Organizational conflict of interest (OCI)
Also called: OCI, Conflict of interest
Updated
What is Organizational conflict of interest (OCI)?
An organizational conflict of interest (OCI) exists when a company's other work or relationships could give it an unfair competitive advantage or impair its objectivity on a government contract. FAR subpart 9.5 tells contracting officers to identify and avoid, neutralize or mitigate OCIs, and a serious one can bar a company from a competition.
The three kinds of OCI
Decisions under FAR 9.5 commonly sort OCIs into three groups. Unequal access to information: the company saw nonpublic information, often on a support contract, that would help it compete. Biased ground rules: it helped write the requirements or the statement of work for the buy it now wants to bid. Impaired objectivity: the work would have it evaluate its own products or those of a competitor or partner.
Solicitations often include an OCI clause or provision and ask offerors to disclose potential conflicts. Check it during the bid/no-bid decision, not at submission.
Disclosure and mitigation
When a potential OCI exists, the usual path is early disclosure and a mitigation plan: firewalls between teams, excluding certain staff, limits on information sharing, or giving up part of the work. The contracting officer decides whether the plan is enough; some conflicts cannot be mitigated and require the company to step aside.
OCI questions also affect teaming: a partner with a conflict can disqualify the whole team, so ask about each partner's current contracts before signing.
Organizational conflict of interest (OCI) in ProposalWorkspace
ProposalWorkspace keeps every workspace isolated: no one, not even an account owner, can learn which other companies a member or consultant works for, a confidentiality rule built with OCI concerns in mind. The RFP analysis lists risk and terms factors, with page cites, for the bid decision.
Organizational conflict of interest (OCI): questions and answers
What are the three types of organizational conflict of interest?
Unequal access to information, biased ground rules and impaired objectivity. Each describes a different way other work could give a company an unfair advantage or compromise its judgment.
Can an OCI be fixed?
Often it can be avoided, neutralized or mitigated, for example with firewalls or by excluding certain people or work. The contracting officer decides whether the mitigation is enough.
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