For companies pursuing opportunities in Federal Contracting, there are many unhealthy obsessions contributing to lost opportunities, wasted time, and too many precious dollars spent chasing ghosts. I have a list of these obsessions compiled over the years, and the one from my list that’s the point of this blog is the focus on multiple award contracts, or MACs.

The evidence as to why MACs make my list includes the percentage of companies awarded governmentwide, multi-agency, and agency-specific MACs who are unable to successfully monetize them. The GSA Schedule leads in this area, but is far from alone. As of today, I am only aware of one governmentwide MAC, specifically a GWAC, that can claim having made obligations to every awardee.  Do you know which one I’m referring to?

There is also the case of the value of MACs in fiscal spending. As of the most recently completed fiscal year, FY 2022, the percentage of overall spending is less than twenty-five percent, much smaller than most would imagine. This means many more dollars were awarded against single-award and standalone contracts, than against MACs. And it’s always been that way.

However, this is bigger than MACs. It’s more about companies and their people understanding these vehicles are empty vessels waiting for requirements to fulfill and dollars to pay for those requirements so their MACs are more than conversation pieces. This is a big disconnect for many who put future vehicles and recompetes of existing vehicles in their pipelines, as if there were work and dollars associated with the initial award. There isn’t.

What seems lost in the flurry of positioning for the next mega-billion dollar ceiling governmentwide contract vehicle, is the understanding and focus on the work federal agencies need done or the supplies they need delivered. This creates another unhealthy obsession, too much focus on Contracting Officers. Sorry folks, but they ain’t the Customer. They don’t determine WHAT gets purchased but HOW it gets purchased, and then they do the work to make that happen.  It’s a critical function for the Government, but it’s not the only one or even the most important one to vendors pursuing federal business opportunities.  It comes down to the question of where does an opportunity begin? Specifically, where does it begin for you versus where it begins for the Customer? A Customer is not the Contracting Officer.

Here is additional food for thought. Where does an opportunity begin for you versus your competition, and what happens if you were to move your opportunity starting point before your competition’s?

P.S. The first five (5) folks who post a comment below telling me which governmentwide MAC I’m referring to in the second paragraph as the only one having made obligations to every awardee, can choose between having breakfast with me in Columbia, MD or Tysons, VA, or a complimentary pass to one of our upcoming public webinars. You know there’s a disclaimer. Employees and FTE contractors of the program office running the referenced contract, are not eligible for the offer. However, if you are with the program office of a governmentwide, multi-agency, or agency specific MAC that has made requirements-based obligations to every awardee, I would love to know about it.

Peace, Health, and Success,

Go-To-Guy Timberlake

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