Tag: Contracting Officer

152: Contracting Officer gives away Billions to small business – Donnie Harris

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Today’s guest is Mr. Donnie Harris, is a former guest of ours on the show. However, given the fact that there’s so much money put into the infrastructure plan, I thought it would behoove me to bring him back on to let all the listeners out there to listen to the episode once again.

Donnie Harris is a former senior contracting officer with an unlimited warrant, meaning he could sign off at any size contract. Over the course of his 20 years in government he managed complex and high-profile procurements totaling over $3 billion, that’s billion with a B, from the acquisition phase to the pre-award for three DC agencies.

His government customers where Mr. Harris provided procurement support included the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Aviation Administration, the Veterans Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Commerce, SBA, Department of Homeland Security, Coast Guard, DOE, National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Labor.

What I like the most about this interview with Mr. Harris was that he shared some truths about how the government works from the inside. These are things that are rarely heard outside of the government workplace.

He shared his insights, tools, the things that he’s learned, suggestions for small businesses on how to grow, all of that in this episode.

Listen to this episode with our Govcon giant, Mr. Donnie Harris.

Links from the episode:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donnie-harris-ba26a68a/

Mastermind Monday: 5 People You Need to Meet Using the Players and Layers Method

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Want to get in front of the right people sooner? Learn the Players and Layers Method and start knowing these five people you need to meet!

5 PEOPLE YOU NEED TO MEET

1. Small Business Specialist

These people are the easiest to meet because their responsibilities essentially include talking to industry people.

This is why these small business specialists go to a handful of conferences and are holding different outreach briefings. 

Apart from that, they are also the people that require their specific federal agency to reserve contracts for small businesses. 

Basically, their job is to meet small businesses and help answer questions about how to do business with that agency and what are the opportunities that these businesses can take advantage of. 

2. End Users

End users are the people who are defining the requirements on what are the products or services that will get purchased.

In this case, your end user is not a specific agency, but the people who are making the purchasing decision in that agency.

These people can be their program manager, their facilities manager, or any other individuals who have those long job titles.

In looking for these end users, you can just easily look for their job titles on that federal agency’s employee directory.  For others that don’t publish this directory, you can also look for these job titles on LinkedIn. 

Just remember that these end users will talk to you with regards to what they need. However, this will not happen if you don’t even want to get to know them and are just asking for bidding opportunities.

3. Primes

Prime contractors can either be your competitor or your competimate. 

In most cases, if you are a small business contractor, it is recommended to team up with the huge primes because like the end users, these people need to also meet a certain work percentage for small businesses.  

However, if you have been frustrated by large primes who take your paperwork and never call you back, then you might need to stop coming for them asking for a free handout.

Rather, start providing them value on what you can offer and not what you can get from them.

4. Contracting Officer

Contracting officers are the people who have the authority to manage and administer contracts and run competitions.

They have the legal authority to bind your company to the government in an agreement to provide products and services within a specific price and under specific terms and conditions. 

However, unlike small business specialists, these people can be hard to reach because they are risk averse.

Consider that they are holding contracts that are worth thousands or millions of dollars, so they are really careful in terms of the acquisition process as one mistake can lead to a lot of things that costs more than it’s worth. 

This is why you need to always take your time in building relationships with these people. 

5. Stakeholder

Stakeholders are the people who mainly lead a specific government agency. 

These people are the ones who make the big speeches at the conference, such as the base commander or the cabinet secretary.

However, they are not your buyer, so you should not talk to these stakeholders asking to be introduced to the specific people buying your products and services. 

“They care about your eyes and ears, but don’t beg them to award you things. It doesn’t work that way.”

ADVICE IN USING THE PLAYERS AND LAYERS METHOD

1. Take advantage of these agencies’ strategic plans.

Apart from a forecast list, almost every federal agency also publishes a strategic plan.

These are usually five year plans that highlight the language the agency uses to talk about their missions and their problems, aside from their spending priorities.

So, if you want to learn more about your specific federal buyer, then take advantage of these plans because this will enable you to come into the conversation speaking the language of that agency.

2. Lower these people’s risks.

Under the Federal  Acquisition Regulation part 13, contracting officers are encouraged to seek competition and to actively seek out offers from more than one contractor.

However, also consider that these decision-makers have so much on the line when they choose you, so perform the contract flawlessly and make sure that they get the best value. 

