TINA - SWEEP

Defective pricing could result, if any person in the contractor's organization knew that cost or pricing data submitted by the offeror were not accurate, complete, and current, when price negotiations were concluded and price agreement was reached or (if applicable) on another agreed-upon date. For example, defective pricing could occur if a subcontract buyer knew that a subcontractor intended to revise its proposal downward by $50,000, and failed to advise others in the prime contractor's organization. To assure compliance with TINA requirements, many contractors have instituted programs for conducting extensive reviews of available cost or pricing data after negotiations are complete, but before submitting the Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data.

These reviews are commonly known as "sweeps."
The objective is to identify any new or revised data required to assure that all cost or pricing data are accurate, complete, and current.
The offeror then submits the new or revised data to the Government with the Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data.

A TINA Sweep is the process where each person who compiled a portion or section of a proposal, goes back to make sure nothing has changed since the estimate was prepared, and the information is still current, complete, and accurate. If additional cost or pricing data is identified and is considered relevant to the price negotiation, the data must be provided to the company negotiator or negotiating team so that they may also give that information to the customer, after determining that information is relevant. That data also needs to be disclosed to the other party (government or higher tier contractor).

TINA Sweeps are not required by FAR or other regulations, but are normally done so that contractors can ensure that the information being certified to is current, complete, and accurate.

TINA SWEEP

When certified cost or pricing data are required in accordance with FAR 15.406-2, the Contracting Officer must require the (Prime)Contractor to execute (to complete and submit) a Certificate of Current Cost or Pricing Data. This requirement also flows down to a lower tier subcontractor if the TINA requirement is met (Sole Source, >$700K).

A part of ensuring that the estimate is current, complete and accurate and providing assurance to the signer of the certificate is the process of performing a “TINA Sweep” prior to the submittal of the certificate.

Making sure that an bid/proposal/estimate is current, complete and accurate, is important, for a number of reasons. They are: 1. So the contractor does not undercharge or "cheat" themself, 2. So, that the US Government is not being overcharged 3. Making sure the bid/estimate is complete is very important that if the bid varies from the actual costs incurred later, all facts have been disclosed. Facts that have been missed, eliminated, (not disclosed) could be argued later that they were relevant to negotiations and the pricing of the contract.

Post award audits are used to ensure that the US Government was not overcharged. DCAA performs audits of DoD contracts. An auditor will determine if the negotiated contract price was increased by a significant amount because the contractor did not submit or disclose accurate, complete, and current cost or pricing data. To show that defective pricing exists, the auditor must establish each of the following points:

1. The information in question fits the definition of cost or pricing data, and 2. Accurate, complete, and current data existed and was reasonably available to the contractor before the agreement on price, and 3. Accurate, complete, and current data were not submitted or disclosed to the Contracting Officer and that these individuals did not have actual knowledge of such data or its significance to the proposal, and

4. The Government relied on the defective data in negotiating with the contractor, and 5. The Government reliance on the defective data caused an increase in the contract price.

All cost or pricing data submitted in support of negotiations must be reviewed in a TINA sweep to ensure that disclosed cost or pricing data is accurate, current, and complete as of the date of agreement on price (or a mutually agreed date close to the price agreement). Identifying more current data acquired prior to the agreement on price date (certification date), or clarifying whether certain information represents cost or pricing data is imperative during this process.

===TINA SWEEP FORM=== This form needs to be completed and retained.

TIMING: Timing of the sweep should be as close to the negotiation time as possible to assure that efforts are not expended unnecessarily. BD is responsible for communicating the timing of negotiations so that a compliant sweep can be completed. Completing the sweep prior to final price agreement is ideal, however it can be done at a point in time close to the final agreement, as long as it is understood that price redetermination may need to be made.

Attachment I Cost or Pricing Data Review and Certification "TINA Sweep" Form RFP/Solicitation No.: Program Name: Description: Customer Name: Program Manager: Date of Price Agreement: Pricing Spec.: Date of Sweep: Contracts Rep.: Date Response Due:

Distribution: Pricing: ______________________________________

Contracts: ______________________________________

Procurement: ______________________________________

Program Office/Bus. Dev. ______________________________________

Operations/Engineering: ______________________________________

Finance: ______________________________________

Other: ______________________________________

1. Labor Estimates: Is there current actual historical for the same or similar effort, configurations and/or quantities available that were not available when the proposal was compiled. Do those numbers vary significantly from what was proposed? If the new numbers had been utilized, would they produce cost and pricing that is significantly different than what was proposed. If yes, in addition to completing this form, you need to advise the proposal manager, project manager, program manager or other appropriate individual, so that that person can review the information, and disclose it, if necessary.

For labor, there are two elements that need to be reviewed in detail. They are: a) The estimated Direct Labor Rates, and b) The estimated time it takes to perform each function.

You need to have available for audit, backup for each element of labor. You also need to be able to demonstrate that these elements are estimated with accuracy, completeness, and with current information, describing the methodology and techniques utilized in the compilation of the estimates.

Category Responsible Area Eng. Labor Engineering Mfg Labor Manufacturing

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