Contracting Officer Podcast Slides Knowledge Insights From Contracting

Contracting Officer Podcast Slides Knowledge & Insights From Contracting Officers 1

Episode 047 The Power of Do Original Air Date: October 4, 2015 Hosts: Kevin Jans & Paul Schauer 2

Formatting notes • Hyperlinks: Blue font indicates hyperlinks – presentation must be in ‘Slide Show’ mode to activate the link • Red bold font indicates a point of emphasis • Green bold font indicates CO’s personal comment or perspective 3

Introduction • Purpose of this podcast: Discuss ‘the power of do, ’ which we all have inside us • “What can you do? ” • It’s easy to say we should just move forward and get things done…but how do we do it? • In this episode, we give some actions both government and industry can take to get something done! 4

What is ‘The Power of Do? ’ • Focus on actually DOING things • Learn by doing • Err on the side of activity • Recognize the impact of scale 5

‘Fixing Procurement Policy’ is Too Big • Why is this so hard? • Can we agree that we need to make it easier? • How many policies/regulations are there? • There is a policy to cover buying almost everything imaginable • Different Agency needs • “Bad actors” (no rule is made until somebody does something “wrong”) 6

Why is The Power of Do important? • We cannot create more time • We will not get fewer regulations • We cannot just throw up our hands and quit • We cannot wait until we get: • • More resources More funding More people More pixie dust… 7

Why is The Power of Do important? • Complaining does not accomplish anything • Focus on what you can do: “What can we do with the resources we have? ” • The enemy of progress is not ‘no’ – it is ‘not yet’ • Do SOMETHING!!! 8

Why Should Government Care? 9

Why Should Industry Care? Seems crazy, huh? Can we get them closer together? 10

What Everyone Wants…. 11

What Everyone Else Wants…. 12

What We Can Do • We can choose to be a ‘do-er’ • We can choose to learn by doing • We can choose to not complain or judge those who “do” • We can choose to ignore the cynic 13

What We Can Do • Do, try, learn, communicate, get better • AND/OR GIVE GRACE TO THOSE WHO ARE! • DO give people a break when they learn 14

Why What We Do Matters • Scale matters • The “Cynic”: • Large organizations (Government) are too complex and entrenched • We can’t change them • Doer: • Large organizations can leverage small things that quickly multiply to larger impact 15

Why What We Do Matters • Activity matters • It can wait. Let’s make it perfect! • OR… Wait only until it’s good enough • “REAL ARTISTS SHIP” • If you’re not embarrassed by the first version, you waited too long • Sorry. This does NOT apply to proposals! 16

What Can You Do? – Government • Remove the least important criterion. Really… • Math time: • If 1 criterion takes 2 hrs to evaluate, document, discuss, and write in the SSDD, we save… • 2 hours x 5 offerors = 10 hours • 10 hours x 40 source selections = 400 hours • That’s 10 weeks of effort! • Imagine the impact of this little change across a year of Government source selections 17

What Can You Do? – Government • How do you remove the least important criterion? • Government: Ask everyone, “is that needed, or just nice to know? ” • Industry: Use Draft RFP (DRFP) to question the value of criterion • NOTE: Help, don’t just judge 18

What Can You Do? – Industry • Target and focus your efforts • Math Time: • 1 “Low Probability Win” proposal written and submitted • To write: 3 people x 8 hours x 5 days = 120 hours • To review: 2 people x 4 hours = 8 hours • To price: 1 person x 8 hours = 8 hours • To edit and finalize: 2 people x 8 hours = 16 hours • To complete contracts compliance documents: 1 person x 8 hours • That’s 160 hours! An entire month 19

What Can You Do? – Industry • How to target and focus your efforts? • Is there strategic value to this proposal? • If not, why are you submitting? • Where is your low P-win cut-off? • HINT: Run the RFP Score™ on it 20

What Can You Do? – Both • Commit to the schedule, and get commitment from stakeholders • Government Source Selection schedule: • Plan for holidays, vacations, conflicts; be realistic or even conservative • Ask for industry input, THEN you can hold them to it • Industry Sole Source Negotiations or Engineering Change Proposal: • Deliver proposal on time (or early) 21

What Can You Do? – Both • Math Time: • 1 idle day waiting for someone who didn’t commit to the schedule • 1 day x 5 people x 40 source selections = 200 days • That’s almost 7 months of effort! • Multiply that by the number of people in this room! 22

Math Time • Feel free to argue our math… • The math is not the point • Small things add up to big delays and money on both sides; use that time to: • Communicate • Learn • THINK! • …and give some grace! 23

What Will You Do? • What can you do today? • Do you err on the side of activity? • Are you supporting those who are? • Or are you just complaining? • Be the change you wish to see in the world* 24

Our Next ‘Crazy’ Idea… • What if Industry Day overview were done by podcast? • Someday this may actually happen! • Then one-on-ones in person? 25

Contact us • We are on Linked. In, Twitter and Facebook • We also started the Government Contracting Network Group on Facebook. Join us there! • Send your topics to paul@Contractingofficerpodcast. com • For Community support, contact Shelley Hall at shelley. hall@skywayacquisition. com 26