Skyway Wire
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...
Increases to the Micro purchase and Simplified Acquisition Threshold
In case you have not heard, the 2018 (FY18) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) increased the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT) from $150,000 to $250,000 and the micro-purchase threshold...
Command Pressure vs Contracting Authority
This article is going to sound very Department of Defense (DoD)–centric, because my acquisition experience is comprised of 12 years of contracting and program management service in the US Army and...
Does the GAO Have a Problem with Your using the Wrong File Format?
In a proposal response, the offerors are often cautioned to adhere to the EXACT requirements of the RFP. One too many pages? They can throw you out. Font not the size required? They can decide...
The World of FMS – Part 2
So last month I gave you all an overview of the FMS world that provides opportunities for contractors. I wanted to follow up this month with more information on some of the problems and issues that...
LPTA…The Black Sheep of COs’ Tools
Alas, yet another policy to reduces the tools available for contracting officers to use in source selections. Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA) source selection process has been shunned for...
What is a Novation Agreement and Why Should You Care?
The execution of a novation agreement is the process of recognizing the successor in interest to a government contract when assets are transferred as a result of their sale, a merger/consolidation,...
Mergers & Acquisitions
In my early days in defense contracting, there were many large businesses in the government defense marketplace – Lockheed, Northrop, Martin Marietta, Grumman, Loral, Westinghouse, Hughes, General...
Another Government Shutdown, AGAIN?
Editor's Note: When this was written, the decision to shut down the government had not yet been made; however, the government did, in fact, shut down. Many of my friends, who are still government...
The Downside of Price Competition
Over the course of my 35+ years working for government contractors, I witnessed many changes on the industry side as the government’s emphasis on price shifted. Not that price was ever unimportant,...
The World of Foreign Military Sales
According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), in 2017 the United States had oversight to over $43B in Foreign Military Sales (FMS). The number of countries that benefit from these...
You Can’t Order Items Not Listed on the Vendor’s FSS Schedule
In Bluewater Management Group, LLC, B-414785, Bluewater protested the Navy’s award of lodging and transportation services to DMC Management Services, LLC, stating that the award was improper because...
All, Some, or None
Another handy tool for a Contracting Officer is the use of “all, some, or none” when making contract awards or placing orders. Instead of being locked into a single contract award, delivery order,...
WOSB Company Found Ineligible Because Husband Managed Business
Recently, a self-certified woman-owned small business (WOSB) was determined to be ineligible for a WOSB set-aside contract because the woman owner’s husband held the company’s highest officer...