WHAT IS AN "ORAL PRESENTATION"?

The use of oral presentations is a technique which provides offerors with an opportunity to present information through verbal means as a substitute for information traditionally provided in written form under the cover of the offeror's proposal. The oral presentation is not a mere restatement or replication of written proposal information, but is in lieu of it. The purpose of using the oral presentation technique is to eliminate, or greatly reduce, the need for written material, where information can be conveyed in a more meaningful and efficient way through verbal means. Its major use has been to permit evaluators to receive information as to the capability of the offeror -- generally demonstrating its understanding of the work or describing how the work will be performed -- directly from the key members of the offeror's team that will actually perform the work. In a number of cases, the evaluators have conducted the oral presentation in the form of an interview, probing for additional information, posing sample tasks or using other techniques to test the ability of the offeror's team. Within the Federal acquisition community, the terms "oral presentation" and "oral proposal" have been used interchangeably. Both from a legal and practical perspective, debate exists over the proper characterization of the concept with regard to the identification and segregation of information submitted under the cover of the proposal. At the heart of the debate is the issue of whether certain types of information traditionally considered as the "proposal" should be considered part of the "offer"(that is, contractual commitments) or supplementary to it. However, the need to distinguish between information and the actual offer is a valid concern regardless of the medium used to convey the information. Accordingly, this is not solely an issue related to information presented orally. Throughout the government and industry acquisition community, the term "proposal" has generically referred to all information provided by an offeror to the Government in response to a solicitation. A major factor in the perception that all information, facts, data, and promises to perform submitted by an offeror constitute the "proposal" may, in fact, be the result of the current definition of "offer" found at FAR 2.101, which states that an offer means "a response to a solicitation that, if accepted would bind the offeror to perform the resultant contract" (emphasis added). [This same section of the FAR defines "proposal" as an offer submitted in response to a Request for Proposals.] First, a broad interpretation of the word "response" would seem to foster the traditional view that any and all information provided by the offeror constitutes the proposal. Second, the definition in the FAR does not state that the "offer" in fact becomes the contract, but rather that it binds the offeror to perform the resultant contract. Finally, the FAR definition of offer does not specify that all portions of an offer must be in writing. The term "oral presentation," as used herein, refers to the oral presentation of proposal information, where proposal is used in the generic and generally-accepted manner to mean any information submitted by an offeror in response to the solicitation. This is not to minimize the potential legal ramifications of not properly identifying those portions of the offeror's proposal intended to become part of the contract. Accordingly, Contracting Officers must exercise great care in identifying in the solicitation that information which the Government intends to include in the

contract. For less complex procurements, this distinction may be a relatively easy exercise. For more complex procurements, the task may be more formidable.

ADVANTAGES OF ORAL PRESENTATIONS

The use of oral presentations has the potential of significantly reducing the time and costs associated with the source selection process. Such benefits can be realized by both Government and industry. Oral presentations avoid the trappings of lengthy written marketing pitches and essay writing contests. In addition, certain types of written proposal information, particularly in the technical and management areas, are costly to prepare and time consuming to evaluate. Many technical and management processes often may be better conveyed and understood when explained orally or demonstrated visually. The use of oral presentation techniques also allows for greater "face-to-face" interaction between buyers (the Government requirements personnel) and sellers (the offerors) during the proposal evaluation and selection processes. Through an oral presentation, Government evaluators, focusing more on personal interaction between the proposed key personnel, often gain a view of the offeror's key personnel by witnessing how they present themselves, how they work together, and how they communicate technical information to Government personnel. Where key personnel, such as the Project Manager, are critical to the success of an acquisition, it allows for essentially a "job interview" of the proposed individual. An additional advantage is that the oral presentation process may provide a more level playing field for offerors with expertise in satisfying the Government requirement, but less experience in government proposal preparation. In the words of one agency contracting officer, the use of an oral presentation is one way "to 'ferret out' the proposers who know their stuff versus those who have great writers," or as one industry representative put it, "it substitutes real technical content for pizazz." Agencies have reported meaningful improvements in acquisition leadtimes and resource savings in their initial efforts to use oral presentation techniques. For instance, the IRS realized an 18 day reduction over standard leadtime. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates that it saved 5 days in the award process. At the Federal Aviation Administration, contract award was made within 6 months from the solicitation release date and an estimated 500 staff hours were saved through the use of oral presentations and other streamlining techniques. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing experienced an estimated $58,000 reduction in administrative costs due to the use of oral presentations. In an absolute sense, such leadtime and resource savings may appear minimal; however, their true value must be viewed in light of the vast number of transactions processed by these agencies annually. ADVANTAGES OF ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Can Save Significant Procurement Lead Time Can Improve Communication and the Exchange of Information Between Government and Offerors Can Reduce Government Costs Can Reduce Offerors' Costs and Increase Competition Can Make Customers Feel More Involved in Contract Selection and Award

Can Improve Ability to Select Most Advantageous Offer

DISADVANTAGES OF ORAL COMMUNICATION

Unrepeatable - Information retention is difficult, it is harder to store or retrieve. The 80-20 rule comes into play herethe majority of the audience is likely to forget 80% of the information, while retaining only 20%- thus making the speaker's task very difficult. - Selective hearing, receiving information may be distorted resulting in miscommunication. (For more information, please refer to week 1 of our wiki) - Audience must be active listeners. - The same words said in different tones may convey very different messages. - Difficulty in finding words to correctly convey meaning in a short period of time. - Some may find it easier to organise information through writing. - Easier to visualise the flow of information? This idea is good but only if the visualisations, eg. ppt presentations, are kept simple, short and to the point for the audience to grasp the idea easily. Presentation of too much written material is difficult to grasp in a short span of time. - People usually take more time to communicate an idea. -Sometimes the audience need to ask questions to clarify, this often happens in lectures. - NATO (No Action Talk Only) *Effective delivery via oral communication but lacks any followup actions. We cannot blindly trust the speaker by what He/She says or claims, Actions speaks louder than Words.