Michael Fischetti is the Executive Director of the National Contract Management Association.

After a long winter for many, spring is finally here, bringing an opportunity for a fresh outlook; the chance for a different perspective and a re-think.

You may recall Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare. Tired of the boastful hare's ridicule, the tortoise challenges him to a race. The hare quickly leaves the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, naps halfway through the race. When he awakens, however, he finds the tortoise has slowly but steadily crawled to the finish line first. One lesson to be derived is the triumph of perseverance, tenacity, and long-term focus over a stronger resourced opponent perhaps using trickery, salesmanship, and political savvy.

How is this relevant to government contracting you may ask. Well:

  1. History demonstrates that those who led previous acquisition reform initiatives brought us to the current environment. Therefore, it's more important than ever this time to carefully define and understand the problem and the tradeoffs involved.
  2. Those who have been out in front (often the same individuals as in previous acquisition reform initiatives) in professing to understand today's contracting problems and solutions increase the risk of history repeating itself.
  3. Some of the best innovation, best practices, and improvement in contracting performance and mission results are the ones not well known, but performed quietly and tirelessly by those responsible within government agencies and contractor organizations.
  4. Contracting with public, commercial funds involves unique trade-offs and conflicting goals. Public funds always have strings attached by Congress or another legislative body. To meet that intent, those strings are implemented and enforced by a professional, mission-oriented cadre above ethical reproach and neutral toward the various constituencies in managing taxpayer funds. Accepting that premise complicates the process, but is necessary to improving and making it as effective as possible.

Many memos, presentations, reports, and events bemoan the situation, with continued conversations across public forums and consequent careers and reputations (and money) to be made promoting various managerial, technical, legislative, or philosophical solutions. But dealing with the details and not jumping to conclusions, quick-fix strategies, or policy is where the real improvement will occur. A smart and energetic contracting workforce exists across government and industry. They have great ideas and the ability to implement them when given the chance. There are great local and organizational leaders promoting these activities without explicit help from inside-the-beltway pundits or prognosticators. Look around and note some great examples:

  • The Department of Defense's Peer Review has been very successful at bringing together new contracting managers with senior, experienced expertise to improve source selection outcomes and real-time learning between different components' diversity of experience with the department.
  • The General Services Administration, along with the Office of Management and Budget, Federal Acquisition Institute, and University of Virginia, are working to align formal education with federal contracting competency requirements, improving public /private sector cooperation and government contract manager qualifications.
  • The Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy's new market intelligence course under development will give more tools and information, fostering contract and program official's understanding of the wider public and private sector business environment they work in, going far beyond historical FAR market research requirements and improving program outcomes.
  • A unique collaboration of Atlanta area offices of the Centers for Disease Control, GSA and other government agencies, along with industry and academia through local NCMA chapter volunteers, has developed a unique government/industry professional level of communication and cooperation worthy as a model at the national level and a learning opportunity for many inside the beltway.

As the weather and our immediate spring time outlook improves, be careful of the braggart or know-it-all hare and watch instead the tortoise, who quietly goes about making things better. That's where the real improvements already occur.

Share:
In Other News
Load More