“Quality” may be one of the more over-used and least-thought-about words in our business vernacular. We’ve gone through cycles where we used different terms to characterize our attempts to “do” quality better. Remember Total Quality Management? How about the focus on ISO 9000? And more recently, “Six Sigma,” “Lean,” and “Agile” have emerged as concepts …
Continue reading “What Is Quality and How Is It Achieved In a Service Environment? – Part One”
If you want to make your contract management more efficient and see greater returns on your investment of time and effort, standardization could be the solution you’re looking for. Contract management systems and technologies, standardized contract language, templates, best practices, and lessons learned can yield positive, measurable results in effectively and efficiently crafting, administering and …
Continue reading “Seven Steps to Implement Standardization in Contract Management”
Can you think of a time when you said to yourself, “there’s got to be a better way to do this?” I know I can. We’re always looking for ways to make our business practices and our lives more efficient. Standardization provides an answer. It can help increase productivity and efficiency by defining expectations, formalizing …
Continue reading “How Standardization Can Improve Contract Management”
In this digital age, we depend on our computers and devices for so much that we need to be constantly proactive to protect against cyber threats and attacks. Multiple studies show that government, corporations, and individuals are being increasingly targeted. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for example, said federal cybersecurity incidents were up …
Employing best practices in Task Order Solicitation Management processes can help Government respond to constant challenges throughout the acquisition life cycle, particularly the acquisition planning phase. The primary reason for using a coordinated effort to apply best practices among Government Program Managers, Contracting Officers, program officials, and industry stakeholders is to increase the probability of …
Continue reading “Successful Task Order Management – Start Early!”
Recently, the Integrity Matters blog asked the question, “Are You Making the Business Case for Federal Cybersecurity?” in an article about why and how to develop a business case through the Capital Planning Investment Control (CPIC) process in order to justify return on investment in cybersecurity programs. Now we ask the question, “Are You Making …
Continue reading “5 Ways to Improve Your Federal CPIC Process”
There is an old saying, “the second act is the best” because it delves deeper into the meat of a story, including challenges and the rising actions in response to them. So it may be with the story of Government performance management. Federal Managers have seen many plot twists impacting governance since the early 90’s when …
Continue reading “Performance Management Act II – Overcoming Challenges”
Imagine working in a high stress environment where contract support for a mission critical program may expire at the end of the month and there is no backup plan. Your organization had plans to re-compete the contract earlier in the fiscal year, but the procurement package or requisition was not developed on time. Several documents …
Continue reading “Procurement: Meeting the PALT in Four Simple Steps”
Change can be good when it brings innovative ideas and fresh enthusiasm, including in government contracting. But if not handled correctly, change can lead to bumps in the road or unexpected slowdowns. There are ways to smooth the path, however, during a handover of responsibilities. They involve focusing on both the transition of the contract …
You landed on a great project team and were asked to prepare the Project Management Plan. Even though you’ve executed or implemented project management plans, you never actually prepared a project management plan. Where do you start? What elements belong in the project management plan? Let’s start with some basics. Is a “project management plan” …
