Welcome to SellingToTheFeds.com
Every year the federal government spends approximately $200,000,000,000
on goods and services. In addition, state and local governments
spend billions more on goods and services each year. That much money
makes government contracting an interesting sector of the economy.
For the last 10 years Government Video magazine has graciously provided
me with an outlet to exercise my fascination with government contracting
through the monthly “Market Watch” column. From my perch
as a market-wise legal eagle, I have never been at a loss in finding
an interesting topic to write about. Some topics come from cases
that I’ve recently worked on, others come from the news or
are suggested to me by Government Video’s editors. Together
they have allowed me to take the monthly pulse of trends in government
contracting.
Over the past decade, government contracting has both changed and
remained the same. Federal acquisition is in many ways the same
because it is still a relatively regulated market governed by numerous
rules and regulations. A company must understand these government
practices and requirements to succeed in the government market,
or else lose to a competitor that understands them better.
Government contracting is different, however, because the government
market is much less formal than it was 10 years ago. At that time,
the Commerce Business Daily, Invitations for Bids, and Requests
for Proposals were the norm. Today, publication and competition
formalities are on the decline. Getting the contract is no longer
the linchpin of the government contract process. Instead, agencies
assume that you have a contract vehicle in place, such as a GSA
Schedule. As a result, marketing to agencies has become more important
than the contracting process.
The single biggest change over the last 10 years is the ascendancy
of GSA Schedules to a position of dominance. Ten years ago GSA Schedules
were merely one of several contract vehicles, and certainly not
the biggest. In fact, GSA Schedules were dwarfed by the Indefinite
Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts of the time. Then
Congress enacted laws broadening the definition of what a commercial
item is and relaxed the rules covering their procurement. At the
same time, downsizing in many agencies decimated the ranks of the
procurement officers who had managed those mega-contracts. Finally,
GSA dropped the Maximum Order Limitation (MOL) from Schedules, which
removed the $500,000 order limit, and added a plethora of services
to what had been predominantly a hardware contract.
The results have been impressive. GSA estimates that more than $15,300,000,000
of goods and services will be bought by agencies and other authorized
customers under all of its GSA Schedule contracts. Of that sum,
more than $7,600,000,000 will be for services. Agencies can now
buy whole facilities, integrated systems, and custom support services
on the GSA Schedules of contractors banding together in teaming
arrangements. And GSA Schedule Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPA)
allow agencies to repetitively buy goods and services easier than
ever.
I hope that Government Video asks me to write another retrospective
in 2010. In the meantime, I have selected 30 articles that together
provide an overview of current issues in government contracting.
As you can see from the publication dates of the articles, some
topics have remained timely despite their age, while others are
quite recent. Several articles have been edited to revise information
that is no longer accurate.
Thanks for your e-mails, telephone calls, inquiries, and suggestions
over the years. I appreciate all of your comments.
--Andrew Mohr, Esq.
