In this time of tight budgets and potential loss of global technological superiority, the need for innovation is greater than ever. As Frank Kendall, Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics shared with an audience of defense industry leaders recently, “We have to focus more on innovation, and we have to get better capability …
Continue reading “3 Tools Worth Reading to Spur Innovative Federal IT Acquisition”
Your team may have spent hours and hours considering the program management, risk management and quality assurance issues involved in letting a new government contract. But have you pulled the key information about how that contract will be managed into a single plan? A Contract Management Plan (CMP) is one of the primary tools the …
Continue reading “With A Great Contract Management Plan, The Sky is the Limit”
You manage or are part of a project and decide to add additional features or functionality to the product or service you provide. You think it will please the customer and make the team look good. But what if it slows the project, adds costs or isn’t what’s needed? There is a proper and an …
Do 1,883 pages of Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), comprised of 53 different Parts, dozens of forms, and a correction page feel like something to be feared? Does it keep you from buying what you need to support your agency? Many government decision-makers look at the FAR as a significant obstacle to their acquisitions, but at …
Continue reading “Fear of the FAR – Is It Getting in the Way of Doing Business?”
Reverse auctions, a relatively new contracting method used by the government to procure a variety of good and services where the price is the main factor, has caused much debate and provoked heavy criticism among contracting professionals in the last few years. Some believe that reverse auctions are an excellent method to streamline the procurement …
Continue reading “Can Reverse Auctions Move Your Contracting Process Forward?”
Have you ever stopped to consider the importance of the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) and how top management in both Government and Industry can use the evaluations to make strategic business decisions? The FAR requires CPARS evaluations but government auditors have reported that they’re not always done on time or with enough detail. …
Every year the federal government awards contracts worth $100 billion to small businesses, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA). That makes for a lot of opportunity, but there’s stiff competition to win those contracts. Relationships, connections and trust are crucial to doing business with the government, advises the SBA on one of its blogs. …
Continue reading “Market Research for Small Business in a Time of Limited Interaction”
Imagine this scenario. Your acquisition lead time is quickly slipping. Time is running short to develop your solicitation documents, which could jeopardize meeting the target project completion date. What do you do? It’s likely that you don’t start entirely from scratch on a completely blank page. Do you pull the last electronic version of the …
Continue reading “Avoid Risk by Using Solicitation/Contract Templates”
A Federal court recently struck a great blow to the validity of Teaming Agreements. Some Teaming Agreements, arrangements of understanding between Prime and Sub contractors, may now be unenforceable as contracts in Virginia and other states. Teaming Agreements are useful for defining the relationships between Prime and Sub contractors by defining the mutual expectations of …
Do not assume anything when you are writing a task order against an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. Why? Ever write a task order and miss something or miss ensuring the proper contract language rigor is included? For example, what happens when a task order is written against an IDIQ contract and language requiring …
Continue reading “Writing a Task Order Against an IDIQ – Make Sure You’re Covered!”
