Page 215 - Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS)

200 AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS

process, key issues and potential solutions have already been vetted. From the
vendor’s perspective, the government is a motivated buyer.
In a non-competitive procurement, the government is sending a different
message—either the vendor is the only one who satisfies the government’s
needs (i.e., sole source) or while others can satisfy the government’s needs,
the vendor is the “chosen” one (i.e., single source). This message shifts the rel-
ative negotiation positions and places each party in a different position. Con-
sideration must be given to how to balance the message sent to the vendor
through a sole or single source justification to achieve a mutually acceptable
contract.
In addition, under a non-competitive procurement the governmental entity
must not only justify its choice of vendor, but also articulate how it determined
the vendor’s prices were reasonable. In a properly conducted competitive pro-
curement, the competitive process establishes the reasonableness of price and
is often reinforced through the inclusion of a contractual requirement stating
that the vendor guarantees to provide the same or better pricing for all similar
procurements. Such clauses are referred to as price protection or most favored
nation clauses. A non-competitive procurement, however, often does not have
such controls built into it. While the need to establish the reasonableness of a
vendor’s price can be employed as a tool to negotiate favorable pricing (and
perhaps inclusion of a price protection clause), the governmental entity must
be prepared to invest additional resources to confirm the pricing information
provided by the vendor and to defend the costs to any control agency or public
inquiry.
Additional efforts must be undertaken to address any concerns raised about
the ethical considerations of the non-competitive procurement. While use of a
competitive bid does not guarantee there will be no allegations of impropri-
eties in the procurement process, the public nature of the transaction and the
multi-level review process serve as controls and should decrease the possibility.
A non-competitive procurement, on the other hand, does not benefit from
these controls and may necessitate additional internal reviews and controls to
ensure that the ethical requirements are met.

9.4.4 AFIS PROCUREMENT FLOWCHART

As illustrated in Figure 9.1, many of the same decisions are made during com-
petitive and non-competitive acquisitions of an AFIS. The specifics of the AFIS
acquisition and the statutory environment will govern which process is the most
appropriate. Each procurement model commences with a business needs analy-
sis and the identification of funding, which are critical steps. Each model
requires that the appropriate control agency approvals be obtained. While the