Contracting Officer Insight Archives

Past Performance vs. Corporate Experience: What Government Buyers Actually Evaluate

by Charlie Beauchamp | Mar 23, 2026 | Contracting Officer Insight

In government contracting, “past performance” and “corporate experience” are often used interchangeably, even though they measure different things. Understanding how the government evaluates each helps companies position themselves more clearly. The simplest way to...

Congressional Notifications: The Schedule Gate Hiding in Plain Sight

by Charlie Beauchamp | Mar 16, 2026 | Contracting Officer Insight

Congressional notifications are a schedule driver that rarely appears in a solicitation, but often appears at the finish line. In the sound and fury of acquisition kickoff meetings, RFP releases, proposal deadlines, and evaluation sprints, they are easy to overlook....

The Government’s Three Main Acquisition Instruments

by Charlie Beauchamp | Mar 9, 2026 | Contracting Officer Insight

The way the Government buys things is generally perceived by the public as a single instrument, giant contracts that usually go to a large mega-corporation. This is often the “face” of Government acquisition, brought to you by the media and the entertainment industry....

Defense Subcontractor Flow-down Clauses

by Charlie Beauchamp | Mar 1, 2026 | Contracting Officer Insight

Hey there, prime contractors! Are you still flowing down the majority of clauses to your subs with the expectation of them being “self-deleting”? If you are performing under Defense contracts, you may be doing something wrong, just by doing what has commonly been...

Do I really have to add a solicitation’s NAICS code to my SAM.gov profile?

by Charlie Beauchamp | Feb 23, 2026 | Contracting Officer Insight

The other week I was talking to a client, and they mentioned how a contracting officer was requiring they add an acquisition’s NAICS code to their SAM.gov profile before they would share the SOW for a tentative sole source requirement to another company. Of course,...

Centralized vs. Decentralized Buying on a Government Contract: Follow the Three Deciders

by Charlie Beauchamp | Feb 18, 2026 | Contracting Officer Insight

A contract vehicle can look “centralized,” yet behave like dozens of separate accounts once ordering begins. The difference usually comes down to Skyway’s Three Deciders: the Customer (the mission need), the Economic Decider (the budget owner), and the Contracting...

Past Performance vs. Corporate Experience: What Government Buyers Actually Evaluate

Congressional Notifications: The Schedule Gate Hiding in Plain Sight

The Government’s Three Main Acquisition Instruments

Defense Subcontractor Flow-down Clauses

Do I really have to add a solicitation’s NAICS code to my SAM.gov profile?

Centralized vs. Decentralized Buying on a Government Contract: Follow the Three Deciders

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