If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) The latest in our continuing series on targeting. First we covered reachable market, target market, and your…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) Negotiations are an important part of the Government acquisition world. (and the rest of your life, of…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) FAR Part 16.401 describes incentive contracts. Incentives fall into 3 general categories: cost, performance, and schedule. Kevin…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) FAR 2.101 defines small business. Everything else is a large business. Most companies, however, are not very…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) Continuing our interview series, Kevin talks to Matt Jeffery, a former Government Contracting Officer who now works…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) Kevin and Paul discuss the variables that impact Industry’s ability to provide resources (meaning people) to meet…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) The Government Fiscal Year (GFY is the common acronym) runs 1 October through 30 September. The last…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) Special guest Shelley Hall joins Paul for a tutorial on the 8(a) Business Development Program. The 8(a)…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) In this episode we continue our series of interviews with Contracting Officers. Kevin interviews Robert Crandell, a…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) A service contract directly engages the time and effort of a contractor to perform an identifiable task…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) FAR Part 12 “Acquisition of Commercial Items” allows the Government to acquire commercial items using commercial procedures,…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) Full and Open competition is the Government’s way of saying that all companies can compete. Many competitions…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) We’re here to help Government and Industry acquisition professionals understand more about how the other side thinks….
Government Contracting Officers are required to make a determination that a contractor is “responsible” before awarding a contract. Part of this determination requires a review of the contractor’s financial capability. (FAR 9.104(a)) Kevin and Paul…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) We’re here to help Government and Industry acquisition professionals understand more about how the other side thinks….
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) We’re here to help Government and Industry acquisition professionals understand more about how the other side thinks….
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) We’re here to help Government and Industry acquisition professionals understand more about how the other side thinks….
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) We’re here to help Government and Industry acquisition professionals understand more about how the other side thinks….
Kevin and Paul introduce the Execution Zones, helpful way to envision where and how certain topics fit into the Government contracting world. (execution as in “contract performance”, not as in…you know, the other connotation) The…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) How does context influence perception in Government Acquisition? Kevin and Paul discuss context, the central concept behind…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) How does a Contracting Officer decide which clauses are included in a contract? Does Industry have a…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) What does a COTR do? What can a COR direct a contractor to do? What is outside…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) The Federal government uses the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics/) to classify businesses and collect…
Contracting Officers are required to make a determination that a contractor is “responsible” before awarding a contract. How do they do that if there is little (or no) publicly available information on a company? Answer:…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) Government Contracting Officers are required to make a determination that a contractor is “responsible” before awarding a…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) What happens if you don’t submit your proposal by the time specified in the RFP? Are you…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) What is a novation? How is it different than a name change? How do you know which…
What are Unallowable Costs? Just because a cost can be allocated to a contract doesn’t mean it can be billed directly to that contract. These costs are called “unallowable costs”. Kevin and Paul discuss the…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) What is the Freedom of Information Act? (FOIA) The Freedom of Information Act is a law that…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. (not just for Contracting Officers!) A unique feature of small business set-aside source selections is the Contracting Officer is required to identify…
Listen and Learn…What is a small business set-aside? Why would the Government allow only small businesses to bid on some opportunities? In this ENCORE presentation, Kevin and Paul discuss the different types of small business…
Listen and Learn… What does Price Reasonableness mean? The Government must make a determination that the price is fair and reasonable before awarding a contract. During source selections, prices are usually assessed to be reasonable,…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. What is an ACRN? Yes, another confusing Government acquisition term. ACRN is an acronym for Accounting Classification Reference Number. Kevin and Paul…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. The Federal Government proposal writing and source selection process is full of myth and mystery for the Industry players writing the proposals…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. Why is targeting so important? How does it benefit both Government and Industry? In this “Follow-on” episode Kevin and Paul dig deeper…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. Why is acquisition planning so important? Kevin and Paul discuss why this could be huge for the Government acquisition world and why…
What does Indefinite Delivery \ Indefinite Quantity mean for my contract? Did I really win any work? Or for the Government, how much can I buy and for how long? Kevin and Paul explain what…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. When do you need an “approved” accounting system? What does “approved” actually mean? Who approves it? What is the difference between adequate,…
