Public Contracting Institute Blog
The Public Contracting Institute blog supplement our govcon training offerings with insightful articles written by leading professionals across the government contracts industry. Our professionals publish articles on topics on government contracts administration, accounting, bids/proposals, disputes, claims, and much more. For more inforamation about our blog, reach out to seminars@publiccontractinginstitute.com.
Additionally, look for the PCI Practical Matters Podcast, coming soon! It will cover the latest news in our industry, along with insightful commentary on the most important topics in Government Contracting.
Fred’s FAR Fact or Fiction: The Gift Rule
Fiction: “I don’t have to worry about gift rules. The ‘Standards of Conduct’ (5 C.F.R. 2635), and FAR 3.101 don’t address contractors – they only apply to government employees. So I’ll let them worry about it. Anyway, who will know? And when there’s a violation,...
Fourth Commandment Thou Shalt Stay Informed
*This post is the fourth in the ten part series, “A Fourth Commandment Government Contractor. Ten Commandments” and will be released weekly. Each week will introduce a new commandment and run for ten weeks.* Henry Ford once said, “Anyone who stops learning is old,...
Fred’s FAR Fact or Fiction: Everything has to be by the book
Fiction: “I always thought that our country was built on experimentation and enterprise: Unless something is prohibited by law, you can do it! But our government contracting system doesn’t seem to operate that way. Everything has to be ‘by the book.’ Unless the FAR...
Third Commandment: Thou Shalt Start as Low as Possible
*This post is the third in the ten part series, “Third Commandment Thou Shalt Start as Low as Possible. Ten Commandments” and will be released weekly. Each week will introduce a new commandment and run for ten weeks.* If all we knew about Washington was based on the...
Fred’s FAR Fact or Fiction: Negotiation with the Government is a Zero-Sum Game
**We are giving our readers the opportunity to vote on what this series should be called. If you want to chime in please use the poll below. Thank you!** Fiction/Fallacy: “Negotiation with the Government is a zero-sum game. My contracting officer’s job is to keep the...
Second Commandment Thou shalt study thy adversary
*This post is the second in the ten part series, “A Second Commandment Thou shalt study thy adversary. Ten Commandments” and will be released weekly. Each week will introduce a new commandment and run for ten weeks. The movie “Patton” contains many memorable...
“Do You Know” the reasoning behind the mandatory inclusion of FAR 52.201-1’s market research requirement in solicitations and contracts with a value in excess of $5M?
The answer can be found in the regulatory history that is referenced in the brackets below FAR 10.003. See 76 Federal Register 14562. The reason for the clause appears to be directly tied to a directive from Congress that is set forth in Section 826 (Market Research)...
“Do You Know” whether FAR Part 6 imposes any competition requirements on prime contractors who may wish to procure services or supplies to assist in the performance of a federal prime contract?
As a general rule, the competition requirements set forth in FAR Part 6 do not govern how prime contractors procure supplies or services from subcontractors. I do know, however, that prime contractors often voluntarily adopt the rules of FAR Part 6 for purposes of...
First Commandment: Thou shalt do thy homework
*This post is the first in the ten part series, “A First Commandment Government Contractor. Ten Commandments” and will be released weekly. Each week will introduce a new commandment and run for ten weeks. Because of the complexity of the Government’s procurements,...
“Do You Know” what to do when your contracting officer is too busy to answer your calls and wants to delegate authority to a contracting specialist?
Consider this scenario. Your Contracting Officer tells you that he is too busy to manage your specific contract and suggests that, instead of calling him, you should speak to and get guidance from the assigned Contract Specialist about any problems that you may have...
