07-98
CHAPTER 8
SOLICITATION AND SELECTION OF EIS CONSULTANT
I. REOUIREMENT:
The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) may be prepared by a contract when
appropriated funds are available. Usually Congress identifies funds to be used
for this purpose, but this may not always occur. The 38 CFR, Part 26
thresholds for preparing an EIS will be used as guidance in the need for an
EIS.
II. PREPARATION:
A. Gather information on the proposed project scope and potential
environmental issues and prepare a statement of work (SOW).
B. Prepare a decision package containing the SOW for the head of the
Departmental agency (i.e. medical project or cemetery).
C. The SOW decision package will be submitted to the facility director
(for delegated projects) or for approval to hire a Consultant to prepare
the EIS. Upon return of the final approved SOW, forward a copy of the
approved SOW package to the Acquisition Management Service for action.
They will publish an ad for contractor services in the Commerce Business
Daily. Acquisition Management Service will issue a Request for Proposals
(RFP) to complete development of an EIS.
III. ACTION:
A. Acquisition Management Service (for delegated projects) will submit a
request to identify, at a minimum, three (3) staff members to comprise a
Technical Evaluation Board (Board). The Board will review and evaluate the
technical proposals to the RFP for technical content only.
B. Identify a chairperson for the rating Board who will be responsible to
provide all rating forms, a scoring methodology, and other pertinent data
necessary for the Board to review the proposals. The chairperson may also
be designated as the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative
(COTR).
C. The chairperson will obtain a signed Confidentiality Certificate from
each Board member prior to beginning the technical evaluation process.
These will be forwarded, together with the Board member names, to the
Contracting Officer. Other responsibilities of both the chairperson and
Board are specifically identified in the VA Office of Acquisition and
Material Management (OA&MM) (90) "Acquisition Handbook", dated March 1991.
The Acquisition Handbook contains guidance (i.e. roles and
responsibilities of the COTR, etc.), procedural information, examples of
the various certificates, forms, checklists, documentation, deficiency
notices, and other information consistent with acquisition regulations.
D. All members of the Board must follow the criteria set forth in the RFP
and the scoring system that has been established by the chairperson in
conformance with the RFP.
25
Previous Page