In fact, even on the market research phase, get their interest by providing your case studies, success stories, and those things that really show how you shine and why you can outperform your competition. 

What are those best values? What are those extraordinary things that are quantifiable?

This way, it makes it easier for them to choose you because you’ve been warming them for months on how you can lower their risks and increase their odds of success.

3. Identify the agency needs.

One way to identify your federal buyer’s needs is by looking at past federal contract data which will show you who’s buying products or services similar to yours.

The truth is your federal buyer may have already bought something like your product or service from someone who’s not you.

Now, there are a handful of variables why these agencies didn’t choose you. This might be due to your location, pricing, expertise, among others.  

However, instead of focusing on these reasons, why not put yourself in that individual federal human’s shoes and take a look at the people who are already supplying them? 

What do you think is the reason that they are doing business with huge companies like Deloitte? What do they find attractive in working with these companies which they can’t find in yours? 

Once you find out why, that’s your chance to reconsider your companies’ activities in building relationships with these people.

“These are real human beings. The way you approach them shows them that you’ve taken the time to get to know what’s happening in their world.”

4. Build a contact relationship management system.

When you are considering opportunities where you can bid, it is recommended that you start laying out a contract relationship management system of the people you know. 

In building this system, you can just easily use a spreadsheet to list down all of the industry and agency people you know and their website or contact information. 

Then, check who among that agency or company you’re missing or haven’t built a relationship with. 

You may or may not need to know the stakeholder, but you should know who they are and get a sense of how they’re shaping the needs of the organization.

“You want to make sure that if you’re going to bid something, you know you’ve got a contact, not just in the small business layer, but for sure, at the end user layer and at the contracting layer.”

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about the players and layers method in order to meet the five key decision-makers above, then check our full Mastermind Monday video with Judy Bradt. 

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

5 People you need to meet & the Players and Layers Method

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo8_vSnvVVs&t=19s

Raffa Gibbard: Establishing Success One Contract at a Time!

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Learn how Raffa Gibbard won more than five contracts one contract at a time after waiting for two years!

BACKGROUND

Raffa Gibbard is the owner of Brave One Contract Agency, a contracting company providing construction and recycling services.

Gibbard was a former army engineer stationed in Afghanistan and Kuwait, but came back to the United States to take a vocational rehab. That’s when she learned how to do government contracting and afterwards built her company in 2017.

Currently, she has over ten years experience in both construction and contracting with the Army.

Gibbard is also part of GovCon Giants where she shares her knowledge and experience of the VA Entrepreneur / Employment Track. You can listen to that podcast here. 

WINNING HER FIRST AND SECOND CONTRACT

Raffa Gibbard didn’t win a contract right after building her company. In fact, she waited for years for an opportunity to come.

She was then part of GovCon Giants and the North Carolina Military Business Center. She was also part of an apprenticeship program where she learned to do sales and marketing and took advantage of the Small Business Administration’s resources.

Then after over two years, she won her first few contracts. These were two fencing jobs, but from different federal buyers. 

She didn’t really face any problem with her second fencing job in Indiana, but her first contract in North Carolina almost never happened.

She actually won that first fencing job last March 2020, but because of the COVID lockdown, the federal buyer kept putting it off until October of last year. 

However, she again faced another problem because her fence installer ended up closing his shop and declared bankruptcy.

Because of that, she needed to find another fencing company. Fortunately, the new installer provided more staffing and manpower which made the job easier and faster. 

Right after doing that contract, she then went to Indiana to also do the second fencing job. She found a company who’s willing to be her sub and they were able to execute it. 

“Things just don’t happen as people think,  like I said, get awarded, ‘Oh, next week we’re in there, we’re gonna finish it four days, and now I’m invoicing and I get paid.’ It takes a little bit of elbow grease, a little bit of tears, a little bit of breathing because to get— sometimes, it’s just obstacles and we don’t see those obstacles that we go through.”

ALMOST LOSING MONEY

The third contract that Gibbard won is a tile job in DC. This job, although there were challenges at first, opened two other contracts for her company. 

The problem that they encountered was that the buyer’s chosen tile color was actually too light and is not the shade that they think it was.

This was a problem because Gibbard already paid for everything, from her crew’s hotel to the tiles and other materials, and if their sub will pull out of this project, she will not get any returns. 

