Rant Gone Wrong, Wrong, and Wrong.
The gist of the rant is based on his being baffled “by vendors cold-calling a government employee to try to sell the government something.” My take on it? The entire piece is just a snarky berating of Industry by someone who may legitimately be fed up with calls he receives, but it doesn’t give him the right to dispense misinformation and falsehoods, as he has done.
In a blog in his name, he makes a series of statements related to his experience, loosely cites FAR and agency Contracting policy, and dishes out advice to Industry on how they should spend their time.
Here’s a few of them:
- “I do not buy anything”
- ‘You may not agree with everything I’ve stated here – and that’s ok! I’m definitely overgeneralizing, and moreover, your experience will differ from my own experience as a vendor. But you don’t need to tell me about it.’
- “First, if an agency is buying something, they’ll issue a Request for Information (RFI), a Request for Proposal (RFP), or a Request for Quotation. When those are issued, they’re posted publicly and you can search for them. If they have not issued one of these, the agency is not buying. Period. There’s no reason to reach out to them directly.”
- “All communication is done via this process. It’s all but forbidden for government staff to engage with vendors outside of this process.”
- “Second, the [civilian] agencies almost always buy things through 8(a)-certified small businesses because we have small business quotas. If you’re selling services and are not 8(a)-certified, you should consider finding one to partner with. If you’re selling a technology product like a desktop app or a cloud service, agencies almost always buy through an 8(a) Value-Added Reseller.
- “Most likely, you found out about an existing opportunity that you could have discovered if you just searched for the RFP on the public website. And you could probably add another zero onto your sales number if you were better at searching.”
However, there is a difference between Acquisition and Procurement. While someone like an IT Systems Manager, for example, may not have Procurement responsibilities (that’s what Contracting does), they may be the current or future End-User, Program Manager, Requisitioner, or similar, with a role in the overall Acquisition of the Goods, Services and Research & Development that will fulfill the requirements of an agency. Let’s shift the conversation. What if someone called him to have a discussion about a change in a technology he was using, or considering for purchase? Not a sales call, but an informative one. This is part of the beef I have with his statements related to where the sales cycle begins for Industry, and where the requirement cycle begins, for Government.
In my third bullet, he is telling Industry to focus on the issuance of an RFI, RFP or RFQ as the signal it’s time to sell something to the Government. Here’s my question. What happened in the days, months and years leading up to that point? The solicitation did not get produced from nothing. In fact, this gentleman, maybe someone on his staff or a related organization within his agency, submitted a requisition to Contracting. Before that, there may have been internal and external discussions related to how what we plan to buy should be configured or implemented. Before that, there were discussions about how to resolve or improve a current situation. At each of those points, and many more, there were likely interactions with vendors. Not for sales, but for developing knowledge.
His statement in my fourth bullet about “All communication…” tells me he has never read any OFPP Myth-Busting documents. Here’s a few excerpts from a 2011 memo issued by the OFPP Administrator:
‘Access to current market information is critical for agency program managers as they define requirements and for contracting officers as they develop acquisition strategies, seek opportunities for small businesses, and negotiate contract terms. Our industry partners are often the best source of this information, so productive interactions between federal agencies and our industry partners should be encouraged to ensure that the government clearly understands the marketplace and can award a contract or order for an effective solution at a reasonable price. Early, frequent, and constructive engagement with industry is especially important for complex, high-risk procurements, including (but not limited to) those for large information technology (IT) projects.
The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) authorizes a broad range of opportunities for vendor communication, but agencies often do not take full advantage of these existing flexibilities. Some agency officials may be reluctant to engage in these exchanges out of fear of protests or fear of binding the agency in an unauthorized manner; others may be unaware of effective strategies that can help the acquisition workforce and industry make the best use of their time and resources.’
In the next to last bullet above, this gentleman makes a gross generalization about how civilian agencies “almost always buy” from 8(a) companies, and it sounds impressive until you learn obligations to 8(a) companies during fiscal year 2022 represented less than one percent of total small business obligations made by all civilian agencies. In fact, more dollars were awarded to small business concerns without the use of set-aside procedures than to 8(a) companies.
The last bullet was him just being mean, in an uninformed way. In thirty-five years of supporting federal agency requirements directly and indirectly, the RFI, RFP and RFQ have NEVER represented the only or best starting point for identifying, pursuing and winning contracts with the U.S. Government.
Just because someone works or worked for the Government, don’t assume they have valid insights into the practices and processes that occur beyond their domain.
Peace, Health, and Success,
Go-To-Guy Timberlake
