Common Mistakes In Government Contracting, and How To Avoid Them Recording Link PM Recording Link AM

1 Speaker Bio About me –President & CEO Seville Government Consulting –Director - Certifications, Tyson’s Corner Chapter

2 2 Industry And Government Communications: How Collaboration Improves Outcomes The early identification of requirements for an acquisition has been highlighted as a major challenge facing the government Without effective engagement –Clarity of purpose is never obtained when the government acquires a product or service and does not adequately define up- front what it wants –Fundamental mismatch among government wants, needs, affordability, and sustainability

3 3 Industry And Government Communications: How Collaboration Improves Outcomes Discussions with Industry to identify the real needs, not just “requirements” –Rethink vendor outreach –Discuss affordability As the needs are identified, prioritize them through a lens of affordability Break reliance on known and preferred solutions and focus instead on the actual needs of users –Innovation through the use of performance-based contracts

4 4 Government: Inadequate Market Research Creating a culture for sharing knowledge and improving federal acquisition Requirements Weak competition Inadequate price Same cast of characters

5 5 Industry: Does Your Business Look Like A Risk? Government contracting is a risk-averse environment Risk issues No track record No references The owners use AOL, G-Mail, Yahoo and other free services for “official” government communications. Do not know agency Do not speak the “language: All about educating yourself!

6 Collaboration builds better RFPs – What, exactly, does your RFP communicate about your organization? – Is it well structured and clearly written? – Can recipients scan it and understand what you're looking for? – Is it free of jargon? – Are you getting the same questions from numerous vendors? 6 Government: Inadequate RFPs High quality RFPs garner high quality responses

7 7 Industry: Awful Proposals Poorly designed Misspellings, typos, wrong acronyms Wrong agency Improper use of graphics Not following instructions Making it difficult to read No consideration to reader

8 8 Industry: Awful Proposals (cont’d) HOWs, Who’s and Where’s of the proposal Articulate HOW you will accomplish the project Commonly-missed area in proposal writing Forget themes of “superior customer service” and “unmatched experience.” Fluff Solving the government’s problem at a fair and reasonable price is what gets you the win. Articulate how key personnel add value to the solution

9 9 Government: Inadequate Debriefs Thoughtful and thorough debriefs helps build partnerships Take the time to talk with the representative of each firm that submitted a proposal Forthright discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of their proposal compared with the competition's. Builds the agency’s reputation Creates confidence in the contract award decision

10 Industry: Ask Questions of RFP Ask questions of RFP requirements Ambiguous, conflicting, TBD Don’t rely on own interpretation Know what happens when you assume You will assume risk

11 Government: Wrong Contract Type Firm Fixed Price is not the only contract type available Effective market research Consider nature of work What is being purchased Need to consider Risk Manage to correct contract type

12 Industry: Not Following Proposal Submission Instructions Read instruction carefully, and follow them to the letter! Resume format Font sizes Locations Times Page counts

13 Government: Not Ensuring Prompt Payment Prompt Payment Act implemented in FAR 32.9 Vendors need to be paid in a timely manner 30 days after a “proper” invoice is received, or by the payment date set in the contract CO responsible 7 days after receipt, invoice deemed proper Interest payments Don’t assume payment was made Don’t use payment as a negotiating tactic or weapon

14 Industry: Wrong Forum for Bid Protest Three forums, and three forums, only Procuring agency Government Accountability Office Preferred forum for most protests Court of Federal Claims NOT SBA Understand time frames for submitting protest Must be filed within 10 days of when a protester knows or should know of the basis of the protest

15 Government: Improper Evaluations Critical to use only stated evaluation criteria, and evaluation mechanisms Ignoring RFP Using some criteria, not others Tradeoff to LPTA Using criteria not in RFP

16 Government: Improper Discussions Discussions must be meaningful, and not misleading Deficiencies, weaknesses, or adverse past performance information to which it has not yet responded Do not mislead or misinform No favoritism Do not reveal one offeror’s solution to another, or price Offeror’s must be a given an opportunity to submit final proposal revisions on a common cutoff date.

17 Industry: Be World - Class Contractor Satisfactory is not good enough Effective, efficient, economical Innovative Always find ways to improve Value engineering Superior service to government customer Skilled, well-trained, capable, and professional workforce Avoid incumbentnitis

18 Q&A