Some buying offices refer to "purchase agreements," which are pre-arranged agreements signed prior to doing business with the agency. DSCR requires no such agreements, only that you are registered on the CCR. These purchase agreements are often confused with Blanket Purchase Agreements.
DSCR does have a Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) program, which is utilized to make awards below $25,000 (See FAR 13.303 and FAR 16.7). A Blanket Purchase Agreement is a negotiated set of terms under which awards can be made. Once in the BPA program, vendors compete for solicitations, with delivery orders issued against the terms of the BPA. These agreements have a number of features:
- A wide variety of items in a broad class of supplies or services are generally purchased, but the exact items, quantities, and delivery requirements are not known in advance and may vary considerably.
- Commercial sources of supplies are needed for one or more offices or projects in a given area that do not have or need authority to purchase otherwise.
- Numerous purchase orders do not need to be written.
- No current contract exists for the required supply or service.
If you want to be considered as a supplier under the BPA program, you are evaluated on these criteria:
- A dependable past performance
- A history of quality services and supplies at lower prices
- Numerous purchases have been provided at or below the simplified acquisition threshold
- A letter certifying status as an authorized distributor for a manufacturer
- Access to electronic commerce/electronic data interchange capability (EDI Standard ANSI X12)
Solicitations issued under the BPA system will have a "Z" in the ninth position of the solicitation number. Award numbers will contain an AA or AB in the ninth position of the basic agreement. Once the BPA number is issued, it will remain in effect until the vendor requests removal of the BPA. The BPA award number is automatically updated every year with a new fiscal year in the seventh and eighth position. No formal notice is sent to confirm this.