Misconception #6 – “Agencies have an obligation not to share information about their contracts, such as prices, with other agencies, similar to the obligation they have not to disclose proprietary information to the public.”
There are NO general limitations on the disclosure of information regarding existing contracts between agencies within the Government. Agencies are encouraged to share pricing information to ensure that we are getting the best value for our taxpayers.
Using inter-agency pricing helps during market research. There are a variety of tools and databases (depending on the buying agency) that can be used to find out awards made by other agencies. When it is difficult to find previous buys of the same or similar items/services within your own organization, it can be helpful to use the info from other agencies. The Air Force may not be the best source for pricing a certain item/service, but we can contact the Navy to get pricing information from them. And vice versa.
You can also use other agency pricing info during a source selection to develop a “most probable cost” metric which will assist in determining price realism.
It is also beneficial to query other agencies during negotiations. If you can find an agency that has contracted for the same work, you can find out what affected their negotiated final price. Quantity? Warranty? Delivery time? Configuration? By finding out these potential negotiation points beforehand, you can ensure the best possible price for your contract.
Post-award pricing may require the use of other agency’s information. Say you have purchased a fire truck for a FMS customer and a year later they decide they want preventive maintenance and repair added to the contract. They insist that the manufacturer is the only company who can provide this service. By contacting agencies that contract for this type of maintenance/repair regularly, you can determine if this is, in fact, a sole source or if the requirement should be competed.
On a final note, Better Buying Power 3.0 requires Federal agencies to look at affordability on each acquisition. It may be impossible to determine affordability when you limit cost estimates to purchases within your own agency. By getting additional pricing information from other agencies, you can fill in any gaps you may have from your limited data.
If you are a contractor doing your target market analysis before committing to proposing on a particular project, you can request a significant amount of information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program on previous contract price history. That may assist you in determining the potential value of the new contract. This can help determine whether you do or do not want to use your resources and prepare a proposal. And in some cases, COs are willing to provide all offerors with the Independent Government Estimate (IGE) so they have a rough order of magnitude estimate.
Bottom line is that Federal agencies share information with each other all the time because it helps establish better price estimates, determine adequate competition, and even allow for more transparent pricing – and finally, there is no restriction from them doing so.