Getting in front of prospective customers is an important part of every federal contractor’s game plan.  Too often, however, companies don’t take full advantage of meeting opportunities.  Being underprepared can diminish a prospect’s view of your company and make it more difficult to pursue business.  Indeed, businesses of every size and experience level should consider these three common meeting mistakes and take steps to avoid them.

1.  Talking Too Much:  We get it, you’re excited to finally be able to meet with a critical prospect and you want to make sure that this person knows all about your team’s solutions.  Fight the urge to dominate the discussion, though, and take time to listen to what the customer has to say.  They may end up having different needs or pain points than you thought, something that could take the discussion in a more useful direction if you listen.  You may still be able to offer solutions, though they may be ones that differ from what you were originally planning to lead with.

2.  Wasting People’s Time:  This is a big concern of federal executives according to discussions we’ve had.  Not wasting time starts with showing up on time, prepared for your meeting.  The old saying “if you’re on time, you’re late” may be a good reminder here.  Stay on point during the meeting and be respectful of the prospect’s time when the discussion must conclude.  Let the prospect decide if they need an extra 5 minutes.  Doing homework in advance to ensure that you’re discussing today’s need instead of yesterday’s solution is also important.

3.  Not Following Up:  You had the meeting.  You listened and were prepared.  The prospect even had questions they wanted you to follow up on.  Everything was going well until…you didn’t follow up.  While distractions happen, it’s important to never leave a prospective customer hanging.  Make sure you stay in touch with that person, even if it’s just to let them know that you’re still working on an answer to their last question.  Nothing kills momentum and makes a customer think twice than a company that doesn’t follow through.  Make sure you communicate consistently.  While these three steps may sound obvious, we can absolutely confirm that they’re real-time concerns.  No contractor should be complacent.  Make sure you’re prepared to take the right steps before, during, and after your meeting.

Industry is going to have to fight hard to prevent being overwhelmed by multiplying, inconsistent, and more prescriptive cybersecurity rules.  That’s one major takeaway from a recent Coalition for Government Procurement seminar on cyber requirements for both contractors and companies doing business in the commercial sector.  Regulatory harmonization, often defined as having fewer overall rules, or at least having some commonality among different requirements, is pretty well non-existent according to lawyers with experience in this field.  Instead, large and small companies can expect more cyber reporting rules on their government contracts, increasing costs to comply with those rules, and Read more

Taking security and supply chain risk management a step further, the federal government is poised to stand up a new website that will list both products and services that contractors are prohibited from providing to federal agencies.  The Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) will manage the new site, which will list both items and services that must be removed from current contracts as well as those that will be banned moving forward.  Contractors must pay attention to this new site and ensure that it is routinely monitored.  “Let’s just be blunt about what we’re talking about: taking companies potentially off of the ability to bid for federal contracts and ripping technology out of current environments, potentially,” said federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha at a recent industry gathering.  The FAR Council issued an interim rule (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/10/05/2023-21320/federal-acquisition-regulation-implementation-of-federal-acquisition-supply-chain-security-act) last week laying out how contractors will need to comply with orders from the FASC.  Although no specific products or services have yet been listed, contractors can expect a significant expansion from the companies and technologies already prohibited by Section 889 requirements.  It may be a best practice to review supply chains now and identify potential vulnerabilities.  The interim rule specifically states that the new site will list items and services that could potentially “…lead to data and intellectual property theft, damage to critical infrastructure, harm to federal information systems, and otherwise degrade our national security.”  The FAR Council is seeking comment on the interim rule until early December, with the new site expected to go live on December 4^th.  Contractors supplying information technology solutions or that support the intelligence community should pay particularly close attention and consider submitting comments.

Any contractor with a reasonable amount of government business may be the target of a whistleblower complaint alleging non-compliance with contract terms or other improper behavior.  Often whistleblowers are current or former employees.  While some may feel that they were not “heard” when trying to raise questions internally, contractors should never discount the importance of money as an answer as to why a person may be motivated to blow the whistle.  A recent case involving Boeing is a good example.  In U.S. ex rel. Roath et al. v. The Boeing Company, the whistleblower (Roath) alleged that Boeing did not comply with various aspects of a V-22 tilt rotor contract.  Although the civil fine was relatively small for a qui tam whistleblower case at $8.1 million, Roath will receive over $1.5 million for his or her trouble.  That’s not enough to never have to fly commercial again but, coupled with other investments and savings, $1.5 million will enable a comfortable retirement.  Whistleblowers can earn more money for higher recoveries, too, depending on how important their information is to driving a settlement or conviction.  Contractors can mitigate the risk of such actions by ensuring that employees who raise allegations are heard through an established, verifiable process.  An anonymous complaint process is also an established best practice.  While it might be tempting to send a would-be whistleblower to a far-off location to learn the art of coffee cup archway making, there should be no retaliation against such workers.  Communication, as always, is the key to ensuring that people feel valued, even when they may raise a flag about a given action.  It’s easier to solve these problems than to have to defend against a whistleblower case, something that can take years to settle and cost almost as much in defense fees as a fine.

While life under a Continuing Resolution is not ideal, both contractors and their federal customers are used to starting a new fiscal year this way.  Most know whether there is any leeway in funding to start a new project, despite a lack of formal appropriations.  Similarly, work will continue on projects already underway.  The real question is “What comes next?”.  That’s a tough question to answer right now as many variables exist.  Here are three areas that may impact federal business for good or for ill.  1. The House Deposes Speaker McCarthy:  No one word really sums up the move by House members to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy.  “Inane”, Read more