Skyway Wire
Out-of-Scope Task Orders
In Western Pilot Service, et al., B-415732 et al., Mar. 6, 2018, GAO sustained a pre-award protest brought by several offerors that arguing that the RFP for a task order sought services outside the...
Share the Knowledge
Here's a little secret that isn’t so secret to anyone who has ever done business with the government: across the Federal government, agencies have a difficult time communicating with each other and...
The Benefits and Risks of IDIQ Contracts – Part 2
Recently, I wrote about the risks and benefits of IDIQ contracts as it concerned requirements. This month I would like to comment on the risk and benefits of pricing IDIQ contracts. When I was a...
Wage Determinations
Service contracting with the federal government is FAR different than the commercial market due to what is commonly referred to as the Service Contract Act (SCA), renamed the Service Contract Labor...
GAO Sustains Protest Based on Unequal Discussions In $283 Million Census Task Order Award
In AT&T Corp., B-414886 (Oct. 5, 2017), AT&T protested the issuance of a fixed price task order to CDW Government LLC under an RFP for a mobile device solution to support the 2020 Census....
Commerciality
Under the Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA), the US government requires contractors to certify their cost and pricing data for FAR Part 15 contracts above $750,000. This is an attempt to ensure that...
Do you know where the battlefield is?
While consulting for one of our customers, we were discussing how to influence the development of the acquisition strategy that the government used so that our customer was well positioned to win...
Proposals – We’ve Come a Long Way!
After just completing a proposal, I am reminded how far we have come in the years since I began my career in government contracting back in 1978. One of my very first assignments was working on...
Should the Contractor Read the PWS? Well, duh!
Sometimes the disputes that go to the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ABSCA) make you scratch your head. This is one of them. In the dispute covered in Sterling Design, Inc., ASBCA No....
Other Transaction Authority (Part 2)
Now that we have discussed what an OTA is, we also need to discuss what an OTA is not. An OTA is not a contract, grant or cooperative agreement. OTAs are not for everything. They are not bound by...
Other Transaction Authority (Part 1)
What exactly is an OTA? By definition, an OTA is an “Other Transaction Authority.” It is “used by the Department of Defense for carrying out prototype projects for work that is directly relevant...
The Benefits and Risks of IDIQ Contracts
Indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity contracts are used very often in the government. FAR part 16 talks about this contract type: 16.501-2 General. (a) There are three types of...
Where Do You Start to Write a Winning Proposal?
While a winning proposal is a result of a lot of pre-proposal work in shaping the requirement, identifying your discriminators, forming your team (where necessary), and understanding your...
Power Pellets and Federal Contracting
One of the most popular video games of all time is Ms. Pac-man. The gameplay is similar to her predecessor Pac-man, where points are earned by traveling in a maze and eating pellets and avoiding...
Can You Get Reimbursement of Your Protest Costs? Maybe!
In Protection Strategies, Inc., B-414573.3 (Nov 9, 2017), the GAO held that the protester was entitled to be reimbursed a portion of its protest costs because the agency unduly delayed taking...
Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT)
As a former contracting officer, and leader of many procurements, this particular acronym has left me traumatized on numerous occasions. Although it is intended to be a measurement of how long it...