All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central© Click here to access the Podcast 2.0 License and start listening today!

Kevin and Paul have covered a LOT of topics on this podcast. In each of the episodes, they map out where a particular topic fits within the Acquisition and/or Execution Time Zones®. (NOTE: For more on the Acquisition and Execution Time Zones®, check out episodes 003 and 372, respectively). Using these time zones, they explain where each topic fits between the developing of the requirement all the way through closing out the contract that delivers that requirement. But what happens BEFORE...

The United States government buys a wide variety of things in a variety of ways. In this episode, we cover one of those unique ways: through Foreign Military Sales (FMS). Under FMS, the US government procures equipment and services for foreign partner nations. These FMS purchases are often referred to as “security assistance” that is part of Foreign Policy to help nations maintain their defense. FMS covers a wide variety of products and services. While this is not something every contracting...

All episodes are inside Skyway Central©. Click here to access your Podcast 2.0 license for $20/mo and start listening today!

All episodes are inside Skyway Central©. Click here to access your Podcast 2.0 license for $20/mo and start listening today!

All Episodes are inside Skyway Central©  Click here to access your Podcast 2.0 license for $20/mo and start listening today! 

Chess is one of my favorite games. It’s simple, yet maddeningly complex. Chess is a game in which it’s easy to get the basics: there are only 6 types of pieces. However, the game gets complicated fast once we start moving the pieces. Now imagine playing chess without knowing how the pieces move… GovCon is like Chess. GovCon is not overly complex at its base. Once you understand the basics: buyer, seller, contract type, 3 Deciders, Acquisition and Execution Time Zones, building acquisition...

There are several places in the FAR that direct contracting officers to award products and services against existing contracts BEFORE establishing new ones. There is even a specific provision that acquisition planning include consideration for the “use of pre-existing contracts.”  That’s logical, use existing contracts before awarding new ones. There is a LOT of data on government contracts so finding those contracts should be easy, right? Well, maybe. But even once we find them, how do we...

Wanting to award a contract and having a path to make award are two different things.  The government needs to acquire goods and services. Even when the government customer clearly knows what they need, just knowing that something is needed is not enough. Even when there is funding to meet that requirement, that’s still not enough. They still need the HOW. The government team still needs a path to actually buy the product or service. In GovCon, that path is referred to as the Acquisition...

A Sole Source contract award is when the government awards a contract without competition. The standard procedure in GovCon is to use competition to compete requirements, therefore awarding a sole source contract is a “non-standard” procedure.    There are a variety of factors that impact the decision to use a sole source strategy to acquire goods and services. To effectively use this sole source authority, it's critical for both government and industry to understand when a sole source...

The Agency Protest is yet another communication tool available to industry to engage with the government team. It’s one of the ways – and it has it’s place. First though, we recommend straight up, “open and frank discussions” communications between government and industry. If that doesn’t work, there are many ways (both formal and informal) to prompt communication between both sides. One of the more “formal” ways is the Agency Protest. The Agency Protest is more formal than a complaint, or an...

How long can a government contract be?  Most contracts are awarded to meet ongoing requirements. Therefore, it makes sense to have a contract in place to cover that requirement at all times. However, is there a maximum length for those contracts? What is the “right” length of a federal government contract? That can be a tricky question. If the contract duration is too short - it’s a lot of work to recompete it often (i.e. every month is too short). But if the contract is too long, or is...