Skyway Wire
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...
Contract Closeout
One of my first tasks as a newly-warranted Contracting Officer was to process DD Form 1594 – Contract Completion Statements for old, completed contracts that had not yet been officially closed. This...
Every Acquisition is Unique
After 16 years in federal contracting, I have never seen an acquisition proceed exactly as its predecessor. This statement applies to both one-off contracts and task orders competed under multiple...
Calculating Industrial Funding Fees (IFF)
GSA Schedule contracts require the contractor to remit an Industrial Funding Fee (IFF) to GSA on a quarterly basis. The current IFF is 0.75% of sales. This fee is the means by which the government...
Drink before You’re Thirsty
Believe it or not, despite putting out over 200 podcast episodes over the last 4 years, I still managed to find time to volunteer with my kids’ sports (it’s amazing how many things are transferrable...
CORs Must Know Their Contract!
This article addresses how critical it is for a Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) to know their contract. That statement sounds like a massive ‘Duh!” but you would be surprised at how many...
The Inherent Advantage of the Incumbent
When a contract comes up for re-compete, it is a chance for other competitors to win that work. The government has, as we all know, very specific rules for competitions that level the playing field....
Contract Transitions
In federal contracting, there are three key transitions that affect the overall conduct of the contract. One of the three is internal to the company, and takes place when companies must hire,...
Procurement Integrity Act (PIA) Violations
Protecting the integrity of the acquisition is one of the contracting officer’s primary responsibilities. The fact that DoD Source Selection Procedures require the Source Selection Plan to address...
Alpha Contracting
Those of us that have worked with DoD know that time is always an issue. The acquisition process, and contracting as a whole, are designed to be slow and thoughtful processes. However, given that...
Vendor Development
One important aspect that both Industry and Government need to understand about the Federal contracting arena is vendor development. In my experience, however, this concept takes several years of...
Government Property
The Government frequently provides property or permits a contractor to acquire property for use on its contracts. Government property is all property owned or leased by the Government and includes...
Fun with CDRLs!
If you are new to the government contracting world here is a subject you might not be familiar with - Contract Data Requirements List (CDRLs). You might think contract data requirements would be...
Non-displacement of Qualified Workers
You unseated an incumbent for a service contract and need to staff up quickly. As a small business, this can be an extremely daunting task. But is your company aware that you can find out who...