Facility owners/managers today face a complex dilemma. Aging facilities, budget cuts and personnel “downsizing”, yet they are still expected to provide top service and high quality facilities to their customers. To be successful, they much learn how to do more with less – they must maximize performance and minimize expenditures. Existing procurement practices must be scrutinized to determine whether they deliver the Best Value to the facility owner/manager. Fortunately, about 20 years ago, certain US Army Facility Engineers bean researching this situation. Their research primarily focused on two key processes 1 the process of hiring the best contractor for a specific project 2) the process of converting a new work request into an actual construction project in the most timely and cost effective manner. Their research eventually led to the creation of a revolutionary new procedure method called Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ). This method of procurement quickly spread to every military base in the county. It is now used by nearly every Federal Agency and is currently making its way into the public and private agencies outside the Federal Government. Basic Industries, Inc., has embraced the IDIQ method of procurement and is firmly committed to the belief that all facility owners/managers should have an IDIQ method of procurement at their disposal. IDIQ contracting is referred to by several different acronyms (Delivery Order Contracting – DOC, Task Order Contracting TOC, Simplified Acquisition of Base Engineering Requirements – SABER and Job Order Contracting JOC). The Texas procurement code defines it as Job Order Contracting – JOC.

In 2002, Basic Industries, Inc., committed its resources to IDIQ contracting by establishing a division, Basic IDIQ, to promote and deliver Job Order Contracting within the state of Texas. Basic IDIQ entered this relatively new market with a core belief that for facility owners/managers, “Hiring the best contractor is not the same as hiring the lowest price contractor”. The alternative to low-bid procurement is a performance based selection process, which recognizes that price is only one o many factors to be considered when selecting a contractor. Performance based selection must consider all factors that will predict the level of performance by a contractor including technical ability, prior performance and competitive pricing. This is the essence of IDIQ contracting, combined with incentives for the contractor to perform. Most IDIQ contracts include a base year contract with up to four annual renewal options based on contractor performance.