Skyway Wire
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...
Painful First Person Account of the New VOSB Verification
New programs, systems, and/or requirements required of small businesses to sell goods and services to the government pop up frequently and randomly. The onus of discovering each new requirement can...
Marketing to your Target Customer
Marketing and advertising can be expensive, and their ROI is usually maddeningly illusive. As the old marketing adage goes, “Half the money we spend on advertising is wasted. The problem is, we...
Do you know your customer’s customer?
I write a lot about the importance of targeting ruthlessly. Most Skyway Community members do effective targeting thanks in part to podcast, tools, webinars, RFP Score, and so on. So for this...
Who are my Potential Teammates? Should I Partner with Them?
Part of “targeting your federal market” includes choosing opportunities that are in your weight class. This mean opportunities for which you clearly have the experience, expertise, and resources to...
Do you know what NOT to do?
Do you have a to do list? I have a huge one. I use an app called Wunderlist to track all the tasks that I must do, should do, would like to do, and wish I could do. Thankfully the app has features...
Limitation of Funds (FAR 52.232-22)
Incrementally funded cost reimbursable and time & material contracts will normally contain some version of FAR 52.232-22, which requires the contractor to notify the contracting officer when...
What’s In Your Contract?
At Skyway, we run our operations side with a simple adage: “Make sure we know how it works so we can fix it if it breaks.” I adopted this concept from a podcast episode by Andy Stanley. The concept...