Whether it is for an agency or the broader GWACs, the purpose of the award is to have contractors compete with each other through the contract process. This is achieved through two steps: First, an umbrella task order contract is awarded where there is no limitation in the number of awardees that may be selected. Secondly, is the issuance of solicitations for individual task orders where the individual orders may be made on an informal basis using "streamlined" selection processes. Several issues arise:

Umbrella Statement of Work. The initial statement of work in the basic contract is intended to be fairly broad where it provides a definition of the work to be performed in which each order must fall. If a subsequent task order does not fit, it must be processed through another contract. Both FASA and FAR 16.5 provide for broad – some say even vague – statements of work. The limits on how broad a statement can be has not been reached. For example, a recent GWAC for the Federal Aviation Administration contracted a statement of work that included every possible service associated with information technology. Guidance by the Office of Federal Procurement Policy in its "Best Practices for Multiple Award Task and Delivery Order Contracting" states agencies should have flexible broad statements. And one of the only areas of successful protest of task orders is when it exceeds the original scope of work. The OFPP guidelines encourage COs, program managers and industry to work together to develop a clear statement of work.

Bundling. "Bundling" is the practice of consolidating two or more previously smaller contracts into a single, larger contract. The advantages of economies of scale, reduced administrative costs and increased reliability is offset by limiting competition to fewer contractors capable of meeting a broad range of demands which is especially harmful to small contractors. Agencies are instructed to conduct market research and carefully identify the benefits before bundling contracts.

Number of Awardees. Agencies have wide discretion in determining the number of awards it will make under the umbrella solicitation. The FAR instructs COs to avoid situations where particular awardees specialize in one or a few areas of the statement of work that will result in award of task orders to those firms on a virtual sole-source basis. The OFPP recommends an agency make a reasonable number of awards to ensure competition but that keeps the ordering process from becoming burdensome.

Competitive Range Determination. Selection of ID/IQ awardees receive less scrutiny than single award selection decisions. The FAR allows the agency to reduce the competitive range of offers to an "efficient" number where the agency has broad discretion in setting the competitive range and delivering what is an efficient number. If an agency, for example, decides that of 150 offerors, the competitive range will be set at 40, it may then decide to make awards to all 40 offerors.

Evaluation Factors. Multiple award contracts are subject to the same evaluation requirement as other negotiated procurements. Agencies must consider price (or cost) along with quality. Quality may be measured on the basis of an offeror’s past performance record where in a procurement over $100,000 past performance must be considered.

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