Responsible prospective contractor
Also called: responsibility, responsibility determination, responsible bidder, responsible offeror, non-responsibility, FAR 9.104, Certificate of Competency
A responsible prospective contractor is one the contracting officer affirmatively finds, before award, to meet the general standards in FAR 9.104-1: adequate financial resources, the ability to meet the schedule, a satisfactory performance record, integrity, the needed organization and equipment, and eligibility under the law.
FAR 9.103 says no purchase or award may be made unless the contracting officer makes an affirmative determination of responsibility, and FAR 9.104-1 lists the general standards; a solicitation may add definitive responsibility criteria under FAR 9.104-2, such as a license or a stated number of years in business. The contracting officer looks at SAM.gov exclusions, FAPIIS, CPARS and financial information, and may order a pre-award survey. When a small business is found non-responsible on capacity, credit, integrity, performance or tenacity grounds, FAR 9.104-3(d) and FAR 19.6 refer the matter to SBA, which can issue a Certificate of Competency that overrides the finding.
What to check: any definitive criteria in the solicitation, that your SAM.gov record shows no exclusion and your CPARS record is clean, and that you can show financing (a bank line or a bonding letter) for the size of the award. Non-responsibility is one of the few findings a small business can take to SBA.
What it is not: responsiveness, which asks whether a sealed bid complied with the IFB, and not a technical evaluation.
See also: Contracting officer (CO or KO), Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS), SAM.gov, Invitation for Bid (IFB)
Questions that use this term
Search allYes, for an Invitation for Bid, the lowest price wins if your bid is responsive and you are a responsible contractor. Grace is correct that for a...