enough information in each applicable category to accurately describe the Contractor's performance in a way that provides useful insight for Federal source selection officials.
Evaluate all areas which pertain to the contract or order under evaluation, unless they are not applicable (N/A).
When the Contractor's performance has changed from one period of performance to another resulting in changed ratings, the detailed narrative in the Assessing Official Comments must address each change.
The Assessing Official should use customary industry quantitative measures where they are applicable if the contract or order is for commercial products.
Ratings will be in accordance with the definitions in Attachment 2 - Evaluation Ratings Definitions.
A fundamental principle of assigning ratings is that Contractors will not be assessed a rating lower than satisfactory solely for not performing beyond the requirements of the contract or order.
(Reference FAR 42.1503, Table 42-1)
Rating: Exceptional
Definition: Performance meets contractual requirements and exceeds many to the Government's benefit. The contractual performance of the element or sub-element being evaluated was accomplished with few minor problems for which corrective actions taken by the Contractor were highly effective.
Note: To justify an Exceptional rating, identify multiple significant events and state how these events were of benefit to the Government. A singular benefit, however, could be of such magnitude that it alone constitutes an Exceptional rating. Also, there should have been NO significant weaknesses identified.
Rating: Very Good
Definition: Performance meets contractual requirements and exceeds some to the Government's benefit. The contractual performance of the element or sub-element being evaluated was accomplished with some minor problems for which corrective actions taken by the Contractor were effective.
Note: To justify a Very Good rating, identify a significant event and state how it was a benefit to the Government. There should have been no significant weaknesses identified.
Rating: Satisfactory
Definition: Performance meets contractual requirements. The contractual performance of the element or sub-element contains some minor problems for which corrective actions taken by the Contractor appear, or were, satisfactory.
Note: To justify a Satisfactory rating, there should have been only minor problems, or major problems that the Contractor recovered from without impact to the contract or order. There should have been NO significant weaknesses identified. A fundamental principle of assigning ratings is that Contractors will not be evaluated with a rating lower than Satisfactory solely for not performing beyond the requirements of the contract or order.
Rating: Marginal
Definition: Performance does not meet some contractual requirements. The contractual performance of the element or sub-element being evaluated reflects a serious problem for which the Contractor has not yet identified corrective actions. The Contractor's proposed actions appear only marginally effective, or were not fully implemented.
Note: To justify Marginal performance, identify a significant event in each category that the Contractor had trouble overcoming, and state how it impacted the Government. A Marginal rating should be supported by referencing the management tool that notified the Contractor of the contractual deficiency (e.g., management, quality, safety, or environmental deficiency report or letter).
Rating: Unsatisfactory
Definition: Performance does not meet most contractual requirements and recovery is not likely in a timely manner. The contractual performance of the element or sub-element contains a serious problem(s) for which the Contractor's corrective actions appear or were ineffective.
Note: To justify an Unsatisfactory rating, identify multiple significant events in each category that the Contractor had trouble overcoming, and state how these events impacted the Government. A singular problem, however, could be of such serious magnitude that it alone constitutes an Unsatisfactory rating. An Unsatisfactory rating should be supported by referencing the management tools used to notify the Contractor of the contractual deficiencies (e.g., management, quality, safety, or environmental deficiency reports, or letters).
NOTE 1: N/A (not applicable) should be used if the ratings are not going to be applied to a particular area for evaluation.