You’ve heard of sealed bids? How about Two-Step? No, not a type of dance… Two-Step Sealed bidding is a type of acquisition process that allows the Government to evaluate technical bids and request pricing from...
What does it mean if your contract has “options”? Kevin and Paul explain the reasons why options are used in Government contracts and how they impact proposals and source selections.Learn how the execution and administration...
In Part 2 of this special episode, Kevin and Paul continue their conversation about proposals with Vicky Strycharske, Senior Proposal Manager at Skyway Acquisition Solutions. This is another “what I wish I knew”episode that covers...
In this special episode, Kevin and Paul discuss proposals with Vicky Strycharske, Senior Proposal Manager at Skyway Acquisition Solutions. This is another “what I wish I knew” episode that covers nuances of the RFP and...
In this episode Kevin and Paul discuss the balance that both industry and the Government must consider as they plan how best to meet a requirement. Industry must decide whether or not outside vendors, suppliers,...
In this episode Kevin and Paul discuss the purpose of small business set-asides. Why would the Government only allow small businesses to bid on some opportunities? Learn the different types of set-asides and why they...
In this episode Kevin and Paul discuss the cost of writing a proposal in response to a Government RFP. How much does it cost to write a proposal? What drivers can increase or decrease the...
How much time does an offeror need to submit a proposal? How much time is not enough? How much time is too much? What is the contractor doing with that time? As contracting officers, we...
Targeting is a critical element of winning in the federal market. Poor targeting creates many of the problems we discuss on the Contracting Officer Podcast – from miscommunication between buyer and seller, to adversarial debriefs,...
The third in a 4 part series describing the Acquisition Time Zones in greater detail. (see Episode 003 for an overview of the Time Zones) In this episode Kevin and Paul describe what information must...
What is Section L? What is Section M? In this 2 part episode, Paul and Kevin explain how the Government provides proposal preparation and content instructions in Section L and provides the evaluation criteria that...
What is Section L? What is Section M? In this 2 part episode, Paul and Kevin explain how the Government provides proposal preparation and content instructions in Section L and provides the evaluation criteria that...
In this cast, we provide an overview of the Request for Information (RFI), the Draft Request for Proposals (DRFP) and the Request for Proposals (RFP). Contracting Officers use all of these in different ways and...
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) Kevin and Paul provide an overview of the Acquisition Time Zones. The Acquisition Time Zones are a...
Listen and Learn… One often-overlooked difference between the federal market and the commercial market is that federal market sales are won more by process than by relationships. Contracting Officers (COs) cannot buy based on relationships alone. Relationships matter (see FAR Parts 3 and 9), but relationships are usually not the most important factor. The relationship is 20% of the decision. The other 80% is the competitive process.