Although most government contractors may be focused on what will happen in the 4th quarter, there is plenty happening now that will shape both that time and the time ahead. Here are three things happening now that all of those who sell to the federal government need to know:
1. A Lot of Work Is Happening On FY’25 Appropriations: While Congressional leaders acknowledged this week that FY’25 will (surprise!) start under a CR, the House hopes to markup either all or most of its appropriations bills by the end of June. Any contractor, therefore, interested in shaping next year’s market had better act quickly to ensure that their priorities and issues are known. While final passage may not happen for some months, most key details will be set long ahead of time.
2. The Clock Is Still Ticking for Alliant3: GSA has promised to release the Alliant3 RFP in the 3rd quarter, which is now more than half over. That leaves scant time to meet its goal and companies are starting to wonder what the hold up is. The tight time frame to get Alliant3 in place before the current contract reaches its ceiling does not leave a lot of slippage time. While Alliant2 can always ask GSA Acquisition Policy for an extension, the process is not automatic and can be laborious.
3. The Army, Navy, and Air Force all told Congressional appropriators last week that they need to add people to their acquisition workforces to keep up with demand. Even though DOD’s acquisition workforce has expanded since 2006, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush said that his workforce has doubled its workload and that additional personnel resources are needed. Contractors should take note of this for both the opportunity to provide supporting technology and to ensure that their key projects aren’t held up by acquisition bottlenecks.
Anyone reading contract protest decisions (hey, it’s not a bad habit) knows that three sets of attorneys are frequently listed representing different interests. The protestor and the involved government agency are obvious parties to any protest. So, too, though, are companies that won the original award and want to ensure their interests are considered during protest consideration. This point was driven home recently by the Court of Federal Claims that provided two big reasons, in writing, for why intervening is in the original winner’s best interest. First, winners want to protect their award and “get paid for work.” The Court pointed Read more
National news headlines underscore what happens when people don’t pay attention to details. Forget about that stray ammunition in your carry-on bag? Welcome to the Turks & Caicos detention center – not on the beach, we’re guessing. Thought that crypto was secure? Not to 2 MIT grads who swiped $25M in twelve seconds. And no, unfortunately that wasn’t a dolphin you hit with your boat. All of these headlines could have potentially been prevented if people took the time to keep their training current and slowed down enough to pay attention Read more
The federal government acquisition system moves too slowly to meet evolving national security needs according to both US and non-US observers. In addition, the practice of trying to use the federal procurement system to meet varied socio-economic goals adds to the regulatory overhead. These are just two reasons why contractors should expect non-traditional acquisition methods such as Other Transaction Authority and SBIR contracts for small businesses to grow. The need to have an efficient, effective acquisition system is becoming especially acute due to unsettling international developments, according to Moshe Schwartz, president of Etherton & Associates. Schwartz spoke last week at the Coalition for Government Procurement Spring Conference and painted a stark, but accurate, picture of the Read more
The recent Coalition for Government Procurement Spring Conference provided good information on the federal procurement landscape. One unmistakable take away is that contractors must be proactive in engaging not only their customers, but acquisition policy makers. The following three issues are just some reasons why.
1. Policy Makers Clearly Don’t Understand the Value of the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF): The Department of Defense will spend nearly $728M in FY’25 maintaining two dozen legacy systems that “can and should” be retired. That’s a huge waste of money, especially in a time of relatively flat overall budgets. Congress, however, just cut funding for the TMF program, Read more