Contracting Officer Podcast 2.0 Episodes
As former Federal Contracting Officers who have also walked in industry’s shoes, Kevin and Paul share their expertise and perspectives in support of the podcast’s mission: Make government contracting better, one contract at a time.
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498 – What’s an A-76 Competition?
Every organization has things to get done.Some things they do themselves. Some things they have others do.It is often called a “Make or Buy” decision (or a “Do or Hire” decision for services). The...
497 – GovCon Weight Class (Contractors)
An axiom of entrepreneurship is, “it’s not idea creation that gets in our way, it’s idea selection.” We tend to have more ideas than we have resources to execute those ideas. This applies in GovCon...
496 – The Other Costs of Proposals
Proposals are how most contractors win government contracts. Proposals typically do 3 things: outline how an offeror will meet the requirement (i.e. the technical approach); explain how well they...
495 – Contingency Contracting Part 2 – Processes
“Government contracting” is a broad phrase that includes a wide variety of skills, processes, and judgements. One of the lesser known types is Contingency Contracting. Contingency Contracting...
494 – What is Profit?
What is “profit”? The simplistic answer is something like: “the money left over after all expenses are paid.” The reality is a bit more complicated. Profit can be a polarizing topic for both buyer...
493 – Using the F Word… “Fair”
“Fair” can often be the F word in negotiations. While the title of this episode is humorous, the term “fair” can be just as jarring as the other F word. This is because our expectations and...
492 – What are Liquidated Damages?
Liquidated damages are a pre-set amount that one party agrees to pay another in the event of a breach of some element of a contract. Easy. Sort of. In GovCon, liquidated damages can be a form of...
491 – Cutting PALT by Finding Examples (w/ Mike Weiland)
In GovCon, we often refer to the time it takes to go from requirement to contract award as ”Procurement Action Lead Time”, or PALT. The idea is that the shorter the PALT, the faster the government...
490 – What “IS NOT” a Good Faith Effort?
In the last episode, Kevin and Paul explained how prime contractors must give a “good faith effort” to award subcontracts to small business in accordance with their subcontracting plan. Ok, but what...
489 – What “IS” a Good Faith Effort?
The concept of “Good Faith Effort” came up in episode 481 (What goes in a Subcontracting Plan?). The context of “Good Faith Effort” in that episode was around the prime contractor being required to...
488 – Notification of Changes
In the last episode, we outlined the rules about when there is a contract change – and how those change can lead to Requests for Equitable Adjustment (REAs). In this episode, we go a bit further...
487 – What’s an Request for Equitable Adjustment (REA)? (w/ Angela Jacobs)
The only constant is the law of change. We award contracts with the intent of not needing to change them, but things happen. Government contracts are awarded in the real world where situations...
486 – Doing GovCon Market Research
There is a lot of public information available on what goods and services federal agencies buy, as well as how they buy them and from whom. It is PUBLIC information since, well, it’s public money....
485 – GovCon Vocabulary – Volume 4 (Proposal vs Tender)
There are some unique words in GovCon. One of our favorites is “de-obligated” (which is not to be confused with “not obligated”). It’s easy (and a little fun) to pick on these unique GovCon words....
484 – What is Brand Name or Equal? (w/ Steve Lucianetti)
As consumers, we tend to stick to the same brands. So much so that there is a term for it: brand loyalty. However, the government cannot just use that same brand loyalty concept. Buying a brand name...
483 – Fixed Price with EPA (Economic Price Adjustment)
The government buys many (or most) things using Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contracts. This contract type is a great option when the government clearly knows what it wants and the contractor knows how to...