Posts Tagged: contracting

How To Be Excellent!

Excelling is often defined as going above and beyond what’s expected. So in its very nature, achieving excellence is not something that should come easily. In government contracting, excelling is not something that’s common sense. It’s a complex task, and it takes teamwork and collaboration for government workers to understand the best ways of goingRead… Read more »

Government Managers as Risk-Takers? Not So Much

Wunderkind Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talks about risk taking: “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.[1]” And yet a recent government-industry conference[2] included a discussion on the question of whether federal leaders will take onRead… Read more »

“Follow the FAR? Hah – Don’t Make Me Laugh”

These were the words of a career procurement specialist who shall remain unnamed, at an agency that shall remain unnamed, as the point is not to embarrass an individual or agency so much as it is to identify an attitude that is all too widespread in the federal procurement and contract management world. And ifRead… Read more »

Can Technology Solve Government Procurement?

A common thread among the recent spate of state health insurance exchange rollout failures (e.g., Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon) was the states’ inability to effectively procure, manage and coordinate IT services from multiple contractors. In each case, the aftermath was a rash of finger-pointing between and among agency managers and contractors, and in someRead… Read more »

What Does it Mean to Negotiate a Contract?

This series began discussing fostering relationships through contracting. This idea underpins all discussions about contracting because if you keep the relationship in mind while conducting contract negotiations, where both sides are heard and concerns are addressed, then there is a greater likelihood that the outcome will be beneficial to both parties. In the previous post,Read… Read more »