One of the best ways to improve acquisition outcomes is for Government and Industry to communicate. Open communication is one of the key concepts we focus on in our podcast, as well as Skyway’s consulting, mentoring, and training for both government and industry.

In this episode, we cover a lesser known, and maybe less understood, acquisition strategy that improves that communication: namely, the Advisory Down Select process.

The Advisory Down Select process allows the government to provide “advisory” feedback to offerors – good or bad – about their likelihood of success on a given acquisition. What makes this process unique is that the feedback is “advisory” – meaning that the offerors can use the feedback, or not. This is different from Firm Down Select (which we covered in Episode 322). In the Firm Down Select, the contacting officer is providing “firm” feedback that may eliminate offerors from competition. Under the Advisory Down Select that we cover in this episode, the government team is providing “advisory” feedback that an offeror can to self-eliminate – or use to focus their efforts to get better.

The nuance between these is HUGE.

In this episode, Kevin welcome’s Trevor Wagner from the Department of Commerce to help. Trevor leads the Acquisition Innovation Lab at the Department of Commerce and he has lots of experience with Advisory Down Select acquisitions. Through our discussion, we outline the why, how and what of this Advisory Down Select acquisition strategy – including why it is a very effective tool for both government and industry.