WHY YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW THE PROCUREMENT RULES

Sometimes people need to hear things more than once in order to take notice – and action. In case you needed more evidence that contractors can’t assume their buyers, even CO’s, know the procurement rules – and why you MUST – here is a summary of what Allen Federal has heard on the streets since just the beginning of 2015. “I didn’t know our agency had to follow the FAR”, told to us by a procurement expert who was told this by an actual civilian agency contracting officer. “Our agency’s procurement regs were silent on this matter, so we thought we could do what we wanted.” – same CO. “No matter what type of procurement it is, agencies still insist on FAR part 15 language.” – former DOD acquisition official. “I didn’t know there was an existing contract for that.” – said by too many people to count. Depending on your point of view, these statements are either amusing or alarming. What is undeniable is this: A contractor will still be judged by the rules, whether or not their customer knows what they are. If you sell to the feds, you have to know the right FAR and agency-specific rules. Not only do you help yourself, you can also be very helpful to your customer by guiding them through the acquisition process correctly. That helps close business, and increases the likelihood that payments will go only one way – from your customer to you.