By John Coombs, CFCM, DAWIA III As fiscal pressures rise, senior leaders across the federal government place additional emphasis on Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) contracts. A prime example is the Department of Defense “Better Buying Power” memoranda. FFP contracting is an important method to add simplicity and cost efficiency, but with respect to services, FFP contractingRead… Read more »
As the world has become dependent on information technology (IT), so has the federal government and its constituencies. Leveraged effectively, technical tools can engage the public, create cost savings, and improve outcomes. These benefits are obscured by regular reminders that federal IT is fundamentally flawed. It is too big to succeed,” said Zachary Bastian. TheRead… Read more »
NCMA’s December 2012 flagship publication, Contract Management, published the article Comparative Best Practices in Public Sector Contracting — How the FAR Excels in the Socioeconomic Perspective. The piece provides a brief breakdown of five major procurement regimes including the the European Union’s Procurement Directives used by the European Union and the U.S.’s Federal Acquisition Regulation.Read… Read more »
You probably have a New Year’s resolution. It may be losing 15 lbs. It may be spending an extra hour each week with your family. I have a few, but one is specific to government contracting: providing better customer service. One of the recurring themes of this blog is government contract specialists are in theRead… Read more »
Last month’s poll for “How Did You Get Started as an 1102″ is closed and the results are in. There were 52 responses in total. It’s worth looking at how many votes were for “Other”. While this poll is not scientific by any means, a sizeable portion of people that first became 1102s through anotherRead… Read more »
Tell the readers some general information such as your name, where you live, and what recreational activities you enjoy. My name is Renée LeFever. I live in Minnesota and enjoy horseback riding and raising Schipperke dogs. Where do you work right now? What do you do? Currently I am working for the Natural Resources ConservationRead… Read more »
After using all three in a professional setting for a few years, I think these are some general notes that can help new government contract specialists. Phone Negotiations First, I prefer phone negotiations. They’re usually faster than the alternative and don’t give either side much time to delay, meaning neither side overanalyzes its interests toRead… Read more »
Frank Kendall, DoD’s Acquisition Executive, published a preliminary version of Better Buying Power 2.0 on Nov 13 “to ensure affordability and increase productivity in defense spending to deliver better value to the taxpayer and Warfighter”. Better Buying Power 2.0 encompasses 36 initiatives across seven focus areas: Achieve Affordable Programs Control Costs Throughout the Product LifecycleRead… Read more »
As far as I know, nobody has ever attempted a poll to gather this data. So if you’re an 1102 (federal contracts employee, how did you first join the workforce? Poll: How did you first join the 1102 workforce?
My colleague Kevin Drummond, a Senior Acquisition Analyst, was asked to come up with his top career advice for yesterday’s Career Fair panel at the NCMA Government Contracts Management Conference. Here’s what he wrote in our Integrity Matters blog. Do you agree? I have many friends and colleagues in the Federal Government and the industryRead… Read more »