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Award Date: 12/21/2000

Expiration Date: 12/20/2010

Contact: 1-888-773-6542

Introduction

This document explains what PBSC is and provides a PBSC template for performance requirements, sample PBSC performance statements, and a complete sample PBSC Statement of Work (SOW).

PBSC is described in the memo of August 8,1997 from the administrator of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the Agency Senior Procurement Executives and the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense. The memo requires the following minimal components for PBSC:

  1. Performance requirements that define the work in measurable, mission-related terms.
  2. Performance standards (i.e., quality, quantity, timeliness) tied to the performance requirements.
  3. A Government quality assurance (QA) plan that describes how the contractor’s performance will be measured against the performance standards.
  4. 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.

Notes:

  • In memo item 1 above, 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.
  • In PBSC, OMB gives direction for writing performance requirements, performance standards, a quality assurance plan, and positive and negative incentives. Other aspects of the acquisition process are not discussed.
  • OMB has not directed agencies to make all of their acquisitions PBSC, but rather to encourage the use of PBSC to the maximum extent possible. Therefore, do not try to squeeze all your requirements into the PBSC mold if some of them are inappropriate fits. For example, building a structure according to architectural drawings is usually not stated in PBSC terms because the drawings specify how the structure is to be built.
  • The OMB memo calls for positive and negative incentives for critical agency mission requirements or for relatively large expenditure acquisitions. Therefore, do not attempt to define incentives for every requirement. State incentives for the most significant and critical requirements of a task. Also, you must have sufficient staff available to evaluate performance, so do not plan for what you cannot do.

The following sections will aid you in preparing PBSC SOWs. Section II contains a PBSC SOW outline. Section III contains a template for individual performance requirements. Sections IV and V contain samples that have been culled from a variety of actual Government agencies and documents, modified for this presentation: section IV contains sample performance requirements and section V contains a sample of a complete SOW.

PBSC Sow Outline

  1. Introduction: background and overall task description
  2. List of performance requirements
    1. Requirement 1
      1. Performance Requirement
      2. Performance Standard
      3. Quality Assurance Plan
    2. Requirement 2
      1. Performance Requirement
      2. Performance Standard
      3. Quality Assurance Plan
    3. Etc.
  3. List of other requirements
  4. Deliverables list

Note: The Quality Assurance Plan may be consolidated into a separate document or placed paragraph-by-paragraph in the SOW as shown in this outline.

PBSC Template

This section explains how to write PBSC Performance Requirements, Performance Standards, and Quality Assurance Plans.

Performance Requirement

For each requirement, state what work product is to be produced or performed, but do not tell the contractor how they must go about it. Say, “Write a user manual suitable for first time users,” but do not specify topics, organization, language usage, or format. Say, “Automate process X,” but do not prescribe a design.

Performance Standard

Explain how good the work must be in measurable terms. For example, specify quantity, production level, delivery schedule, response time, and availability of equipment, verified customer complaint rate.

State what level of performance is required to meet the Performance Standard. For example, if the Performance Standard was to “repair equipment within four hours of failure,” a Minimum Acceptable Performance may be “meet the Performance Standard for 95% of all repairs.”

The Minimum Acceptable Performance statement can be used as a basis for positive or negative incentives. If you do this, state what the incentives are, including how they are computed. A reduction formula may be used to reduce payment when the Minimum Acceptable Performance level is not met. See the specific examples below.

Quality Assurance Plan

Explain how you will determine if the Performance Standard has been met. Examples include unannounced periodic inspection, 100% inspection, sampling and testing, tabulation of validated customer complaints, inspection of contractor’s records, complete reading of written products.