While it is still under development, the current (12/13/24) draft Section L “Instructions” for MAPS state that an offeror’s proposal shall include the following:
- Cover letter
- Gate criteria – Attachment 0001
- Volume I – Systems, rates and certifications
- Volume II – Past performance
- Volume III – Technical
- Small Business Subcontracting Plan (required for large businesses only)
The current draft evaluation process begins with the assessment of the offeror’s gate criteria responses and all supporting documentation. If the offeror passes through the gate criteria evaluation, the government will then continue the evaluation process against the scorecard rubric for each domain and determine the total credits earned. The proposals are then ranked from highest total credits to lowest total credits, per domain. The current draft scorecard is divided into the same three volumes noted above, however the total maximum credits differ depending on whether the offeror is a small or large business. The maximum number of credits for a large business offeror is 55 credits while the maximum credits for a small business offeror is 53 credits. Below is a breakout of available credits by volume and underlying scoring section.
MAPS Scorecard Business Attachment 003
Volume I – Systems and rates (four credits available for large business offerors, two credits available for small business offerors)
- Government approved systems and rates = two credits
- Certifications = two credits
Volume II – Past performance (36 credits available)
- Relevance = 15 credits
- NAICS alignment = three credits
- Recency = three credits
- Performance quality = 15 credits
Volume III – Technical (15 credits available)
- Recruitment = five credits
- Retention = five credits
- Risk management = five credits
Other considerations
While MAPS may seem like a typical self-evaluation, scorecard proposal, there are several unique considerations that offerors should be aware of before preparing their proposals. First off, this solicitation has an initial “filtering” phase in the evaluation process called the “Gate Criteria”. The offeror is required to respond to all of the questions listed below. Potential offerors should strongly consider their responses when making a bid or no-bid decision. If an offeror finds itself responding “no” to most of the questions, it is more than likely the evaluation of their proposal will stop at this step.
- Are you a small business?
- Have all submission requirements been met?
- Does your company have an active facility clearance of SECRET?
- Is your company actively ISO 9001:2015 certified?
- Is your company currently Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Level 2 or higher certified or has your company scheduled the certified third-party review to receive CMMC Level 2 certification?
- Does your company have a Government-approved Accounting System? (non-applicable to small business offerors)
- Does the CAGE code your company is proposing under have a current assessment report within CPARS with over 40% (large business) or over 60% (small business) of the performance elements rated MARGINAL or below?
Outside of the gate criteria, the MAPS scorecard offers some familiar scoring criteria like systems, rates and certifications. All claimed systems and rates must be government approved to qualify for credit scoring. For certifications, we are seeing one of the first, if not the very first, inclusion of CMMC Level 2 or higher certification as a credit scoring factor. The rest of the scorecard is predicated on the past performance volume and the technical volume.
For past performance, offerors will need to submit three qualifying projects per proposed domain, with a focus on relevance, North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) alignment, recency and performance quality (i.e., CPARS rating). The most difficult aspect for offerors will be mapping the qualifying projects’ statements of work to the domain technical capabilities. Domains have anywhere between six and eleven distinct technical capabilities each. This could mean a minimum of 18 and 33 citations per domain, potentially double or triple that number if an offeror prefers to provide backup citations. Qualifying projects are then awarded credits based on the number of technical capabilities met.
Last but not least, the technical volume requires the offeror to provide a response limited to six pages to three areas (two pages per area): recruitment, retention and risk management. The scoring for the technical volume is the most subjective with the government awarding a maximum of five credits per area based on the following ratings: outstanding (five points), good (three points), acceptable (two points), marginal (one point), or unacceptable (zero points).
Status (open/closed)
After being paused and under review in March 2025, the ACC-APG recently announced that the Government will proceed with the MAPS acquisition. While MAPS is still currently in the planning and development stage, potential offerors would be wise to review the latest draft Section L and M solicitation materials, assess their maximum scoring ability, collect verification documents and begin preparing their proposals. Baker Tilly will provide an update on the anticipated solicitation timeline following the scheduled Jan. 28, 2026, industry event, where a MAPS pre-solicitation walk-through will be provided.
