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Increment 1127 Jul 2027Command PostDecision

Command Post design-build award

Three SM-MACC-01 holders have submitted firm-fixed-price concept designs and prices in a single-phase design-build competition. Trainees may rank the offers, but the real decision is whether they notice that every proposed west boulder line occupies the fixed north-south fire-lane corridor in [H] and request revised designs before award.

Scenario descriptions

The situation, for each audience

Keep the trainer context out of trainee packets and read-aloud materials.

Trainee facing · Read aloud

Current situation

Civil Engineering (713 CES) requires complete design and renewal of the approximately 18,000-square-foot Shadow Moses Command Post before the building returns to full operation. The firm-fixed-price task order will renew the roof and envelope, mission and support spaces, resilient power, HVAC, communications pathways, life-safety systems, and immediate security sitework. The Government has described the required square footage, room capacities, performance capabilities, fixed-barrier concept, and turnover date—but it has not furnished a building design. Nearly all architectural and engineering design remains with the design-builder after award.

The requirement is being competed in one phase among SM-MACC-01 holders: concept design and price are submitted together, and the resulting order will include both design and construction. The task-order request uses a best-value tradeoff and tells offerors that Technical Approach is most important, followed by Management Approach; Schedule and Past Performance are equal and next; Key Personnel follows; and the combined nonprice factors are significantly more important than Price.

Three holders submitted proposals. Diamond Dogs Civil Works, LLC offers the highest-rated and highest-priced concept; Militaires Sans Frontières Construction JV offers a balanced mid-price concept; and Gray Fox Systems, Inc. offers the lowest price and earliest turnover with less system redundancy and a weaker recent performance record. Each proposal includes a different floor arrangement, entrances, system routes, roof and wall materials, management and schedule approach, key personnel, relevant past performance, and firm-fixed price. Recommend the proposal that represents the best value and explain the tradeoffs supporting your recommendation.

Trainer only · Do not issue

Facilitator context

Release at Increment 11 with [H]. Begin as a source-selection exercise. The intended initial best-value leader is Diamond Dogs: its $275,000 premium over MSF and $625,000 premium over Gray Fox is supported by the strongest resilient systems, integrated design controls, key personnel, and relevant performance when combined nonprice factors are significantly more important than price. Accept a different ranking only if trainees articulate a coherent tradeoff using the announced factors rather than substituting lowest price.

The competition is a firm-fixed-price, single-phase design-build order under FAR 16.505. G-02 documents why the FAR 36.301 considerations do not warrant two phases: the five MACC holders are prequalified, only bounded concept design is requested, substantial preaward design expense is not expected, and schedule matters. FAR 15.101-1 supplies the announced tradeoff model, but FAR Part 15 procedures do not automatically govern this order.

The ranking exercise is deliberate misdirection. G-03, G-04, and G-05 put their west fixed-boulder lines 36, 40, and 44 feet west of Building 100. H-03 later establishes a fixed road envelope 28 to 52 feet west of the same wall, so every line occupies the future north-south fire lane. After the team recommends an awardee, ask whether a common assumption is safe merely because it appears in all offers. A combined review before award permits an equal written amendment, revised proposal designs and prices, and reevaluation without contractor reliance. Awarding any concept first means the boulders are installed in the road corridor and produces a Government-directed change, relocation work, additional Government cost, and avoidable schedule effect. State the consequence in [G]; do not release a separate outcome event.

Trainer clue bank

Regulatory signposts

14 sources

Direct trainees to a citation when they need a narrower clue. Have them apply the contract’s actual clauses, current thresholds, local policy, and the facts before treating any signpost as dispositive.

Release 01

Give initially

5 records

These establish the decision without answering the factual questions trainees should identify.

G-01

Command Post design-build purchase request

Establishes the approved $8.65 million need, certified FY24 MILCON citation, SM-MACC-01 task-order strategy, and 15 October 2028 turnover date.

Draft document availablePDF · 1 page · Editable Word copy
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G-02

Fair-opportunity design-build task-order request

States performance requirements without furnishing a building design; establishes the single-phase firm-fixed-price approach, proposal contents, evaluation factors, relative importance, and tradeoff method.

Draft document availablePDF · 4 pages · Editable Word copy
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G-03

Diamond Dogs design-build proposal

Provides Diamond Dogs' $8.615 million concept, systems, floor and barrier layouts, explicit north/east/south/west boulder offsets—including 36 feet west—management, schedule, personnel, past performance, and price.

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G-04

Militaires Sans Frontières Construction JV proposal

Provides MSF's $8.340 million alternative concept, systems and materials, explicit four-side boulder offsets—including 40 feet west—management, schedule, personnel, past performance, and price.

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G-05

Gray Fox Systems design-build proposal

Provides Gray Fox's $7.990 million lower-priced concept, systems and materials, explicit four-side boulder offsets—including 44 feet west—management, schedule, personnel, past performance, and price.

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Release 02 · Oral inject

Trainer addition

2 prompts

Give only after trainees have read and discussed the event. Use it to narrow attention without disclosing the answer.

After trainees compare and rank the three proposals, ask: ‘If every offeror made the same site assumption, does that make the assumption safe to award?’

If needed, ask what other Government work affects Building 100 and whether each offeror-developed barrier line has been overlaid with it. Do not identify the fire lane or the west boulder line unless the team asks for the shared-site information or compares [G] with [H].

Release 03

Give only after trainee prompting

10 records

Use the prompt as a release gate; close-enough trainee questions should count when they seek the same underlying fact.

