U.S. Department of Defense regulations provide for the issuance of Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC). A multiple award contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract for construction services with multiple awardees. The awardees constitute a pool of contractors who then compete for subsequent task orders. (There are some exceptions to this rule, whereby competition may be reduced or task orders issued non-competitively to one contract holder.) This type contract is discussed in FAR and DFARS Subparts 16.5 and 216.5, respectively (see 16.501-1 and 216.501-1 for definitions).

On January 7, 2008, FedBizOpps posted two solicitations for heavy construction work on New Orleans and south Louisiana hurricane protection projects to be carried out by MATOCs. The USACE New Orleans District conducted a pre-proposal conference on February 13, 2008, and the deadline for submitting proposals was March 3, 2008. One solicitation required bidders to be classified as an 8(a) disadvantaged small business, and the other solicitation required bidders to be located in a HUBZONE, or an area targeted by the federal government for economic development. Award results for the HUBZONE MATOC were announced on April 8, 2008, and award results for the 8(a) MATOCs were announced on July 29, 2008. The opportunity to bid on task orders under these contracts is now limited to those who were awarded contracts, known as the MATOC “pool.”