Fortunately, they were able to put the tiles in place… and the federal buyer even gave them two other contracts: the first one is for a ceramic tile and the other one is the same set on their first contract but for elevators. 

BEING CALLED BY THE CONTRACTING OFFICER

Right after that, a contracting officer called her to bid for two asbestos removal jobs with the Salisbury Veterans Affairs.

Because this opportunity is not publicly posted and the CO was the one who called her, she directly made the paperwork. 

“Oh, it felt great. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Really? You want me to do this?’ So, when he gave it to me, I had the paperwork back to him within probably two hours, and the next day, I called to make sure everything was right.”

HER NEXT GOALS

Although Gibbard is happy that she won contracts after years of waiting, she knows that she hasn’t arrived yet and she needs to look for more. 

“You know what? I still don’t feel like I’ve arrived… I’m still under 200,000. And I have people who are relying on me… So, I still have a little anxiety, but it’s not so much the fear of failure; now, it’s more, ‘Can I keep it going?’”

She plans to be in the position to work on a huge contract, like an eight million parking garage contract or some hospital construction, in the future. 

ADVICE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

1. Put in the time and effort. 

Gibbard believed that anyone can be in her place, as long as they put the time and effort to keep working and staying true to their goals.


“There’s nothing interesting about what I do. I’m not charismatic. I, you know, I got here because I just did the work. I just kept pushing.”

2. Have endurance to face challenges. 

Gibbar’s success didn’t happen overnight. She waited for years and she had a lot no’s before she came to her first yes.

The key is to have endurance to face all of those setbacks and problems. While trying to make ends meet, she joined organizations and industry days and reassessed her business over and over, until the first contract came in. 

“It (Success) isn’t necessarily something that happens quickly, but I really believe if you’re committed and you keep pushing, it will eventually, opportunity will present itself to you.”

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more how Raffa Gibbard won more than five contracts after waiting for two years, then be sure to click the resources below.

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

06: Establishing Your Success One Contract at a Time! – Raffa Gibbard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KclRt-K652E

031: Raffa Gibbard & Renona Riddle Brown: Women Entrepreneurs Discuss VA Veteran Employment Track

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/031-2/

Melissa Burant: PTAC Government Contracting Specialist

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Melissa Burant shares her govcon insights through the lens of a current PTAC government contracting specialist and a previous contracting officer.

BACKGROUND

Melissa Burant has over 20 years of government and contracting-related experience.

She served as a federal contracting officer at the Army Contracting Command in Rock Island.

During that time, Melissa also assisted in the Iraq Drawdown and managed the contract for critical security service operations.

She then left the federal service in August 2014 and is currently a government contracting specialist at the Center for Industrial Research and Services of Iowa State University’s Procurement and Technical Assistant Program. 

In this position, Melissa works with Iowa companies to develop relationships with other industry partners, delivers webinars and workshops, and works one-on-one with businesses.

Aside from all of these, she is also doing photography on the side for Melissa Burant Photography.

PROCUREMENT TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTERS

The Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) Program is a program that’s funded by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

The sole purpose of the program is to help government contractors interested in federal, state, or local markets to help them understand that market.

With this, they provide training, webinars, in-person workshops, one-on-one counseling on different topics in building your business and doing contracting. 

“What I  discovered as I got outside of the PTAC world is that there’s a lot of power in knowing and connecting and leveraging that network with others.”

SMALL BUSINESSES MISTAKE AND HOW TO AVOID IT

A handful of small businesses lack business strategy. These companies don’t really have a goal. They’re just throwing spaghetti to a wall and waiting for something to stick. 

“The thing is a lot of the people, they come with their dream, but they don’t always want to take the time and put in the work to write it down and to kind of strategize.”

As an owner, she recommended sitting down and do basic planning. Do you have a business plan? What are your goals a year from now? What are your goals two years from now?

It really stems from having good written communication because in building a business and doing government contracts, you fill out hundreds of paperworks every year.

“It’s really important (that) people understand how critical written communication is, and not just written, but good written communication. If you don’t have that skill and if you have to submit a written proposal to your government customer, it essentially comes down to an essay writing activity and you’re likely not to pass go.”

IN THE LENSE OF A CONTRACTING OFFICER

1. Lead with your value. 

Contracting officers don’t look at your numbers. They want companies that lead with value and not the programs that you are a part of. 

