As a Holland & Knight attorney recently noted: “Government contracting is not for the faint of heart.” We’ve heard stories of BidSync customers that used to spend hours driving to state and local government agencies to pick up hard copies of blueprints and specifications for utility and infrastructure bid solicitations. They’d then wait hours in line at the requesting agency’s procurement department to physically hand over their bid response – and sometimes have to wait until someone could verify that the bid was indeed complete and received on time. Every single time they wanted to compete.
And though the process by which vendors engage government agencies to uncover new bid solicitations and submit proposals has drastically changed in today’s online-powered world, so have the “rules of engagement.” In fact, one of the most challenging requirements of government contracting is indeed the “requirements” themselves. There are rules, regulations, acts, and statutory requirements. Then there are Executive Orders and protests. And though most public sector organizations rely on the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) as their procurement guide, nearly every federal, state, and local agency will issue their own guidance on vendor qualifications, performance expectations, invoicing and payments, and project or contract-specific terms and agreements.
In other words, compliance with government contracting rules could be a job of its own. But that doesn’t mean it has to be a painful job. There are a lot of resources available to you as vendors that will keep you on track:
Of course, our public sector procurement professionals here at Periscope Holdings are always available to answer your questions and point you in the right direction if they don’t have the answer. Make sure to bookmark our resources page and blog and check it at least once a week for updates on federal, state, and local agency news, opportunities, and trends, and feel free to contact us anytime.
Just as a sole source contract can limit the government’s ability to achieve its price, quality, and performance goals, choosing to rely on a single source of information regarding government contractor’s compliance requirements or contract obligations can be detrimental to your performance record and, thus, hurt your government business revenue in the future. You really need a team of experts at your disposal to keep you abreast of annual changes to the “rules of engagement” in government contracting since, in reality, those changes can occur at any time with any number of “authorities”.