To Keep Winning Federal Contracts, Small Businesses Say They Have to Spend More – Contracting – GovExec.com
Cost of doing business with government rose 15 percent in three years, survey shows.
Cost of doing business with government rose 15 percent in three years, survey shows.
The biggest losses were in datacenter hardware spending, but network security and wireless LAN saw major gains as cloud-first strategies come to the fore
Source: 2016 IT spending cemented shift to cloud and security | InfoWorld
While uncertainty looms over the long-term government spending forecast, vendors can expect purchasing by state, local and education (SLED) government agencies to continue to slowly and steadily increase. We’ve uncovered unique insights that will help contractors and government officials understand and navigate the business-to-government (B2G) market in 2017.
Source: 2017 SLED Purchasing Outlook: Tight Budgets, Modest Growth | Onvia
Existing statutes and regulations require the Government to ensure that its requirements with respect to a procurement of supplies or services are stated in terms of (i) functions to be performed, (ii) performance required, or (iii) essential physical characteristics. This is necessary so that commercial items, to the extent practical, can be procured to fulfill such requirements and sellers of commercial items are provided an opportunity to compete in any procurement to fill such requirements (see 10 USC 2377).
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Commercial Item Preference – Market Research Still Required
With so many changes in the air, it is critical that small businesses take positive steps to build their business. Here are five mistakes you must avoid.
Source: 5 mistakes small businesses should avoid in 2017 — Washington Technology
In his exit memo to the next administration, OMB Director Shaun Donovan advises continuing IT modernization efforts, shared services and support for U.S. Digital Services.
Source: OMB chief tells Trump team IT modernization is key — FCW
It signals a willingness to invest in emerging technology.
Source: What Chief Innovation Officers Mean To Tech Contractors – Nextgov.com
Bumping up the Defense Department’s protest threshold could tilt Pentagon buyers away from civilian contracting vehicles.
Source: Changes to protest rules could shift contracting preferences — FCW
Performance-based payments (PBPs) for non-cost-reimbursable contracts are the Government’s preferred financing method when the contracting officer finds them practical and the contractor agrees to their use (see FAR 32.1001(a)). The 2017 NDAA, as we discussed yesterday, removes the qualification “when the contracting officer finds them practical and the contractor agrees to their use” making PBPs the unquestionable preferred financing method. There’s a lot to like with PBPs in lieu of Progress Payments based on costs. With PBPs, once contractors achieve a predetermined milestone, it gets paid. Progress payments on the other hand require considerable administrative effort including cost roll-ups, liquidation rates, subcontractor billings, loss ratio calculations and more.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Contract Financing – Performance-Based Payments – Generally