Conducting the Source Selection: Running the Technical Evaluation Panel — One-Day Essentials
A source selection is only as sound as the evaluation behind it. The methods and the tradeoff decision get the attention, but the award stands or falls on how well the evaluation team is built and led, and how well its decisions are documented.
This course is for the acquisition workforce who lead, serve on, or support source selection evaluation teams and technical evaluation panels and want to run them well.
We start with the team itself — the Technical Evaluation Panel / Source Selection Team (TEP/SST): who should be on it, the roles and expertise it needs, who runs it, and who should not be in the room. We cover how the evaluation is structured to ensure the team evaluates consistently and against the right criteria: the evaluation plan, the link back to the factors and significant subfactors in the solicitation, and the rating approach the team should use.
From there we cover conducting the evaluation itself: assessing proposals solely against the stated criteria; identifying strengths, weaknesses, and risks; reaching and recording consensus; and keeping individual and team judgments grounded in the proposal rather than assumptions. We cover the documentation that carries the whole process — the evaluation record that captures what the team did, what it found, and why it reached those conclusions, written well enough to withstand a scrutinizing review. Throughout, we cover the public policy behind a disciplined evaluation, and where the governing rules/regulations live in the RFO FAR so you can find them yourself, plus, how a clean, well-run evaluation protects both the award and the organization.
This course is taught by Melinda Milheim, JD, who spent her federal career in the acquisition workforce. She served as a Contract Specialist, COR, and AOR for the U.S. Navy (and later a Contract Specialist for the Department of Health and Human Services / Indian Health Service), where she worked on more than $7.7 billion in federal contracts across RDT&E, engineering, medical, IT, construction, and major weapon-systems. She draws on that experience, along with her law degree and MBA studies, to teach the why behind the how — so participants leave with sharper judgment, not just a stack of slides. An award-winning DAU/WarU (DAWIA and FAI) instructor, she has taught more than 1,000 federal acquisition workforce students across 20-plus agencies.
Best for: source selection participants, technical evaluation panel members, contracting officers, contract specialists, team leads, and the program and technical staff who support source selection procedures — anyone who builds, leads, or sits on the team that evaluates proposals.
Format: Available as a one-day course, delivered in person or virtually. Eligible federal acquisition workforce attendees earn 8 CLPs. A note on CLPs: This course earns continuous learning points (CLPs) that both defense (DAWIA) and civilian (FAC-C, FAC-COR, and FAC-P/PM) acquisition professionals can apply toward their continuous learning requirements. Because agencies set their own rules on what qualifies for CLP credit, check with your Acquisition Career Manager (ACM) or component training office to confirm how it applies to your plan.
You might also consider
Protecting the Source Selection: Procurement Integrity and Safeguarding — One-Day Essentials — the integrity rules, conflict checks, and safeguards that every evaluation team must follow.
Source Selection Under the RFO FAR (4-Day) — all four source selection courses together, start to finish.
Best Value and the Tradeoff Decision — One-Day Essentials — how the ratings your team produces become the award decision.
Pricing is set per engagement. Contact Phoenix Canyon to request a quote.
A source selection is only as sound as the evaluation behind it. The methods and the tradeoff decision get the attention, but the award stands or falls on how well the evaluation team is built and led, and how well its decisions are documented.
This course is for the acquisition workforce who lead, serve on, or support source selection evaluation teams and technical evaluation panels and want to run them well.
We start with the team itself — the Technical Evaluation Panel / Source Selection Team (TEP/SST): who should be on it, the roles and expertise it needs, who runs it, and who should not be in the room. We cover how the evaluation is structured to ensure the team evaluates consistently and against the right criteria: the evaluation plan, the link back to the factors and significant subfactors in the solicitation, and the rating approach the team should use.
From there we cover conducting the evaluation itself: assessing proposals solely against the stated criteria; identifying strengths, weaknesses, and risks; reaching and recording consensus; and keeping individual and team judgments grounded in the proposal rather than assumptions. We cover the documentation that carries the whole process — the evaluation record that captures what the team did, what it found, and why it reached those conclusions, written well enough to withstand a scrutinizing review. Throughout, we cover the public policy behind a disciplined evaluation, and where the governing rules/regulations live in the RFO FAR so you can find them yourself, plus, how a clean, well-run evaluation protects both the award and the organization.
This course is taught by Melinda Milheim, JD, who spent her federal career in the acquisition workforce. She served as a Contract Specialist, COR, and AOR for the U.S. Navy (and later a Contract Specialist for the Department of Health and Human Services / Indian Health Service), where she worked on more than $7.7 billion in federal contracts across RDT&E, engineering, medical, IT, construction, and major weapon-systems. She draws on that experience, along with her law degree and MBA studies, to teach the why behind the how — so participants leave with sharper judgment, not just a stack of slides. An award-winning DAU/WarU (DAWIA and FAI) instructor, she has taught more than 1,000 federal acquisition workforce students across 20-plus agencies.
Best for: source selection participants, technical evaluation panel members, contracting officers, contract specialists, team leads, and the program and technical staff who support source selection procedures — anyone who builds, leads, or sits on the team that evaluates proposals.
Format: Available as a one-day course, delivered in person or virtually. Eligible federal acquisition workforce attendees earn 8 CLPs. A note on CLPs: This course earns continuous learning points (CLPs) that both defense (DAWIA) and civilian (FAC-C, FAC-COR, and FAC-P/PM) acquisition professionals can apply toward their continuous learning requirements. Because agencies set their own rules on what qualifies for CLP credit, check with your Acquisition Career Manager (ACM) or component training office to confirm how it applies to your plan.
You might also consider
Protecting the Source Selection: Procurement Integrity and Safeguarding — One-Day Essentials — the integrity rules, conflict checks, and safeguards that every evaluation team must follow.
Source Selection Under the RFO FAR (4-Day) — all four source selection courses together, start to finish.
Best Value and the Tradeoff Decision — One-Day Essentials — how the ratings your team produces become the award decision.
Pricing is set per engagement. Contact Phoenix Canyon to request a quote.