2. Consider the timeline. 

The legal process of every contract takes a lot of time, but the government agency that you are working with wants the project to be completed on or before the said due date. 

However, there’s no harm in asking questions regarding your contract’s timeline, as long as you have a valid reason and you educate them properly about the matter. 

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more about Melissa Burant’s govcon insights through the lens of a current PTAC government contracting specialist and a previous contracting officer, then be sure to click the resources below.

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

Melissa Burant – The free government resource that all small businesses should use, PTAC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdlmPcWeyD4

Robert Wink: FEMA Program Specialist with Years of Contracting Experience

Posted on by Eric Coffie

Learn how to avoid risking your company and paying millions of dollars in doing government contracts with FEMA Program Specialist, Robert Wink!

BACKGROUND

Robert Wink has years of experience in the US Army with multiple deployments to Iraq before he worked as a contract specialist and contracting officer full-time. 

Currently, he is the CEO of Integrity Lion Acquisitions where he offers government consulting and management services.

He is also working as a Program Specialist overseeing Contract Management at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Apart from that, he also wrote two books: the Small Business Starter Guide to Federal Government Contracts & Searching for Solicitations and the Secrets to Noncompetitive Government Contracts.

KNOW THE DIFFERENCES

Statement Objective versus Performance Work Statements

Performance Work Statement lists all of the things that you need to complete in the contract. With this, you have to provide documents and you have to perform different types of work while the government measures your process along the way.

Meanwhile, the Statement of Objectives states what you need to do within a specific area and time period while you also develop the metrics on how you could accomplish the requirements. 

Contract Specialist versus Contracting Officer

The contract specialists are the people who look into the laws and regulations written in the contract. They write everything before it is given to the contracting officer. 

Meanwhile, contracting officers are the people who have the authority to sign the check and also review the contract before they can actually argue on behalf of a specific government agency.

Basically, the contracting officer takes all the information that the contract specialist gathers and reviews it before making a determination whether or not to obligate the government. 

AVOID THESE MISTAKES

Be careful of companies overcharging free services. 

There are a handful of companies providing services that you can actually do for free, such as registering in the SAM database and getting your DUNS, among others. 

In fact, in most cases, almost everything that you can do to do business with the government is free. 

However, if you want to pay someone because you don’t have the time to do it for yourself, check the companies that offer these services. They may be overcharging you anywhere from $400.00 up to $5,000.00 just to enroll in SAM.gov.

Understand the clauses in your solicitations.

The federal marketplace might be a lucrative space with contracts ranging from thousands to millions, but if you don’t understand the clauses in your solicitations, you might need to pay a lot. 

This is why, before sending your proposals, you must first understand all of the clauses written in that solicitation.

You need to read it. You can do it by yourself or you can find a consultant to help you. Just make sure that you check all the boxes correctly. 

With this, you need to answer these questions: 

1. To whom is this contract written towards?

You need to consider that there are contracts written for all small businesses while there are some that are only for specific small business certifications. 

So, before you waste hours of trying to check the boxes, check if it is meant for your certification first. 

2. What type of contract is it going to be?

Most importantly, go find FAR provision 52.216-1. What this does is it tells you what type of contract it’s going to be. 

You need to know if a contract is a set-aside, a BPA, or another type because it will automatically tell you its price points. 

Just then you can provide a fair and reasonable price for that contract while also earning profit. 

RESOURCES

If you want to learn more on how to avoid risking your company and paying millions of dollars in doing government contracts with Robert Wink, then check the resources below.

You can also visit the GovCon Giant website or the new GovCon Edu where you learn everything about government contracting!

002: Robert Wink – Contract Specialist with USACE former FEMA Contracting Officer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfgf-f1twgo

https://govcongiants1.wpengine.com/podcast/2019/05/08/02-2/

Inside With Robert Wink—Contract Specialist With USACE and Former FEMA Contracting Officer

Posted on by Linette Genao

Although all agencies have similarities, they are also all unique. Robert Wink, published author and CEO of Integrity Lion Acquisitions, provided us insight on how different working with two agencies can actually be.

Wink is adamant about helping entrepreneurs learn the process and how to do the work in federal contracting quickly, effectively, and without wasting time, Wink opened up about his experiences working with FEMA after a large natural disaster and how the rules are not the same as many of the federal agencies.

