Skyway Wire
GSA OASIS – Is It the Best Thing since Sliced Bread?
GSA’s One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) has become quite the “go to” solution for procurement of a wide variety of professional services for the federal government. GSA...
RFP Questions & Answers
Most Requests for Proposal (RFPs) offer the opportunity for potential bidders to ask questions about the RFP. There is no obligation on the part of the government to answer and often when they do it...
Sections L & M: What Do They Mean?
To tell you what “Sections L and M” mean, I need to give you a little background. It used to be that Contracting Officers (COs) were required to use the Uniform Contract Format (UCF) (48 CFR...
Subcontractor “Flow Down” FAR Requirements
When prime contractors award subcontracts to other firms to complete portions of the required work, a primary consideration (after price, schedule and quality factors) is the type and number of FAR...
US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Contracting Activities
The US Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, is the primary agency for major construction programs for the Department of Defense (DOD). And, by extension, they are also the Federal Government’s...
Winning the Contract is only 49% of the Battle
Wining a contract with the government can be a big boost for any company’s bottom line. Much celebration will ensue and everyone will slap each other on the back and say all that hard work on the...
Sole Source Contracts for WOSBs – Don’t Start Doing the “Happy Dance” Just Yet!
The Department of Defense (DOD), General Services Administration (GSA), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have adopted a final rule, which became effective September 30,...
Negotiations with the Government
Negotiations with the Federal Government can be very different than with customers in private industry. When negotiating with other private firms, cost of product or service is important but the...
Final Rule on GSA Transactional Data Reporting Issued
Effective June 23, 2016, General Services Administration (GSA) has issued the final rule to amend GSA Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to include clauses that require vendors to report transactional...
Can Multiple Award Contract (MAC) Winners Protest Another Awardee on the Same IDIQ?
Normally a protest occurs when a contractor loses an award and they want to challenge the award of the contract to someone else. However, winning offerors on a MAC have tried to challenge the...
Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016
Intellectual property (IP) is the heart of most businesses, the one thing they will go to great lengths to protect. Toward that end, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (Public Law No: 114-153)...
Three Is the Perfect Number
As a CO, I was managing a source selection for specialized equipment. In response to the RFP, we received a proposal from a company who made a version of the product that was far less capable than...
Is the Government Market REALLY different from the Commercial Market?
I love what I do. I get to talk to interesting people and describe to them how the government market is different. I often get questions from people asking whether or not it really is different...
Are you wasting time with proposals?
I believe time is the great equalizer in business. To be sure, many elements create success, including competitive advantage, superior product and service, and even the perfect team. However, the...
The 9-box template
It was August 5th, 2015. I had just gotten the green light to be a speaker at TEDx TampaBay. For those of you who are familiar with TED, and the TEDx talks, this is a big deal. It took me three...
Customer Experience – Too Little or Too Much?
One of the more challenging and frustrating aspects of being a government contracting officer (CO) is the fact that you have to support people, agencies and cultures that may have vastly different...