Open Dialogue on Improving How to Do Business with the Federal Government Browse Popular ideas

The government should identify as many opportunities to use platforms for open market competition as possible in order to increase participation in federal business from a more diverse community of suppliers. Many organizations are too entrenched in their relationships with huge corporations and the use of BPAs that many small- and minority-owned businesses are denied access to these opportunities where they may be able ...more »

if Congress stopped requiring procurment to spend their full budget every year, gov't would be more creative with their spending and more careful. Now it's - we have the money, give it to them; and when the money ois gonem the project stops. When we negotiate, we should SAVE money to use on something else FOR something else to get more bang for the buck and spread more money around to small businesses.

For all the contracts we had bid on, we were required to submit the proposals and revisions in multiple paper copies. This mandate delays the communication between us and the contracting agencies and it consumes a lot of paper. An electronic submission system can streamline this into a much more efficient and environmentally friendly process.

If a small business has a good service or product that the federal government can use then the first two major barriers must be addressed for more participation are: 1. Cash flow for 12 -36 months to cover G&A- Fringe & Over Head depending on industry needs to be easily accessible. If a company jumps through all the hoops to become a federal contractor then to survive long enough for repeated contract awards to provide ...more »

There needs to be more of an emphasis on Level 3 data. Currently government buyers may only be receiving reports on their organization’s spend that states X spent Y amount of money at Z store. Reports should really state that X spent Y amount of money at Z store on A, B, and C items. With this data in hand, CFOs could hold their teams more accountable for their decisions regarding the use of funds. Such data would ...more »

Many RFPs with an IT component require that the government own the code. This means a "build it" approach for ALL of these vs. buy it. Ok, Healthcare.gov has been discussed endlessly but this is still a good example. There was zero reason to build from ground up other than that I assume the procurement required ownership. Many modules could have been purchased from other vendors for this and MANY other procurements. ...more »

What about an organization that is dedicated to helping small companies navigate the contracting process? In our experience, once you have fought the battle to gain certification (FedRamp or ATO), there is a bigger and more expensive hurdle of getting on the GSA price list and/or finding an appropriate contracting vehicle. Most companies end up working with a contracting partner like Carasoft or mmix who take a big ...more »

The most ironic display of waste in the federal acquisition system is multiple websites referencing the FAR. There needs to be one, and just one, government-run website referencing the FAR with all the benefits of the other sites.

Acquisition.gov/far can do the job of http://farsite.hill.af.mil/vffara.htm in addition to other FAR sites out there.

Poor requirements or a willingness to change requirements on the fly continues to waste taxpayers' money in IT projects. Surety bonds are used to guaranty performance of federal construction projects and should be used for IT projects. Although it is seen as a way to hold the contractor accountable, it can and should be used to hold the buyer accountable. Senior officials should require bonds and use them as a method ...more »

We recommend that SBA increase the Personal Networth definition to $5 million, in addition remove the required Audited financials unless the organization has revenue of over $100 million.