Contractors Almanac

Opinions expressed are my own. Let’s begin with a universal truth: color team reviews are a bit like family holidays. Everyone pretends they’re excited, someone shows up late, someone else cries, and by the end, nobody agrees on what actually happened—but somehow we all make it through and call it a success. In theory, the “Science of Color” review model—Pink, Red, Gold, and White Glove—is a finely tuned instrument of proposal orchestration. In practice? It’s a game of Proposal Whac-A-Mole where you’re juggling four other bids, three color teams, a reviewer who thinks bullet points are unprofessional, and someone who rewrites your entire volume in Comic Sans. Welcome to the high-volume capture shop. Let’s break this down. Pink Team: Where Hope Springs Eterna Pink Team is the stage where everyone  says  they want constructive feedback. What they  mean  is: “Please validate my genius and offer light praise.” It’s the first draft review—more skeleton than sculpture. In ...

All opinions are my own. Let me tell you a story. It’s about two bidders. One brought a samurai sword to the fight. The other brought a butter knife from the break room. They both lost. Welcome to the thrilling world of  Best-Value Tradeoff vs. LPTA evaluations , where your proposal strategy must either sing like Pavarotti or survive a knife fight in a dark alley on a government spreadsheet. Let’s start with LPTA, or  Lowest Price Technically Acceptable —the government’s version of shopping the clearance bin at Marshall’s. This is where Uncle Sam says, “I don’t care if you’re Mozart or a guy with a kazoo—can you play the notes on the page and do it for less than your neighbor?” It's literally a race to the bottom. In LPTA,  your proposal strategy is clear : no fluff, no opera, no Ferraris. You write lean, mean, and absolutely squeaky clean. You answer the requirements. No more. No less. If you’re tempted to throw in something “innovative,” remember: this is not a talent s...

All Opinions expressed are my own. Ah, the government contract lifecycle—a journey replete with optimism, meticulous planning, and the occasional bureaucratic twist. But what happens when the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) decides to tighten the fiscal belt, leading to widespread contract cancellations? Let’s navigate this landscape, from the initial capture phase to the final closeout, all while dodging the proverbial DOGE’s axe. Step 1: Capture – The Courtship Phase In the world of government contracts, the capture phase is akin to a hopeful suitor crafting the perfect love letter. It’s all about identifying opportunities, understanding the agency’s needs, and positioning your organization as the ideal partner. However, with DOGE’s recent spree of contract cancellations, this phase has taken on a new layer of complexity. Consider the recent scenario where DOGE, in its quest for efficiency, canceled numerous contracts across various agencies, including the Social Security ...

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own and do not reflect the views of any sane, rational human being. Proceed at your own risk. There are a lot of great ways to lose a government contract. You can mess up pricing. You can miss a submission deadline because your internet went down right before uploading. You can even have your CEO “accidentally” insult a procurement official at an industry event (ask me how I know). But nothing kills a bid faster—and with more exquisite bureaucratic precision—than an  Organizational Conflict of Interest (OCI). Yes, OCI: The silent bid-killer. The fine print landmine. The thing that makes contracting officers clutch their pearls and whisper,  “I’d love to award this to you, but compliance says no.” The worst part? OCI doesn’t care how good your proposal is. You could have built the perfect solution, priced it at a discount, and delivered it with a bow on top. But if someone, somewhere, thinks you had an unfa...

You’ve been there. Sitting in a teams meeting, the clock on the wall ticks annoyingly and you're staring at a proposal draft that reads like it was written by a malfunctioning AI trained exclusively on legal disclaimers and warranty manuals. Someone suggests “innovation” as a win theme. Another proposes “customer-centric solutions.” Someone, whose camera is off, says “Didn’t we use that last time?” Yes. Yes, you did. And the time before that. And the one before that. But fear not! Today, we’re going to talk about  how to actually develop a win theme that works —one that doesn’t sound like every other government contractor grasping for buzzwords like a drowning man clutching at PowerPoint slides. Win Themes: The Buzzwords That Roared A win theme is supposed to be your compelling reason why the customer should pick you. It should be specific, resonate with the customer’s needs, and (this part is key)  not be interchangeable with your competitor’s . If your win theme can be copie...

Opinions Expressed are My Own. Who Am I, and Why Should You Care? Government procurement is not for the faint of heart. If you’ve ever felt like you need a  degree in bureaucracy  just to navigate an acquisition process, you’re not alone. After more than 30 years in this field—as a procurement official, program manager, and now as a capture professional—I’ve learned one fundamental truth: Procurement isn’t about who has the best solution—it’s about who understands the process best. That’s where this blog comes in. My goal isn’t to provide generic best practices or rehearse FAR clauses. Instead, I want to help professionals across government and industry understand how to navigate  this complex, ever-changing landscape with clarity, strategy, and yes—a bit of humor. Procurement Is Complex—But It’s Also Predictable Early in my career, I experienced firsthand how  government contracting can defy common sense . While serving in the Navy, I witnessed a situation where a s...