Contractor Past Performance - Are We There Yet

摘要

During the United States federal government acquisition reform movement of the 1990s, the government strongly emphasized the use of past performance information to select contractors in federal procurements. While past performance information was used in the federal procurement process before the 1990s, federal agencies are now required to collect past performance information and prepare performance evaluations on nearly all major contracts and use past performance as an evaluation factor in all source selections for major competitively negotiated contracts. During the 1990s, Congress mandated that past performance become the most important evaluation factor after price. Arguably the biggest reason for this increased focus on past performance was the basic idea that it is more likely for contractors with a solid past performance record to be successful in future contracts than those with a weaker past performance record. Increasing the emphasis on past performance in government contracts because it is a good indicator of future performance makes sense and generated positive feedback from both the government and industry. Industry supports the use of past performance information because it agrees past performance can be a reliable indicator of quality of future performance. Theoretically, this should ensure a steady stream of repeat business for high- performing companies.