Government Contracting
Government Contracting is a blog about purchasing best practices in the government sector, federal, state and local. Lee Crane is a contracting officer with the U. S. Postal Service and has both CPM and CPIM certification.
Veterans Contracting Rules Change Announced
In a great piece over at GovernmentExecutive.com, Robert Brodsky highlights the recent rule changes impacting Veterans set-asides. Check out the article here. By tightening up the rules, is the Veteran’s Affairs Department taking an unnecessary shot at those who have sacrificed so much for our country? Or is this just a smart move to public confidence in the program? Let u ...... Read More
Comments (0)"Withholding Contracts or Withholding Payments - What's the Best Method of Punishing Tax Cheats?"
Last week President Obama applied new pressure aimed at preventing firms with past-due tax bills from winning federal contracts. The rationale here is that we shouldn’t be making new awards to suppliers that aren’t current with the IRS. Sounds reasonable enough. Those of you who subscribe to CongressDaily can read the brief here. There is also a great (free) summary provi ...... Read More
Comments (0)12 Resources for Prospective Contractors
Every buyer is used to getting that call from a new Director of Business Development or email from a Sales Representative who recently joined a new company and just came across your business card. The words may change but the song is always “How can I do business with your organization?” Maybe the communication is perfectly timed with a requirement that just crossed your desk f ...... Read More
Comments (0)"Meet the New Boss"
Daniel I. Gordon has been confirmed as the new Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy. By all accounts, Mr. Gordon is the ideal man for the job. The Harvard alum intends to make improvement of the aquisition workforce (in both quantity and quality) his top priority. Anyone interested in learning more about the new boss can follow the links below: George Washington Law School Faculty Di ...... Read More
Comments (0)Regulatory changes
In her recent piece for GovernmentExecutive.com, Elizabeth Newell does a great job of highlighting a few of the announced acquisition regulation changes. This is a must read for anyone involved in Government Contracting. You can find the article here. ...... Read More
Comments (0)Contract abuses
In looking over the most recent list of Open FAR Cases I stumbled upon one pending issue that has the potential to make life more difficult (and possibly more expensive) for Federal Contracting Officers.Case 2008-032 is listed on page 11 of the September 11, 2009 report. It involves a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 2009. In particular, it addresses Section 865 of ...... Read More
Comments (0)Why appearances are important
In last week’s Washington Post, Robert O’Harrow, Jr. writes what can only be considered a “must read” by anyone involved in Government Contracting. It is good for all of us, Contracting Officers and Contractors, to be reminded of the consequences of even the appearance of impropriety. We are working in an environment which has an extremely low tolerance for ...... Read More
Comments (0)Better get competitive bids
A recent article in nextgov.com slammed the U.S. Navy for awarding $500 million in engineering contracts without adequate competition. Will the report create enough momentum to finally change FAR’s treatment of set-asides for IDIQ contracts? It just might. Especially in this era of hyper-sensitivity to adequate competition, this report might be just enough to put this topi ...... Read More
Comments (0)You decide if it’s an invasion of privacy
Have you ever wondered how awkward it would be to have everyone in your office knowing everyone else’s salary – exactly? Many of us in government contracting are about to find out… Thanks to a little-known website posted as a public service by a local New Jersey newspaper, every Federal Employee’s 2007 salary is available for viewing and sharing. Postal payroll i ...... Read More
Comments (1)How federal contractors can do their job
Just in case you didn’t make it to page 188 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (yet) there is an interesting section that could impact the way Federal Contracting Officers do their jobs. It is Section 1554 entitled “Special Contracting Provisions”, and it mandates the use of competitively awarded fixed-price contracts “To the maximum extent possible& ...... Read More
Comments (0)Government contractors and the recession
You are unlikely to open a paper, listen to a news story, or have a water cooler conversation these days that won’t include some variation of “given the economy”, or ”in these tough times” or “nowadays”. We are in a recession and it comes up a lot. But how are these “tough times” affecting the behavior of Government Contractors?& ...... Read More
Comments (0)Advice on cost estimates
Federal Computer Week reports that the Government Accountability Office has published its first manual to help federal, state, and local government agencies develop more reliable cost estimates to better manage government projects. The guide applies to civilian and defense projects managed by government organizations or private contractors, said Gene Dodaro, acting comptroller general. Click ...... Read More
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