Skyway Wire
Strategic Sourcing
One area of federal government acquisition that has always fascinated me is the concept of “strategic sourcing.” The Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) website defines strategic sourcing as the...
Agile Government Contracting – Part 1 of a Series
At the highest levels, Government contracting and Project Management share two approaches – Traditional and Agile. For many years, the Government has been trying to adopt and adapt Agile practices...
The Government Isn’t Always Right
We’ve all heard the expression “The customer is always right…” which may have a place in customer service but should not be blindly adopted in the performance of government contracts. In a recent...
When the Kids Fight
The US Government is dysfunctional when it comes to budget matters. In the years that I worked for USG it seem that just about every year the budget would not be agreed to at the start of the...
Government’s Evolving Approach to Commercial Items
I have penned a few articles on issues involving the commerciality of various items being procured by the US Government. Basically, the idea is that if the seller can show that an item is...
How to Use Your Lawyer
For the past 3 weeks I have been doing my other job, being a travel agent. I spent lots of time in the Caribbean learning about the properties we try to send people too who are looking for a...
Subcontracting Plans
When a company graduates to a large business, one area I have often observed as being overlooked is the small business subcontracting plan. The plan is required for contracts exceeding $700,000...
Past Performance ≠ Experience
The number one complaint I receive from small businesses is, “I can’t do business with the Government, because I have no past performance.” I am here to tell you - THAT is a huge misnomer! What...
STEPPING FROM CONTRACTING OFFICER TO CONSULTANT
When I was still working as a Contract Specialist for the government and retirement was approaching, I wondered what would be next after leaving the government. I knew I didn’t want to manage...
Win – Win Contract Negotiations Suffer from Corporate Profit/Loss Objectives
The Skyway team had a good discussion the other day that resulted from an observation I made about the different ethos and corporate cultures one finds in the arena of Government Contracting. By...
When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Contracting Officer
A lot of our members are government contracting personnel who use our blogs and podcast to help them understand all the different areas contracting people have to know to do their jobs. Many aspire...
Post Award Debriefs for Awardees
After receiving notification that your proposal was selected for award, the last thing you are thinking about is to request a debrief. Some companies may even be of the mindset that it does not...
When the Government is the Supplier
This blog is really for the contracting people out there that buy hardware. The government is always looking to reduce cost when buying hardware systems. If there is a production contract for...
Combat Contracting- The Final Deployment
I can hardly believe it has been ten years since my combat service in Fallujah, Iraq. I was working at the Mujahedin-E Khalq Compound in support of over 27,000 Coalition forces operating within Al...
Targeting is easy…you just have to do it
I normally don’t answer my cell phone if I don’t know who it is (do you?) Anyway, one day last week I had a moment of weakness and I accidently answered the phone because I thought it was my wife....
We’re Late, but It’s Not Our Fault……
How often has a CO heard that! In some cases, it can be true and that is usually when the government itself has caused delays because of their failure to act in a timely manner. Government caused...