 

Robert Wink

BACKGROUND

Wink comes with vast experience working within the government. He retired from the US Army with multiple deployments to Iraq, was a Contracting Officer with FEMA and is currently a Contracting Specialist with the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Wink is also the author of two books: “Small Business Starting Guide to Federal Government Contracts and Searching for Solicitations” and “Secrets to Noncompetitive Government Contracts.”

 

INSIDE WITH ROBERT WINK

 

1. Get familiar with the industry or the agency you are going into Or Working With

From an insider perspective and as a contracting officer, working for FEMA and also the US Army Corps of Engineers, we learn from Wink that they require very different things from their contracting officers and allot their spending very differently. This is important for those wanting to work for the agencies or those looking to work with a specific industry or agency.

“Absolutely, because even at the Army, I was at the Mission Installation Contracting Command and we were very heavy on small businesses. Went to FEMA, man FEMA. That was a … FEMA is a whole different animal when it comes to Contracting. What I mean by that, and I’ll stick with the small business side. When I would bring up, “Hey, what’s our small business goals?” You got that deer in the headlight look… I think in the two years, the couple, and the month… couple weeks I was there, not one time did we ever talk small business goals.”

 

2. Natural Disasters Change The Rules

It’s important to note that rules change. Especially during natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey.

“During your disaster, the disaster have a local area set aside…So during those disasters, those Presidential declared disasters, we were supposed to…and within the first 150 days, we can contract to anybody, because it’s a disaster. It’s a go. But, during that time, we have to start moving and transitioning to local area set asides. So, we have to compete.”

 

3. Contract Specialist and Contract Officers Are Not The Same 

Using the following example, Robert Wink explains how Contracting Specialist are like paralegals. Whereas, Contracting Officers are like lawyers—reviewing, making decisions and even arguing on your behalf to the government.

“I try to explain it the simplest way of explaining it is this way. You have your Attorney, who’s the one that approves everything and can negotiate on behalf of whoever they’re representing. That’s your Attorney. Now, the person that does the leg work and all the hard-core work. I mean, you’ll get into the weeds, and looking at the laws, and policies, and regulation. Even though the Attorney does that, it’s your Paralegals at the end of the day.”

 

4. People Will Sell You Anything If You Let Them

Be aware of companies with a government title in their name to give people the false appearance as though they are representing the government. Then, in very, very small fine print at the bottom, they state, “We are not a Government agency.”

“There’s companies out there that take the same information in my book. I know a couple in Florida. They will charge people anywhere from $400.00 up to $5,000.00 to enroll them in SAM.gov. It’s free, it’s unbelievable… it’s embarrassing…” states Wink.

What you are being charged for, ultimately is free. Be aware.

 

5. State Objectives Differ from Performance Work Statements

“So a Performance Work Statement is a, ‘I need you to complete this. I don’t care how you complete it, but there’s a measurement. So you have to provide this document and you have to perform this type of work. But, we’re going to measure your process along the way.’ What the Statement of Objectives is, ‘Hey, I need you to do janitor work on this five thousand square foot building, two hundred rooms, you tell me how you’re going to do it. You develop those metrics.’”

 

6. Read The Solicitations

Wink advises small businesses, where hiring a lawyer or Consultant to dissect solicitations for you is not an option, to simply read.

“So what I tell everybody to do is, as soon as you see something that you think you can do, read that Performance Work Statement, or that Statement Objective, or the structure. Whatever the Government’s attempting or trying to purchase.”

After reading it, Robert Wink advises asking yourself whether or not you can achieve what they are asking.

Ask yourself, “Can you do it?”

Don’t waste time. You need to know if your set aside can even do it before you spend hours analyzing the solicitation.

 

7. Pricing Is More of An Art Than A Science

Always take into account what the risk is when deciding how you mark up a job. Also, when you’re bidding a job, bid it so that you can make profit for yourself. Don’t worry about what the other person is bidding, because if you try and play and numbers game, they could have missed something, and you could end up costing you money.

“Account for all risks and to make profit. You never go into a project to lose money, unless it’s to keep your business afloat. It’s either not working or taking a little bit of loss just to keep the doors open. And employment. But, that’s a business decision.”

To hear more, join the GOVCON GIANTS Podcast Community available on  Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Play, Stitcher, and iHeart.

To learn more about government contracting subscribe to the GOVCON GIANTS YouTube Channel.