Prime/Sub Responsibilities - Three Major Principles, subdivided

POINTS OF CONSIDERATION REGARDING PRIME CONTRACTOR VS. SUBCONTRACTOR ROLES

The difference in difficulty between 'prime-ing' a contract and 'sub-ing' under it is substantial. This is not because of any extraordinary effort required of the Prime, but because of the relatively little effort required of the Sub. Essentially, Sub performance is limited to accomplishing technical tasks/deliveries ordered by the Prime and submitting reports thereon.

Performance:

1. The major difference between Prime and Sub roles is the level of responsibility for performance. Simply put, the Prime is responsible to the agency for all performance required by the contract, regardless of what party actually performs under individual CLINs, while the Sub is responsible only to the Prime and then only for the performance required by the CLINs in its subcontract.

2. The Prime is responsible for all aspects of program/contract/task management; the Sub only for managing its performance and adhering to administrative requirements of the subcontract. The Sub, then, is for all practical purposes shielded from most (if not all) non-performance performance, including, but not limited to:

a. most or all program adminstration functions.
b. management of socio-economic goals, provisions, formal plans or cures
c. management of and responsibility for subcontractor schedules and behavior
d. smooth integration of team resources and technical performance
e. (most) management of the client Competition: 3. The Prime is the principal (and in some places the sole) provider of material submitted for evaluation of capability and capacity. As such the Prime must: a. identify, qualify, team with and coordinate submittals by Subs
b. craft a winning management plan.
c. provide a superior (or at least satisfactory) concept for accomplishing non-performance administration
d. be prepared for the bulk of any audit effort required, including managing Sub audits to some extent, responding to audit results and amending the total proposal/contract to include adjustments in prices or performance areas
e. plan and produce a coherent master proposal from its resources and from the materials provided by prospective subs
e. integrate the team to demonstrate composite responsiveness, while maintaining a strong presence (as perceived by reviewers) of program/project/task control
f. show a history of successful accomplishment of both technical and management performance under equivalent efforts in similar markets
g. structure Sub roles so as to show a superior team to reviewers while minimizing/managing internal competition for contract work and other related work.

Where a choice exists between priming the contract (and rounding up, disciplining, managing and providing minor or major handholding to the Subs) or accepting a subcontract berth with another prime candidate (an incumbent or perceivedly superior competitor) the "pro"s and "con"s of your competitive position, the performance requirements, the technical and administrative processes and other factors must be weighed against the likelihood of winning and the return on the investment required to assure satisfactory performance.

Other factors include:

a. academically: the advantages of (almost) assured market improvement or penetration into a new market for (relatively) little effort as a subcontract team member vs. attempting to both win and successfully perform in the (perhaps new) market.
b. realistically: in the case of a strong incumbent - if you and the incumbent are going to team, regardless of which is in which roll, then the roll assignments that are most apt to win become very important; if you have to choose between sub-ing to a strong incumbent and competing with them, then the likelihood of winning not just without them, but against them must be considered. Some of this seems to be negative (for Priming). This is not the case; you just have to make realistic judgements, case to case.

AN, Ltd. has unsurpassed expertise in this area. Before you leap, look to AN, Ltd. for truly superior guidance.