Geoff-In Federal Acquisition vernacular these have been called an
"indefinite quantities contract" or a "basic ordering agreement." Such
contracts can be very useful in reducing agency employment rolls where
there is a recurring need for a specific kind of task (Contract for
archeological surveys instead of hiring a nother agency employee).
Taken to extreme, agency staff can be reduced to only a contract
officer's representative or contract inspector.  This type of
contracting is increasingly used where there is a standard procedure and
known cost for the product delivered (such as acres or miles inventoried
for archeological materials).  Usually the agency guarantees a minimum
amount of work in the life of the contract, and is required to pay that
minimum amount of work whether any work ("task orders")are issued or
not.  Therefore the agency loses that minimum amount if they don't order
any work. This happens sometimes when politicians decide that they are
not going to fund certain projects.  Often where there is a lot of work
anticipated the agency will issue several contracts to different
contractors concurrently under the same solicitation.  Federal land
managing agencies use this "on call" contracting more and more
frequently.  My experience is that it can work quite well for inventory,
but is more difficult to specify for data recovery (archeological
excavations)where there are a lot more uncontrollable factors (what type
of sites, how complex are they, what parts can be avoided).  Hope this
helps. -Mark
Mark Henderson
Ely, Nevada

geoff carver wrote:
>
> think this is the first time i've seen such a tender going out for an entire
> state - usually it's just for individual projects, or has anyone else seen
> anything similar?
>
> Wittkofski, J. Mark schrieb:
> > Any interested professional cultural resources firm is encouraged to submit
> > a proposal for the following statewide consulting services contract.  The
> > entire RFP can be downloaded from the VDOT site included in the
> > announcement.  Thank you.
> >
> > J. Mark Wittkofski
> >
> >
> >
> > STATEWIDE CULTURAL RESOURCE SERVICES
> >
> > The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is seeking expressions of
> > interest from consulting firms to provide statewide cultural resource
> > services that are related to transportation projects.  These services
> > include, but are not limited to: 1) conducting surveys to identify
> > buildings, structures, districts, objects, and sites potentially eligible
> > for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; 2) preparing
> > treatment plans for significant resources affected by transportation
> > projects; and 3) implementing treatment actions as determined by VDOT.  In
> > addition to the foregoing, firms will need to have the capacity to prepare
> > landscape plans as partial mitigation for impacts to significant historic
> > properties, to conduct surveys for locating identified cultural resources
> > onto transportation CADD plans and plots, and to be able to take
> > geotechnical borings and prepare soils analyses as may be needed for the
> > identification of archaeological sites.  All services must be performed in
> > accordance with VDOT guidelines; all appropriate federal and state laws and
> > regulations, and be of sufficient quality to obtain approvals from all
> > applicable federal and state regulatory agencies.
> >
> > This contract will have a maximum compensation of $3,000,000.00 or a term of
> > three (3) years, whichever occurs first.  The method of payment will be
> > actual costs for each assignment based on fixed billable rates.  During the
> > course of this contract, work will be solicited only as the need arises.
> > For any given project, VDOT will provide a scope and request a detailed work
> > plan and schedule of compensation to be submitted by the consultant for
> > review, negotiation of the level of effort, and approval before work can
> > begin.  It is anticipated that this contract will involve numerous projects,
> > but VDOT cannot predict nor guarantee the timing, complexity, or number of
> > projects assigned. The Department reserves the right to modify or eliminate,
> > in whole or in part, any of the requested services.
> >
> > Responding firms must obtain a copy of the complete Request for Proposal
> > (RFP) for requirements.  The RFP may be downloaded from the VDOT Internet
> > site: www.vdot.state.va.us/OpNet <http://www.vdot.state.va.us/OpNet> .  For
> > persons with a hearing impairment, this number can be reached via the
> > Virginia relay center (1-800-828-1120).  To receive the RFP by mail or fax,
> > firms may contact Mr. J. Mark Wittkofski, VDOT Environmental Division at
> > (804) 371-6867.  Submissions must be received no later than 4:00 p.m. (EST),
> > Tuesday, November 14, 2000.
>
> geoff carver
> http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
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