If you work in the Government acquisition world, this podcast is for you. Proposal Managers have a unique view of the proposal process. Among other roles, proposal managers are key to ensuring that proposals are…
Listen and Learn… How is the source selection decision made? How does the Government pick the winner? Kevin and Paul discuss the final stage of the source selection: who won? Learn what information the source…
Listen and Learn… What is Certified Cost and Pricing Data? Cost and pricing data is exactly what it sounds like. The key word here is “certified”. Kevin and Paul describe the circumstances where the Government…
Listen and Learn… What is a Final Proposal Revision? (FPR) Kevin and Paul continue their dissection of the Government Source Selection process and discuss the process by which the Government allows revisions to Industry proposals…
Listen and Learn… Who are the players on the Government acquisition team? Who are their Industry counterparts? Kevin and Paul discuss different roles on a Government acquisition team and an Industry proposal team. Many roles…
Listen and Learn… What is an RFI? What is a DRFP? What is an RFP? In this special Encore episode, Kevin and Paul describe RFIs (Request for Information), DRFPs (Draft Request for Proposals) and RFPs…
Listen and Learn… How does the Government Source Selection Process work? Ever wonder what happens after proposals are submitted? How does the Government go about selecting a winner? Kevin and Paul discuss the FAR Part…
Listen and Learn… What is an Industry Day? What goals should the Government accomplish during the event? How should Industry prepare for an Industry Day? Kevin and Paul describe what an Industry Day can be…
Listen and Learn… What is an Unauthorized Commitment? (UA) What makes it Unauthorized? What is a Ratification? Only a Government Contracting Officer can obligate the Government to acquire goods and/or services, but…..sometimes it sure seems…
Listen and Learn… Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI) has become a very important issue for Government contractors as the Government’s perception of and sensitivity to OCI has changed over the last few years. Agencies have…
Listen and Learn… In this Special Holiday ENCORE episode – Kevin and Paul discuss the Contracting Officer Podcast’s 80/20 rule. This is one of the earliest and most popular CO Podcasts, presented again “in case…
Listen and Learn… Unlike in commercial industry, the Government is required to notify bidders that they’ve lost a bid. Kevin and Paul explain what information the Government can and cannot share in the notification as…
Listen and Learn… One Year of the Contracting Officer Podcast! In this special episode Kevin and Paul look back at the beginning of the CO Podcast and answer the most common question received from listeners:…
Listen and Learn… How can the Government buy commercial items efficiently? Good question! One streamlined acquisition process has now become an official part of the FAR. (after years as a “test program”) FAR 13.5 describes…
Listen and Learn… This is Part 2 of Kevin’s interview with Garth Arevalo, CEO of Lukos, LLC. In Part 1 they discussed the perspectives they gained after moving from the Government Contracting Officer role to…
In this Special Episode, Kevin interviews Garth Arevalo, CEO of Lukos, LLC. Like Kevin, Garth is also a former Contracting Officer who spent time at Special Operations Command. Listen in on their conversation and learn…
Did you know that the Government can negotiate with Industry right in the middle of a competition? It’s true! In the Government world negotiations during the source selection process are called “discussions”. Kevin and Paul…
There are endless calls to “fix Government acquisition” and “reduce bureaucracy” and “change or reduce Federal Procurement Policies”. Ready to scale that mountain? We aren’t either. In this episode Kevin and Paul discuss the impact…
Letter contracts are a special type of contract that allow the Government to authorize a contractor to start work immediately when there isn’t time to negotiate every detail of the contract in time to meet…
Listen and Learn… Indefinite Contract? How can a contract be indefinite? Indefinite contracts can be used when the Government knows exactly what it wants to buy, but not how much they’ll need or when they’ll…
Incentive contracts are designed to help the Government acquire goods and services at a lower cost or with improved delivery or technical performance. These contracts provide the opportunity for creativity in crafting incentives and also…
Listen and Learn… What does “Color of Money” mean? In this special encore presentation of an important topic you’ll learn about different types of appropriations and how they impact acquisitions and the Government’s behavior. Kevin…
The Government Fiscal Year (GFY is the common acronym) runs 1 October through 30 September. The last month of the GFY has the potential for great drama because Government funds have an expiration date. (check…
Almost every Federal Government contract follows the same general format. Ever wonder why? (or wonder why anyone would have a podcast about it?) Kevin and Paul explain the FAR’s framework for contract format and how…
Selecting the most appropriate contract type is an important step in a successful acquisition. This decision is made at the very beginning of the process but can haunt both the Government and Industry throughout the…
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…
Ever heard of a logical follow-on? Kevin and Paul explain why logic is just one of the many factors that can influence the decision to award a non-competitive contract to an incumbent contractor.In addition, learn…
What does a COTR do? What can a COR direct a contractor to do? What is outside the scope of their authority? Learn the answers to these questions and more as Kevin and Paul discuss…
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…
Kevin and Paul explain Contract Line Item Numbers (CLINs) and help listeners understand why they are used and why it is important for both Government and Industry to understand them. In addition, learn how the…
In this special rebroadcast of one of the most popular early episodes, Kevin and Paul explain what Contracting Officers do. They define the role of the CO and provide detail on how they are appointed….
Are Sole Source Awards Easier? In this episode Kevin and Paul debate this listener question. A Contracting Officer (and listener!) took issue with a comment from a previous episode regarding sole source contracts and provided…
