A past performance volume should mirror the solicitation’s stated factors, support comparison, and fit the FAR rules for source selection.
Summary
How Should a Past Performance Volume Be Written Under FAR Source-Selection Rules? A past performance volume should mirror the solicitation’s stated factors, support comparison, and fit the FAR rules for source selection.
A past performance volume is strongest when it follows the solicitation, not when it adds new themes. According to FAR 15.303, the source selection authority must ensure proposals are evaluated only on the factors and significant subfactors contained in the solicitation, and FAR 15.304 says those factors must represent the key areas of importance and support meaningful comparison between proposals. For past performance, FAR 15.304 states that it is evaluated in all negotiated competitive acquisitions expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold unless the contracting officer documents that past performance is not an appropriate factor for the acquisition. The solicitation must also state the relative importance of the evaluation factors and describe the general approach for evaluating past performance information. That means the volume should be organized to make the evaluator’s comparison easy, tied to the stated criteria, and free of assumptions about unstated scoring rules.
FAR says the rating method need not be disclosed in the solicitation, but the general approach for evaluating past performance information must be described.
Identify the evaluation factors, significant subfactors, and their relative importance before drafting the volume.
Organize past performance examples so they support the areas of importance the solicitation actually names.
Confirm whether the acquisition falls under the FAR rule that past performance is evaluated unless the contracting officer documents that it is not appropriate.