Prompt / triggerHandoutExercise purpose
PromptAsk what else affects the Command Post
HandoutGH-01
Shared-site project register
PurposeIdentifies the common site.
PromptAsk to overlay the proposed designs with other Command Post work
HandoutGH-02
Command Post composite plan
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PurposeOverlays all three offeror barrier concepts with the fixed north-south fire lane and reveals that every west boulder line falls inside its 24-foot road envelope.
PromptAfter identifying the conflict, direct Contracting to request revised proposal designs from every competing holder
HandoutG-06
Diamond Dogs revised barrier design
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PurposeMoves Diamond Dogs' west boulder line from 36 feet to 18 feet west of the Command Post, adds a controlled fire-ingress opening, and leaves its price, schedule, and other proposal terms unchanged.
PromptAfter identifying the conflict, direct Contracting to request revised proposal designs from every competing holder
HandoutG-07
MSF revised barrier design
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PurposeMoves MSF's west boulder line from 40 feet to 20 feet west of the Command Post, adds a controlled fire-ingress opening, and leaves its price, schedule, and other proposal terms unchanged.
PromptAfter identifying the conflict, direct Contracting to request revised proposal designs from every competing holder
HandoutG-08
Gray Fox revised barrier design
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PurposeMoves Gray Fox's west boulder line from 44 feet to 22 feet west of the Command Post, adds a controlled fire-ingress opening, and leaves its price, schedule, and other proposal terms unchanged.
PromptAsk for current dimensions
HandoutGH-03
Survey and photographs
PurposeConfirms actual space.
PromptAsk whether fire apparatus can maneuver
HandoutGH-04
Apparatus turning simulation
PurposeProvides technical verification.
PromptAsk whether barriers can change
HandoutGH-05
Security minimums and operable-barrier alternative
PurposeShows that a coordinated solution exists.
PromptAsk about underground conflicts
HandoutGH-06
Utility survey
PurposeProvides legitimate chaff.
PromptAsk about sequencing
HandoutGH-07
Integrated schedule
PurposeShows whether revision can occur before reliance.

Facilitation lens

What a strong analysis should surface

  1. FAR 16.505 controls the fair-opportunity order. Because the modeled order exceeds $7.5 million, the task-order request states the significant factors and subfactors, including price, and their relative importance; the award record must document the best-value basis and tradeoffs.
  2. The solicitation adopts FAR 15.101-1 tradeoff principles as its stated evaluation method, but FAR 16.505(b)(1)(ii) means the exercise must not imply that FAR Part 15 source-selection procedures automatically govern the order.
  3. The single-phase approach is supported by the Contracting Officer's FAR 36.301 determination: five prequalified MACC holders, a bounded concept submission, no substantial preaward design expense, and schedule pressure make two-phase design-build inappropriate here. Nearly all design development remains postaward contractor work.
  4. Apply only the advertised factors. Technical Approach is most important; Management follows; Schedule and Past Performance are equal; Key Personnel follows; and combined nonprice factors are significantly more important than Price.
  5. On the intended record, Diamond Dogs is the defensible initial best-value leader: its $275,000 premium over MSF and $625,000 premium over Gray Fox buy the strongest resilient systems, integration, personnel, and relevant performance. A contrary selection requires a coherent documented tradeoff consistent with the stated weighting.
  6. The source-selection ranking is a red herring. Every proposal follows the Government's barrier criterion yet places its west fixed-boulder line 36, 40, or 44 feet west of the Command Post—inside [H]'s road envelope, which lies 28 to 52 feet west of that wall. The defect is common to all offers and therefore will not emerge from relative proposal scoring.
  7. Before award, coordinate [G] and [H], amend the common requirements or provide equivalent written clarification to every eligible MACC holder, permit adequate proposal revisions, and reevaluate under the same factors.
  8. Design-build transfers design responsibility within disclosed criteria; it does not excuse the Government from reconciling its own concurrent requirements or from equally disclosing a material change in the proposal basis.

Trainer-controlled decision menu

Available response options

2 options

Offer options in plain language and accept equivalent trainee analysis. Do not reveal the assessment labels. Use each availability gate before accepting a contextual response, and use the trainer line to redirect a superfluous answer immediately.

How to run this node: Let trainees rank the proposals under G-02, but offer only the two final answers below. The assessed decision is whether they noticed the common west-side dimensional conflict and requested revised proposal designs before award—not which firm they initially ranked first. The consequences remain within [G].

G1Weak

Do not request revised proposal designs; complete the tradeoff and award the selected offer as submitted.

Available when
Initially available
Trainer line
“The source-selection ranking may be supportable, but all three site concepts contain the same physical defect. Their west boulder lines are 36, 40, and 44 feet west of the Command Post, while H-03 fixes the road between 28 and 52 feet west of that wall. Because the discrepancy was not found before award, the selected design-builder installs boulders in the planned road envelope.”
Leads next
The Government must issue and fund a written change order for additional work to remove and relocate the boulders, restore disturbed sitework, address supported remobilization and schedule effects, and absorb the avoidable additional expense. Close the consequence within [G].
G2Strong

Notice the west-side discrepancy, hold award, and request revised proposal designs from the competing MACC holders before reevaluating best value.

Available when
Available when trainees compare [G] and [H], request GH-01 or GH-02, or otherwise reconcile the stated dimensions
Trainer line
“The team recognizes that 36, 40, and 44 feet all fall inside H-03's fixed 28-to-52-foot road envelope. Contracting communicates the corrected common site criterion equally, gives the affected holders an adequate opportunity to revise their barrier designs, prices, and schedules, and reevaluates under the announced factors. Release G-06 through G-08 as the revised proposal record.”
Leads next
Award on the revised record with the west boulder line outside the fire-lane envelope. The Government avoids relocation work, added change-order cost, and preventable schedule delay; no later outcome event is released.