Stan Soloway, president and chief executive officer of the Professional Services Council (PSC), wrote a piece recently about the issues defense contractors face and the tough times that lay ahead for industry as the federal budgets continue to shift and shrink. Mr. Soloway’s piece was in conjunction with the PSC’s recent Marketview 2012 conference, andRead… Read more »
There is no question that protests are dramatically on the rise. Outside of the data, one only need look at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) decisions to see it. I subscribe to this daily alert of decisions from GAO, always on the look out for protests that get sustained. Although the levels are actually fallingRead… Read more »
One thing that I have seen a lot of is the misapplication of performance-based contracting tenets, especially when it comes to requirements. Basically, some requirement offices slap “Performance Work Statement” as the title, delete “Statement of Work,” and maybe add some metrics and measures. Voila, a “performance-based contract” is born. However, the contract line itemRead… Read more »
One thing that I have seen a lot of is the misapplication of performance-based contracting tenets, especially when it comes to requirements. Basically, some requirement offices slap “Performance Work Statement” as the title, delete “Statement of Work,” and maybe add some metrics and measures. Voila, a “performance-based contract” is born. However, the contract line itemRead… Read more »
I was interested in hearing from both the vendor and 1102 community on the “triggers” of a protest, and if any best practices could be conducted to avoid a protest or avoid a protest from being upheld. The post on GovLoop and LinkedIn elicited some great feedback, although it was interesting to see the sourceRead… Read more »
Although protests are relatively a small percentage of contract actions, they are on the rise. For contract actions of significant amount, they are almost assured in this budgetary environment. Case in point is CH2M Hill Antarctic Support, Inc. recently protesting a $2 billion contract won by Lockheed Martin Corp. to support the U.S. Antarctic ResearchRead… Read more »
A recent Defense Department inspector general report found that contracting officers and their representatives (COR) at the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity need to step up their game when it comes to improving contract performance and acquisition outcomes. The report shins a light on a reality hitting many procurement offices, where the intense workload,Read… Read more »
Some of the trends that have been written about in 2012, and beyond, is the government relying more and more on issuing task orders via IDIQ vehicles, as opposed to full and open competition and the normal acquisition process. Although many courses and consultants discuss winning these task orders, little information is available on actuallyRead… Read more »
Former head of the Coalition for Government Procurement Larry Allen, now President of Allen Federal Business Partners, wrote a spot on article recently calling out the absurdity of the current environment of anti-contractor sentiment running rampant throughout the federal government. Recent examples of these activities, among many, includes the Office of Management and Budget’s recentRead… Read more »
With the collapse of the Congressional “supercommittee’s” budget deal on deficit reduction, federal managers, and their industry counterparts, are being told to prepare for the worst , as possible mandatory cuts are on the horizon for 2013. In the mean time, federal managers will need to continue to find ways to save money and doRead… Read more »