Skyway Wire
How can contracting officers find and keep the best companies to support them?
For contracting officers, nothing makes the job easier than having a great contractor on the team. That is the goal of every acquisition; but, of course, everyone has the battle story of the...
How to Write a Good Performance Work Statement
Why is a good Performance Work Statement (PWS) so important? Because a written contract is a legally binding agreement between two parties and a PWS provides the non-Government party with the...
Relationships matter…but how much?
Ahh, the 80/20 Rule. The 80/20 Rule, also known as the Pareto principle, states (and I’m paraphrasing) that 80% of our benefit in a given area comes from 20% of our effort. I find it amazing how...
Contractor Accountability and Transparency Act of 2017
On March 15, 2017, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Proposed Bill S. 651 to require the posting online of certain government contracts. The purpose of the new bill is...
Where Are You Headed?
As you target, does your customer know where you are headed? While I was flying out to speak at a conference in California, I was reading an article in Inc magazine about the value of “growth” to...
GAO Says Evaluations Using CPARS for Past Performance must be Equal and Fair
CSR, Inc., B-413973 et al. (Jan. 13, 2017) involves the protest of Department of Justice’s evaluation and award of a blanket purchase agreement to Booz Allen Hamilton. The BPA solicitation allowed...
AGE DISCRIMINATION AND OUTDATED VIEWS OF OLDER WORKERS PERSIST
It’s been 50 years since the enactment of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). At a public meeting held 6/14/17 entitled “The ADEA @ 50 - More Relevant Than Ever,” several experts told...
Does Subcontractor Past Performance need to be Evaluated for FSS Procurements?
Not according to a recent GAO decision on Atlantic Systems Group, Inc., B-413901 (Jan. 9, 2017). The agency issued a Request for Quote (RFQ) pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 8.405-2,...
Does the Supreme Court Kingdomware Decision Change Size Protest Guidelines?
Recently the SBA Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) rejected the theory that a GSA Schedule order should be considered a “contract” under size protest timeliness rules. OHA stated that SBA’s...
Policy Tidbits – June 2017
Uniform Use of Line Items - DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to establish uniform use of line items in Federal procurement. General...
Foreign Military Sales: How Does It Work?
President Trump on his recent trip to Saudi Arabia reached agreement on a $110 billion arms deal. The deal includes tanks, helicopters, ships and other weapons. The questions I heard most over my...
Why You Should Compete for Work – Part III – Compete and Win
The basic concept to grasp here is that it is better to win prime contracts through the competitive process (the 80%) than it is to win them through relationships (the 20%). This is because the...
Why You Should Compete for Work – Part 2: How Are Sole Source Contracts Awarded?
Most sole source contracts are awarded through the “Exceptions to Competition” rules in FAR 6.3. There are seven ways that a contracting officer can award contracts without competition. Each of...
Why You Should Compete for Work: Part 1 – The Cost (and Time!) Of Getting Sole Source Contracts
As a CO, I wrote dozens of sole-source contracts. I bought aircraft, body armor, vehicles, services, software, and I even paid for the use of a testing facility for off-road vehicles through...
Single Cost Objective
When pricing work for the government, contractors must be aware of which costs are allowable under the FAR (Subpart 31.2). Allowable costs include both direct (labor, materials, etc.) and indirect...
Acquisition Threshold Increased for Special Emergency Procurement Authority
DoD, GSA, and NASA issued are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement a section of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 to raise...