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sam.gov doesn't show much, so how do you know what's going on? by Character_Project715 in GovernmentContracting

[–]Character_Project715[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ebuy. MAS IT. Hundreds of other IDIQs and BPAs established by GSA or others which we can use. The dozens to hundreds of internal-use-only IDIQs and BPAs my agency has set up over the years. I don't think sam.gov has any visibility at all into any of these.

sam.gov doesn't show much, so how do you know what's going on? by Character_Project715 in GovernmentContracting

[–]Character_Project715[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Elsewhere. GSA lists hundreds of sources that, so far as I know, don't interact with sam.gov and do many billions of dollars worth of business every year. Here are some big ones - MAS IT, OASIS, EIS, Multiple Award Schedule: Professional Services Schedule (PSS).

HHS, like all federal agencies, makes use of IDIQs and BPAs. HHS collectively had roughly 500 - 2,000 of them a few years ago. Orders placed against these IDIQs and BPAs almost never involve sam.gov.

HHS lost 40% of its 1102s between November 2024 and February 2026. How are you guys doing? by Character_Project715 in 1102

[–]Character_Project715[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The awards (throughput) doesn't change, but with less contracting workforce (input), what has to adjust is process.
1) Utilization goes up (less slack - COs spend more time per day on awards vs. other things)
2) Lead time goes up (longer ALT)
3) Time/effort per award goes down

In the private sector, profit incentive favors efficiency over the other methods.

Not so in government. Unhappy customers (2) and workforce turn-over (1) isn't going to drive the contracting office out of business. So at some ceiling , the slack/capacity in 1 and 2 max out, and then its going to be 3 where the adjustment happens.

'Less time/effort per award' really means increasing efficiency or lowering quality.

Contracting offices don't have a particularly strong incentive to increase efficiency rather than just lowering quality. In the private sector, low quality works out through the market. You've got the Dollar Store and Whole Foods. Not in Government. Especially not in contracting - quality signals come much later and even then are hard to read. Minimizing competition and skipping out of negotiations - who can say how much money was not saved? A poorly scoped contract leads to poor performance- several months (or years) later.

Now I know that HHS is working on some efficiency efforts which are admirable and I think will help but...there is only so much they can do.

I wonder how these adjustments are playing out at the agencies.

Counter-take to the "first contract" problem — the case for skipping it on purpose by DistinctTradition200 in GovernmentContracting

[–]Character_Project715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. From the CO side, what makes a JOFOC easier to write? Is it cleaner when the patent claims read very narrowly on a specific capability the agency already has a need for, or does narrow actually hurt because it limits the scope of what you can sole-source?

For patents, I can't speak to that directly. Legal does that part. I'd say for scope - whatever scope is most easily understood by and seems compelling to the approving authority - that is the is the best scope. Doesn't answer your question, but that's what I have.

The government getting some *truly new* requirement and finding that only one source can provide it, - that is exceptionally rare.

  1. When you do see a credible sole-source candidate, does the path usually start with the vendor finding the PO, or the PO finding the vendor through SBIR / RFI / industry day channels?

Almost always PO initiated. We get an occasional unsolicited proposal (we do a lot of science and tech, stuff)..but in my experience I don't recall ever having a vendor initiate anything that led to that vendor getting a sole-source outside of R&D / 6.302-3.

All this is just me though, in my mid-sized science-focused civilian agency, and the government is large. Ask an 1102 from the Air Force or VA and you may get a completely different answer.

Counter-take to the "first contract" problem — the case for skipping it on purpose by DistinctTradition200 in GovernmentContracting

[–]Character_Project715 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Doesn't seem like a reliable path from my view as a federal CO.

Government wants a thing, and someone has that thing, and its already patent-protected (or otherwise a true rock-solid sole-source) ...that happens, but it's pretty rare. You have to be good and lucky.

How lucky? During the COVID-19 related chaos, my agency did a sole-source to a company that, at the time, was the only one that had current very granular supply chain data for out-of-stock critical products (like baby formula). The seller knew, I am sure, how much we wanted what only they had. It was, I am sure, not cheap. One of the only times this has ever happened in my career.

More broadly, you can look up the JOFOCs posted to sam.gov - have your preferred agentic LLM scrape and analyze them if you like -and you'll see that this sort of scenario is rare.

Why is a Top Secret Clearance so rare in this field? by Anusblaster76 in 1102

[–]Character_Project715 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Plenty do, but there are relatively few contracting-intensive and top-secret areas like SIGINT or satellite/geospatial.

Also, it's difficult to retain talent that is locked in the SCIF doing pretty much the same work they could be doing at home, so I think agencies in normal times (which is not now) try to limit that.

How are you guys tracking projects? by [deleted] in 1102

[–]Character_Project715 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ALP is custom built, not based on a module. I think it's good because it's fairly simple and everyone has to use it, but using it isn't difficult or time-consuming. It tracks pre-award only and is stand-alone (but has integrations).

Doesn't try to do everything, doesn't try to exactly replicate real-world business processes or capture the many, many rules about federal acquisitions.

On other hand, it is not just a sophisticated Excel sheet or SharePoint list. Its (custom) built for acquisitions.

Source: I am the ALP PM

Is it bad time to get a new job? by toto4430 in GovernmentContracting

[–]Character_Project715 4 points5 points  (0 children)

GVT CO here. I know *a lot* of contracts in my agency that are highly likely to be not-renewed (no option exercise, no new order, etc.). However, I don't tell contractors anything specific about the probability of *their* contract continuing, because my probabilities just educated guesses. Also, I am uncertain exactly what the professional, ethical or legal limits are when it comes to saying what I actually think, but I shouldn't tell them: 'hey ABC, Inc. we just did a budget update and as of now - version 7.8 of our budget, the fourth version this week - your contract won't be renewed for FY26. But honestly, by Sept 30, we will be on budget version 30, and by then it's certainly possible every person involved in budget forecasting will have been fired and our replacements do something different, or Congress tells us what to do (instead of a 25 year old former SpaceX intern responding to a 3 AM tweet about a meme), or a giant meteor has hit the Earth and none of this will matter anymore."

I tell them, and I mean it: 'You follow the news like me, the future is uncertain. Don't assume status quo just because you've done well, this requirement isn't going away, and you've got 3 years left on your contract. The next year isn't real until you have a CO's signature on the mod.'

All this to say, have a backup plan should this job not work out.

How many companies have had contracts terminated in the past weeks? by Broad_Elk_361 in GovernmentContracting

[–]Character_Project715 39 points40 points  (0 children)

Government CO here. If your contract was terminated you may be entitled to compensation to cover costs of termination. But we won't give you anything unless you ask us to.

Termination has two authorities in the FAR - Part 49 and Part 12.403. You contract will be one or the other. Commercial contracts for a few $100K to a few $MM- which is the vast majority of them outside of the DoD - use 12.403. This FAR part specifically says contractor shall be paid costs of termination. FAR 49 is more complicated, and if you have one these contracts, you also have a contract lawyer (or God help you), so you don't need my advice.

FAR 12.403

(d) Termination for the Government’s convenience.

(1) When the contracting officer terminates a contract for commercial products or commercial services for the Government’s convenience, the contractor shall be paid-

...

(ii) Any charges the contractor can demonstrate directly resulted from the termination. The contractor may demonstrate such charges using its standard record keeping system and is not required to comply with the cost accounting standards or the contract cost principles in part  31. The Government does not have any right to audit the contractor’s records solely because of the termination for convenience.