I’ve never used Eventbrite for a government industry day, but I can’t help but imagine it’d be a good idea. It’s free, saving the government money. It automates the registration process and any changes made, saving you hours as opposed to using regular email. Being in contracts, documentation is a big deal. The final attendeeRead… Read more »
I’m often asked if I like what I do. Yes, I like contracting. Beyond that, I really like working for the federal government. Sure, feds catch a lot of flack, but consider this: government is the only field with the capability and mandate to do anything. Just consider the range of federal missions: forest protectionRead… Read more »
Defense acquisitions sometimes get behind schedule, cost too much, and/or have poor performance. This often comes from using incorrect approaches. Dan Ward, who I actually consider an acquisition prophet of sorts, argues for a different methodology called FIST — Fast, Inexpensive, Simple, Tiny. It calls for rapid acquisition using “80% now is better than 100%Read… Read more »
About 3 weeks ago, I injured my ankle. I’ve been crutches-bound ever since. For this two week period, something changed in me. I just wasn’t as motivated and energetic as I once was. I figured it would leave me after a few days, but it didn’t. I suspected it was because I couldn’t jog, whichRead… Read more »
Federal workers get beat up a lot. They haven’t had raises to keep up with inflation in two years, likely won’t get them for at least one more years, and Congress continually bashes feds. (It’s not fun when your bosses constantly critique you). However, this isn’t an “oh it’s so tough” post. Others, like stateRead… Read more »
This is an relatively easy task that will save time for DoD’s tens of thousands of contracting officers and contract specialists — place hyperlinks in all DFARS clauses to the prescriptions. Some have hyperlinks, some don’t. While this doesn’t have a huge impact for a single person picking out clauses, scale it into thousands ofRead… Read more »
I’ve never heard a contract specialist say, “FARSite Clause Logic is awesome”. But they should be saying that. It has the potential to save a hundred of hour per year for each contract specialist (of which there are tens of thousands). Unfortunately, I don’t know anybody that uses it. I know I don’t use it.Read… Read more »
GSA has a clause called the Most Favored Customer (MFC) clause. It requires the contractor to offer the government at least the best price it offered to a previous customer. GSA uses this clause for its schedules. There is no reason your agency can’t adopt this clause for its own contracts; one agency doesn’t haveRead… Read more »
One of the most common places for that contract specialists perform market research is the GSA eLibrary. It can search by the usual key words and GSA Schedules among other methods. Unfortunately, one of the most common methodologies of search in federal procurement — NAICS (North American Classification Code System) Codes — is missing. IRead… Read more »
You know when you click the “I Agree” button whenever you sign up for a new online service? Well, that’s a contract you agree to. 99.9999% of people don’t carefully read them. I usually don’t read them, and I write contracts for a living. But for the 0.00001% of people like privacy advocates that readRead… Read more »