WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD GOVERNMENT CONTRACTOR ANYWAY?:

We’ve written a lot lately about protests and their impact on various government contract programs.  Many revolve around the central point of whether the company, or the team of which they are a part, qualifies as a good prospective government contractor.  The Defense Acquisition University actually has a list of seven traits that contracting officers should look for.  They are: “capability, competency, capacity, credit, integrity, perseverance, tenacity, and limitations on subcontracting.”  Commenting on all of these would be its own full article, but a quick look at a few can provide clear insight on what makes not only for a competent contractor, but a successful one as well.  Take tenacity.  Successful companies dedicate the proper resources to compete for, win, and perform government contracts.  Those with one foot or toe in the government market frequently lack tenacity and, in our experience, don’t stay around for very long.  Government business is established over time for the great majority of contractors.  Tenacity is key.  Integrity is another important point.  The best example we’ve ever gotten on integrity is from a former Hollywood stuntman who said “Don’t tell someone you’ve rolled a truck if you’ve never done it before.”  That is, be yourself.  Accurately represent your company both in terms of what it can do and its size.  It takes years to build up a good reputation, but only one instance where a firm misleads a government customer to blow it up – and sometimes blow up your own budget if you have to pay for the cost to recompete a procurement.  As Saint Francis De Sales said, “Be who you are and do that well.”  Limitations on subcontracting is another area where contractors can get caught up.  Let’s be clear:  Do not be a storefront for another company and don’t ask another company to be a storefront for you.  Abide by the subcontracting terms of your contract.  More than one company has learned the hard way what can happen when they thumb their nose on limitations on subcontracting provisions.  Whether doing business with a defense or civilian agency, following DAU’s seven traits can make your company successful and ensure that the government writes checks to you, without you having to write checks back to the government.