Skyway Blog
Communicating Bad News to the Contracting Officer
One important area that businesses and project managers new to the government contracting arena may be a bit nervous about is the issue of communicating bad news to the contracting officer (CO)....
DOD has exceeded Small Business Goals for a second year in a row!
According to reports released in Jun 2015 by the Small Business Administration (SBA), the federal government awarded almost 25 percent of its prime contracting dollars to small businesses in fiscal...
Notifications to Unsuccessful Offerors
Contracting officers face a different set of challenges when conducting exchanges with industry after receipt of proposals. This article covers notifications to unsuccessful offerors and follows the...
Targeting the Market using FBO
Everybody knows that Fed Biz Ops (FBO) (www.fbo.gov) is the place to look for upcoming federal opportunities. But did you know that FBO can also be a good way to begin targeting your government...
EXCHANGES WITH INDUSTRY AFTER RECEIPT OF PROPOSALS
Contracting officers face complex challenges and restrictions when communicating with offerors after receipt of proposals. Ensuring procurement integrity is the most vulnerable during this phase,...
Exchanges with Industry – After Solicitation Release
The solicitation phase of a procurement increases the complexity and significance of communications between government and industry. Contracting officers (COs) must carefully control their...
Exchanges with Industry – Pre-solicitation Phase
One of the more intimidating aspects for a contractor new to the federal marketplace is the area of communicating with the Contracting Officer (CO). The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)...
GSA and Price Transparency
It has never been easy to see the “real” price for General Services Administration (GSA) products/services. In large part, GSA has always had transparency in their pricing. They have always had...
Themes, Discriminators, And Differentiators, Just What Your Proposal Needs
Themes, discriminators and differentiators form the basis for telling your customer why they should select you. There are basically two types of themes in proposals, win themes and proposal themes....
Commercial Financing Options on Government Contracts
Commercial financing (FAR 32.2) is not normally considered for commercial items and services. It is the contractor’s responsibility to provide the resources necessary for contract performance. The...
Do you know what questions to ask?
One of our team members (Shelley Hall) has a great saying she uses when helping our clients understand the complexity of the government market: “You don't know what you don't know." This simple...
Tools to contract with the Government and maintain a healthy cash flow
Are you trying to figure out how to have a government contract while still maintaining some semblance of cash flow? Here are a couple methods where you can work with your Contracting Officer to put...
GAO Decision Allows New Company to Use Owner’s Personal Past Performance
New small businesses often have a hard time establishing past performance to be able to compete in the Federal market. In Recogniti, LLP, B-410658 (January 21, 2015), GAO ruled that an agency can...
Price Fair and Reasonableness on Commercial Items
This post is for anyone in federal contracting who may deal with the purchase or sale of commercial items and services. Logic dictates that the pricing of commercial items/services would be much...
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has Unique Small Business Rules and Processes
The FAA operates under special statutory authority and is exempt from the Small Business Act, which gives the SBA authority to arbitrate size protests and issue size determinations. As a result, by...
Tools to contract with the Government and maintain a healthy cash flow – Second in the Series
Are you trying to figure out how to have a government contract while still maintaining some semblance of cash flow? Here are a couple methods where you can work with your Contracting Officer to put...