Monthly Archives: March 2015

WHEN THE GOVERNMENT SAYS THEY WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU, RESPOND

Two recent efforts show that the government does want to hear from contractors.  Miss the opportunity to respond and you’ll be forced to keep future grumbling to yourself.

In the first case, GSA is asking for comments about a policy that would actually benefit contractors more than existing rules.  Driven by the Enterprise User License Agreement (EULA) nightmare, GSA is seeking to create a deviation from the FAR that would essentially allow the agency to give greater consideration to commercial terms.  Comments on this notice are due to GSA April 20th. Whether you sell software or another type of commercial item with its own Read more

REGARDLESS OF OVERALL PROSPECTS, HOUSE BUDGET SHOWS DESIRE TO INCREASE DOD SPENDING

The House of Representatives last week announced plans to increase defense spending as part of its overall approach to the federal budget.  While the House GOP budget has as much chance of being passed as Georgia State does of winning the NCAA basketball tournament, the budget does likely foretell of increased appropriations for DOD in FY’16 and beyond.   Specifically, Read more

SMALL BUSINESSES & FEDS SMALL BUSINESS GOALS WOULD SUFFER FROM PROPOSED RULE

The proposed rule published by GSA March 4th is getting strong push back from industry over the increased costs the requirement to track and report every Schedule sale would create.  That these costs would disproportionately fall on small firms is not in doubt.  Here’s the “so what” for government, though, and one that GSA should think about carefully before it proceeds.  Read more

AS FEDERAL APPOINTEES HEAD TO THE EXITS CONTRACTORS MUST BE PREPARED

Although there are still 22 months left before the credits begin to role on the Obama Administration, some political appointees are already heading for the exits.  Just last week the GSA CIO, who has been in the position for 14 months, is leaving, as is GSA’s 18F head, in place for a similar period of time.  The Agriculture CIO recently left after the comparatively long tenure of almost three years.  Place on top of that the recent departure of Read more

CGI CASE SHOWS BENEFITS OF NOT JUST ACCEPTING TERMS YOU DON’T LIKE

CMS decided to fundamentally change the payment terms of their re-compete of a contract providing Medicare claims support.  While most responding companies simply capitulated to the proposed new change, CGI Federal did not.  They believed that CMS’ proposed payment terms violated regulations governing commercial item contracts and protested the solicitation.  This illustrates two important factors of which all contractors need to be aware:  First, don’t just Read more