Contract Compliance Agency seeks more Data

The agency that ensures federal contractors are meeting federal employment rules is seeking more information from contractors.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) says the changes should make the process easier on contractors while also providing better data for their evaluations.

But corporate law firms and consultant groups are alerting contractors via their blogs and websites that the additional data OFCCP wants will actually be a new burden for them.

OFCCP, which checks contractors’ compliance with federal affirmative action and equal employment opportunity requirements, sends what’s called a Scheduling Letter to contractors selected for a compliance evaluation. That letter lists what data the contractor is required to submit so OFCCP can perform its evaluation.

The current form of the Scheduling Letter is set to expire on Sept. 30, prompting the proposed changes by the OFCCP which are posted at regulations.gov.

7 Do's and 1 Don't for Avoiding Conflicts of Interest

How companies can avoid organizational conflicts of interest? Experts have narrowed down the to-do’s to a few don'ts

·     Do understand the organizational conflicts of interest (OCI) rules and the different categories of OCIs.

·       Do be particularly attuned to “impaired objectivity” OCIs.

·       Do think broadly. OCIs are created at a companywide level, not simply a division or sector level.

·       Do consider the long-range business plan for a particular procurement.

·       Do be aware that winning a small, preliminary award could create conflicts on a massive, future award.

·       Do be aware of the potential restrictions on follow-on contracts that might accompany system engineering and technical assistance work.

·       Do ensure that every proposal considers and, as required, implements an OCI mitigation plan.

·       Do not simply ignore an institutional competitive advantage when preparing a proposal.

Proposal Development Strategies and Writing Tips

1. Use outline formats and listings whenever possible to break up narrative texts.

2. Use visuals to enhance and explain abstract concepts and relationships. (Do not overuse.)

3. Don't overkill a point. State it, support it, and move on to the next point.

4. Use forecasting and internal summaries to help the reader know where they are and where they are going.

5. Be generous with transitions as they will help the reader to know where they have been and where they are going.

Best Practices for Collecting and Using Current and Past Performance Information

The Federal Government is in a continuous process to reinvent itself, with a goal of becoming a government that works better and costs less.  The Government is the largest acquisition organization in the world with expenditures of about  $200 Billion a year for commercial goods and services.  This is one third of the Federal discretionary budget of about $600 Billion.  How well the Government’s acquisition teams administer in-process contracts and discuss with contractors their current performance, determines to a great extent how well agencies can achieve their missions and provide value to the taxpayers.  By increasing attention to contractor performance on in-process contracts and ensuring past performance data is readily available for source selection teams, agencies are reaping two benefits:  

(1) better current performance because of the active dialog between the contractor and the government; and (2) better ability to select high quality contractors for new contracts, because contractors know the assessments will be used in future award decisions.

5 Steps to Sharpening your Marketing Strategy

Targeting your market efforts to specific audience is critical to success, as we approach the end of fiscal 2010, targeting your marketing efforts to specific audiences and opportunities becomes even more important. The information provided starts a “checklist” that will continue in future Monday Morning Contracting Tips...

Checklist item 1: For several years I have recommended focusing on one or two agencies to grow your government business. Even if you have been in the market for a while, maximizing the value of one agency before moving to a new one is important. If you are focusing on specific agencies, there is some homework for sales, marketing and business development staff. Agency homework includes:

Get agency and office organization charts – know the food chain

-The organization charts allow you to see your agency’s entry point (initial customer or prospect), where he or she is in the management food chain, and determine who else might be involved in the buying decision process. It also provides a “bigger picture” as to how your agency penetration strategy is working and identifies other offices.

 Obtain and read the agency budget filings to see where the money is likely to be spent

-The agency filings allow you to see where it wants to spend available funds

 Ask your contacts for referrals

-Asking your current customers for referrals seems obvious, but it does not happen as often as it should.  Asking for referrals should be a part of the normal sales process

   

Ensure that you request the proper individuals, (executives, engineers, etc.) for meetings

-Issues that require technical staff involvement make sure they are there

Check for any agency events coming up; you need face time

-When selected properly events are always important as they provide more opportunities for face-to-face contact. In-house agency events and other agency-specific activities are beneficial for growing your business.

Welcome to the New Era of Business Development

It’s no secret that there are fewer new opportunities in the government market, thanks to looming budget cuts and an increasing trend away from the use of new contract awards in favor of established governmentwide acquisition contracts.

However, companies can increase their ability to compete and even boost their win rates and revenues if they invest in and optimize their business development and capture management processes and tools.

More companies are fighting for smaller pieces of business out here in the market, but those companies that invest and work hard to build and optimize their processes will do better in competition. Making the decision to invest is easy, but implementing it is not.

The Key to Long Lasting Organizational Change

The key to long-lasting organizational change is transforming the ingrained attitudes, beliefs, values or mindset of personnel by embracing these four strategies.

·   Solidify management’s commitment to the new objectives, methodology, expectations or roles and behaviors. Change starts at the top of an organization. Leadership has to buy into every aspect of the need to change the status quo. Management must exhibit the desire for change and actively promote follow-though if a transformation is going to last.

·   Communicate to everyone that roles and expectations are changing, behavior has to change, and, likewise, their thinking also must change. To make a substantial change, you have to transform the organizational mindset. Changing a mindset needs to be done at the role level. People need to introspectively evaluate their mindset in light of the role they’ve been working in, as well as the role they are now being asked to move to and function in the transformed organization.

·   Install reinforcement and support systems to bolster changes, such as ongoing refinement of processes, training in new systems, strong leaders who dive in, exemplify and promote the change.

·   Provide training and insights into how personnel can adjust their thinking if they want to succeed in a new role. Not everyone is prepared to change. How can you deal with this? The best way is to encourage de-volunteering. You should communicate the expectations in the new role, the methodology, the requirements and the behavior; provide support training for people who have difficulty adopting these changes; and allow people to make their own decision to move ahead and embrace the changes or not. Ultimately, only they can make change happen for them. Everyone says they’re for change — they just don’t want to be changed.

Understanding HOW your proposal is selected

FAR Part 15 - Source Selection Processes and Techniques

Best value continuum

An agency can obtain best value in negotiated acquisitions by using any one or a combination of source selection approaches. In different types of acquisitions, the relative importance of cost or price may vary. For example, in acquisitions where the requirement is clearly definable and the risk of unsuccessful contract performance is minimal, cost or price may play a dominant role in source selection. The less definitive the requirement, the more development work required, or the greater the performance risk, the more technical or past performance considerations may play a dominant role in source selection.

Tradeoff process

A tradeoff process is appropriate when it may be in the best interest of the Government to consider award to other than the lowest priced offeror or other than the highest technically rated offeror.

Lowest price technically acceptable source selection process

The lowest price technically acceptable source selection process is appropriate when best value is expected to result from selection of the technically acceptable proposal with the lowest evaluated price.

Oral presentations

Oral presentations by offerors as requested by the Government may substitute for, or augment, written information. Use of oral presentations as a substitute for portions of a proposal can be effective in streamlining the source selection process. Oral presentations may occur at any time in the acquisition process, and are subject to the same restrictions as written information, regarding timing (see 15.208) and content (see 15.306). Oral presentations provide an opportunity for dialogue among the parties. Pre-recorded videotaped presentations that lack real-time interactive dialogue are not considered oral presentations for the purposes of this section, although they may be included in offeror submissions, when appropriate.