Performance Based Acquisition (PBA) Contract
This section explains what PBA (formerly known as PBSC or Performance Based Service Contract) is and provides a PBA template for performance requirements, sample PBA performance statements, and a complete sample PBA Statement of Work (SOW). Frequently there is also reference to Performance Based Acquisition (PBA) which is in essence the same as PBA.
Performance-Based Contracting:
- Describes the work in terms of the required results rather than either "how" the work is to be accomplished or the number of hours to be provided;
- Enables assessment of work performance against measurable performance standards; and
- Relies on the use of measurable performance standards and financial incentives in a competitive environment to encourage competitors to develop and institute innovative and cost-effective methods of performing the work.
The Federal Acquisition Regulation and Federal Government policy is that (1) agencies use performance-based contracting methods to the maximum extent practicable when acquiring services, and (2) agencies carefully select acquisition and contract administration strategies, methods, and techniques that best accommodate the requirements.
Benefits of Performance-Based Acquisition
Performance-based service acquisition has many benefits. They include:
- Increased likelihood of meeting mission needs
- Focus on intended results, not process
- Better value and enhanced performance
- Less performance risk
- No detailed specification or process description needed
- Contractor flexibility in proposing solution
- Better competition: not just contractors, but solutions
- Contractor buy-in and shared interests
- Shared incentives permit innovation and cost effectiveness
- Less likelihood of a successful protest
- Surveillance: less frequent, more meaningful
- Results documented for Government Performance and Results Act reporting, as by-product of acquisition
- Variety of solutions from which to choose
PBA minimum requirements
- Performance requirements that define the work in measurable, mission-related terms. OMB's use of "mission-related terms" means that requirements are to be couched in terms of what is required, not how it is to be produced.
- Performance standards (i.e., quality, quantity, timeliness) tied to the performance requirements.
- A Government quality assurance (QA) plan that describes how the contractor's performance will be measured against the performance standards.
- If the acquisition is either critical to agency mission accomplishment or requires relatively large expenditures of funds, positive and negative incentives tied to the Government QA plan measurements. Therefore, do not attempt to define incentives for every requirement. State the incentives for the task's most significant and critical requirements. Also, sufficient staff must be available to evaluate performance, so do not plan for what performance evaluations that cannot be staffed.
PBA Samples, Templates and Additional Resources
The following will aid preparation of PBA SOWs. The samples have been culled and modified from a variety of actual Government agencies and documents.
Click here for a PBA SOW outline and template.
Click here for a sample performance requirements
Click here for a sample of a complete SOW.
Click here for the "7 Steps to Performance Base Service Acquisition Home Page"