Integrated contract modeling and bid management tool
TF!™
A modeling tool used to create or respond to RFP requirements, perform rapid bid evaluations, and negotiate post-award modifications, all while preventing or winning protests through fully auditable documentation.
The Automated TF! Process
Finding You the Best Contractor!
Prepare - Customer's technical requirements, Customer Estimate, and Evaluation Criteria
Bid - Distribute TF! to bidders with blank inputs - they model their resource/cost/price solution to the requirements
Select - Proprietary “True Importance Ranking” algorithms and graphical analysis tools produce fast unbiased Technical and Price selections
Debrief - Full, detailed analysis to losing Bidders, highlighting all issues preventing their win and improving their chances on the next bid
Protest - Auditable record of every selection decision made ensures fairness and prevents (or wins) protests
Modify - The winning bid facilitates negotiation of a Modification Price buildup, and establishes the new baseline for the next Modification
TF!™ Fast, Powerful, Protest-Proof Acquisitions Save You Time & Money
30%
Average Contract Cost Savings
TF! produces first-time savings of around 30% over the internal operation of non-TF! contracts. Follow-on TF! re-competes produce further savings in addition to those large initial savings, which are now "baked in."
67%
Services Contract Acquisition Time Savings
Typical complex services contract acquisitions take from 9 to 18 months. With TF! , it takes no more than 3 to 6 months, reducing time and cost for the Acquisition team, Evaluators, and even the Bidders!
50%
Protests for Acquisitions without TF!
Based on Industry Data provided by ASC customers, roughly half of procurements result in protests.
Only 5%
Protests for Acquisitions with TF!
There have been only 3 Protests in over 60 TF! service contract Acquisitions since 1992.
100%
Protests Won by Customer using a TF! Acquisition
While the TF! Tool won its only 3 Protests, the more important number is how many it prevented.
TF!™ Efficient, Effective Contract Modifications for Contractors & Customers
65%
Less time negotiating and finalizing contract modifications
The TF™ Tool provides a baseline from the winning proposal and tracks changes for all cost elements driven by the contract modification for shoulder to shoulder negotiation.
Bid Module
Bids are based on actual solutions to a customer’s technical requirements
Promises made in the Technical Proposal are backed by resources
Staffing
Direct Labor Hours to meet requirements
Stafing to meet Direct Labor Hours
Staffing Costs
Material, Equipment, Facilities, and other Direct Costs
Resources are Priced
Markups, Overheads, and Profits
Decision Module
An evaluation tool for all evaluation criteria, including responses to customer technical requirements.
ASC‘s proprietary Importance Ranking algorithms establish the true importance of each criterion
Process designed around Evaluator - More simple decisions vs. Fewer complex decisions
Evaluation decisions are processed and graphically summarized
Questions can be sorted and returned to bidders in total or as a subset filtered and sorted by importance
Analysis Module
Consolidates inputs and outputs from each bid and the Customer Estimate into a side-by-side comparison
Problems immediately identified and investigated
Outliers stand out against the Customer and other Bidders
Drill downs from high-level Outlier to contributing Bidder input(s) performed
Solution acceptability determined and documented
Unacceptable Solution(s) can be communicated to each Bidder as a question with noteworthy inputs included
Modification Module
Winning Bid becomes the "Price Module" and serves as the baseline for changes to requirements
Winning Bid Module in TF! or converted from the winning bid file if not TF!
What-if Analysis: Customer and contractor work together to rapidly negotiate the Requirements driven changes to the Price Module inputs
Price Module output is the fully detailed revised Price
Revised Price Module is Reset as the new baseline for the next modification
See What TF!™ can do for you!
Customers
The TF! template structures bidder resources, costs, and prices against requirements so bids arrive in a comparable "apples-to-apples" structure. No Technical "SUV" at a "sub-compact" price.
Bidders
TF! helps Bidders understand the requirements and demonstrate on a level playing field how their innovations and effiiciences provide benefit to become the winning solution.
For unsuccessful Bidders, the customer can present in their fully developed TF! bid those issues that prevented them from a win. This can prepare them for improved results in their next bid - a true lessons learned value in return for bid costs incurred.
A valuable debrief also has the advantage of demonstrating the fairness and consistency of the TF! approach, letting the unsuccessful Bidder know a Protest is unnecessary, or if pursued, unwinnable.
Both Parties
After Award, the customer and contractor rapidly negotiate contract Modifications, adjusting resource inputs from the starting baseline. TF! automatically creates a fully detailed and priced Modification, after which the baseline can be "reset" to prepare for the next Modification.
Standardized Bidding
Innovate the Responses, Save Costs
When bids are normalized, evaluators can easily compare the costs and benefits of each bid. Only the bid presentation format is fixed; the content is left to the bidders and hence does not restrict what a bidder can offer as a solution. In fact, TF! increases the likelihood of innovative responses since the detail required also certifies the solution.
Risk Assessment
Define Requirements Better
The layout of the requirements is designed to facilitate a systematic approach to the evaluation including a comprehensive risk analysis accomplished by the prioritization of Requirements and Evaluation factors. This structure reduces the time for clients to define requirements, bidders to prepare bids, and for the clients to evaluate bids.
Problem Detection
Eliminate Bad Bids
TF! can provide justifiable support for the elimination of under-resourced bids on a technical capability basis. The software itself creates a linkage between the defined requirements, the bidder's proposed resources to deliver those requirements, and the price the bidder offers. TF! discloses in a straightforward manner any disconnects in these linkages. This is not easily possible under traditional approaches that do not include a pre-formatted linkage between the requirements, proposed resources and pricing.
High Fidelity Bidder Feedback
Lessons Learned also Prevents Protests
The TF! evaluation approach is designed to deliver value to unsuccessful bidders. The
evaluation approach forces an evaluator to quickly and easily prepare adequate documentation to support questionable or unacceptable elements of the bidder's proposal allowing the results of the evaluation to be presented in a coherent, informative manner. These defensible results, designed to support a Protest, more often prevent it as bidders are presented with strong evidence for the decision regarding their bid.
TF!™: The Story
Introduced in 1992, TF! models resources, costs and the price buildup against contract Technical Requirements using a structured “apples-to-apples” format that allows rapid bid evaluation and analysis of solutions across multiple bids. TF! runs on the Microsoft Excel platform with built in Visual Basic (VBA) code allowing controlled user customization while ensuring input and calculation conformity.
TF! improvements over the years include features to facilitate the input experience such as error “Warnings” and completion messages. The latest version (TF!v5) allows both the contractor and customer to “baseline” the current version of the solution. TF! then captures the impact of any contract modifications against the original inputs. The result is faster, more detailed, and more accurate negotiations, during which TF! automatically constructs an audit ready modification trail containing all price, cost (and resource) elements, as well as the new post-modification baseline in preparation for the next modification.