Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Contractors attempt to get on the Presidential candidates’ radar

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More than in past election years, a top contractors group has been diving in to prepare for the coming presidential transition, in part with the release on June 9, 2016 of a new survey highlighting concerns over capabilities of the government’s acquisition workforce.

Professional Services Council - PSC“We are working with the Partnership for Public Service and other groups on a number of papers and a multi-pronged strategy” for meeting with the teams of the major presidential candidates, said Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel of the 400-company Professional Services Council, at a panel at the ACQUIRE Conference & Expo in Washington, D.C.

Getting an audience with the candidates or staff isn’t easy, added David Berteau, the council’s president and CEO, “because candidates don’t want to be take away one ounce of energy from getting elected.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2016/06/contractors-eye-presidential-transition-continuity-acquisition/128984

See article about the Acquisition Policy Survey with link to survey results here: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/?p=9709

Tight budgets, terrorism and task orders: What’s next for government contracting

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If you ask government contractors to talk about what affects their business, it takes less than a minute before you hear the familiar refrains of budget cuts, sequestration, and political gridlock. Those issues may be at the top of everyone’s minds now, but for those who do business with the government, a long-term vision is essential for surviving Washington’s ongoing crises.

Capital Business asked local executives to take a step back and name one issue that will be a game-changer for contracting over the next decade.

From the threat of terrorism to the inexperience of a younger government workforce, here’s what they said:

Kenneth Asbury – Chief executive of CACI International, a large services contractor

Now, more than almost any time I can recall, the world is a very dangerous place in many dimensions.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/tight-budgets-terrorism-and-task-orders-whats-next-for-government-contracting/2015/01/23/b78d5884-a0ca-11e4-b146-577832eafcb4_story.html

How companies hide the spoils of winning government contracts

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General Electric, the venerable maker of light bulbs, refrigerators, and other appliances, recently announced that it was selling off its consumer products division because the profit margins are too low. While GE bids that division goodbye, it’s holding onto its highly lucrative government-contracting business, in which a less-demanding customer leaves room for higher margins. Between 2007 and 2012, GE secured more than $16 billion worth of federal contracts, which might have something to do with the fact that it spent $150 million on lobbying during that period.

How often do these sorts of contracts roll in for companies that spend heavily on political advocacy? Unfortunately, there’s not enough public information to say.

Journalists and critics frequently bring up the dizzying totals that special interests put into elections—one estimate was that $3.7 billion was spent on last month’s midterms—but it’s much less common to hear about the impact of that money on the government’s decision-making.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2014/12/how-companies-hide-spoils-winning-government-contracts/100572

How mature is the government contracting market?

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A few months ago, I was preparing some course material to address corporate strategy in the government contracting space.  I wanted, as almost all business school professors do, to use a case study or two from any one of the famous business schools that produce them.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – This is the first in a three-part series on the future of the government contracting market. The series is based on a speech John Hillen, former CEO of Sotera Defense Solutions, delivered as part of the Brown & Brown distinguished lecture series at George Mason University’s School of Management. This first essay deals with the maturation of the GovCon market over the past 50 years.)

Out of tens of thousands of case studies, I could hardly find one done about a government contracting firm.  When I asked a former Harvard Business school professor why this was so, he offered that he doubted that many professors producing these case studies thought that government contracting was a “real” market.

The view is more widely held than one might suspect – even in the national capital region.  Many thoughtful members of Congress involved in acquisition policy, senior leaders in the executive branch, members of media, academia, and elsewhere that I’ve spoken with think that the GovCon market is really more of a political process than a “real” market characterized by competition, innovation, and transparency.  Their prevailing view is that if a GovCon firm can figure out the political process and play that game better than the next guy, they win the contract, right? One monolithic buyer served by a few cartels in a closed cottage industry, right?

Keep reading this article at: http://washingtontechnology.com/Articles/2014/05/20/Insights-Hillen-GovCon-maturity.aspx?m=2&Page=2&p=1

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