Skyway Wire
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...
Do I have to be registered under the solicitation’s NAICS code to get the award?
I’ve often been asked this question over the course of my career and my answer has always been “No.” I could never find anywhere that said an offeror had to be registered in the System for Award...
My Impressions of Army Contracting and Its Culture
The Army contracting community appears to be continually re-organizing, re-inventing, and re-orienting itself. There is a very long story that explains this condition, but the short version is that...
Contingency Contracting
Contingency contracting has been a growth industry for over two decades now and it appears that the expansion has finally come to a halt as American foreign policy shifts away from international...
INFORMATION STORAGE
One of my pet peeves – maybe my biggest one – is time wasted looking for things. Everything from “where did I leave those glasses?” to “I’m sure I bought shampoo but can’t find it…” If I had every...
Kingdomware Supreme Court Decision Changes VA’s Acquisition Practices
On June 16, 2016, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Kingdomware Technologies, Inc., in its case against the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). For veteran-owned small businesses...
What if the RFP is Missing the Wage Determination or Clauses for Service Contract Labor Standards Covered Work?
Toward the end of my career, I became a Procurement Analyst. These are the folks in the Policy shop of a Contracting Office that make everyone’s life miserable by reviewing all the solicitation...
What happens if the size standard increases for the NAICS code in the RFP?
Recently, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims issued the decision in Orion Construction Co. v. United States, No. 15-1505C (Fed. Cl. April 1, 2016). This decision outlines how things can go wrong...
“What we have here is a failure to communicate!” – Cool Hand Luke, 1967
Establishing good communications right from the start of a relationship, whether between a husband and wife or a Contracting Officer (CO) and contractor, is essential for the health and the success...