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Supplying Principles and Practices > USPS Supplying Practices Process Step 3: Select Suppliers > Announce Award
Announce Award
The Purchase/SCM Team is responsible for preparing internal and external
announcements of the contract award.
The Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications (VP, PAC) plans,
approves and manages the public affairs effort for the Postal Service.
Contract awards that exceed $5 million and contract awards of any dollar
value that result from spend analysis, strategic sourcing and leveraging and
that result in an exclusive or mandatory contract for the Postal Service may
have significant media impact and/or may generate interest on the part of
Congress. The following procedures apply to preparing and submitting
advance announcement of contract awards to PAC. The Contracting Officer
will:
• Determine whether the contract award exceeds $5 million or
otherwise requires announcement
• Prepare an announcement of award
• Submit notice to the Vice President, Supply Management (VP,
SM) at least two business days before the anticipated date of
award
• Issue/distribute the announcement at least one day before the
anticipated date of award, as discussed in the Advance
Announcement of Contract Award template
• Retain a copy of the announcement in the official contract file
The Public Relations unit of PAC will prepare a draft press release based on
the information given in the announcement and will provide the draft to the
Manager of the Category Management Center (CMC) for review. No
information will be released to the media until the Manager of the CMC has
approved the press release.
Award announcements must be prepared for all Board of Governors'
approved programs. This requirement is in addition to the advance notice of
award discussed above. The award announcement will be prepared by the
Contracting Officer with the assistance of the Client, and is approved by the
Manager of the CMC.
The award announcement will be sent to the VP, SM two days before actual
contract award. On the day of award, the announcement will be delivered to
the Postmaster General (PMG) for his or her signature. The Board of
Governors must receive the announcement after the award, but before the
award is made public. The Board of Governors Award Announcement
Template provides instruction for preparation.
The VP, SM may determine at his or her discretion whether an
announcement of an award that has not required previous Board of
Governors' approval should be made.
The Contracting Officer is responsible for distributing the approved
announcement on the day of award to:
• Deputy Postmaster General and Chief Operating Officer
• Senior Vice President, General Counsel
• Secretary to the Board of Governors
• Manager, Administration, Office of PMG
• Vice President for organization initiating the requirement
To promote competition in subcontracting, the Postal Service publicizes
contract awards, competitive or noncompetitive, having significant
subcontracting opportunities. Such awards must be publicized in the
Government-wide Point of Entry (GPE), which is accessible via the Internet at
http://www.fedbizopps.gov.
Although a matter of judgment, these awards are normally valued over
$500,000 with individual subcontract opportunities over $50,000. Contract
awards may also be publicized in newspapers, trade journals, and
magazines. Other awards may be publicized when, in the judgment of the
Purchase/SCM Team, such publicizing will benefit future competition. All
noncompetitive contract awards valued at more than $1 million must be
publicized in the GPE, and other media as appropriate, upon award.
Upon award of a contract, the Supplier may request that the Postal Service
release a formal communication regarding the relationship. Although such
publicity may be beneficial to the Supplier, in many cases it may potentially
harm other Postal Service supplier relationships. For example, as soon as
one supplier is effectively endorsed, it becomes difficult to justify why the
Postal Service should not endorse another. As a result, Postal Service
employees should not make any comments regarding the Postal Service's
business performance or prospects (e.g., major contracts to be signed,
financial outlook) unless carefully coordinated with Legal Counsel. Clause
B-25: Advertising of Contract Awards is incorporated by reference in Clause
4-2: Contract Terms and Conditions Required to Implement Policies,
Statutes, or Executive Orders.
Award Contract and Notify Suppliers topic, Make Final Decisions task,
Process Step 3: Select Suppliers
Clauses & Provisions
Clause B-25: Advertising of Contract Awards
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