Week 3 forum 422

Response question 1

There are multiple layers of policy, laws and regulations when dealing with procurements.  I would argue that there is really nothing “routine” about any acquisition as each brings its own unique circumstance.

I found the readings to be extremely interesting this week.  As I searched around following different leads, I was led to the Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR).  This is a great document that really provides significant details in various aspects of the acquisition/procurement process.

As I started out my post, there are many layers even at the state and local levels in terms of general procurements.  As a PM or Contract Manger, I am certainly going to ensure that I have a solid litigation team ready and available to ensure that I am and the program is staying within the limits of the guiding principles.

With the passing of the Small Business Act of 2010, many large corporations have begun setting aside various contracts or even mandating that a certain percentage of contracts will be set aside for small businesses. 

These Acts and laws provide opportunities for those small businesses to compete and “share” in the production, sales and wealth of these much larger corporations. 

An additional statute that is applicable to procurements is the Competition of Contracting Act of 1984 which requires that federal contracts be competed on a full and open basis.  My experience here is limited, but I am aware that this must be taken into account when talking timeline, because there is a timing requirement associated as a result of this Act.  The contract or job has to be posted for ‘x’ amount of time and individuals, businesses, etc. have ‘x’ amount of time to respond.  If this Act is not followed or there appears to be some unfair advantage, then companies, etc. will file a protest which will stop the process until it is resolved.

Establishing a procurement is a very sticky process that as a PM, must ensure that all the appropriate wickets are checked, otherwise it is going to be a long road with significant impacts to not only the program but the process and relationships associated with such.

Question 2

For this week’s reading and video, a lot of it seemed interesting since I don’t have a lot of experience in dealing with the procurement process. Some of the things that were talked about in the video did hit home since the company I work for is a Veteran owned small business that also subcontracts out to another small business. In learning some of these things, I can now understand why most companies don’t apply to government contracts. The steps that need to be taken even to get your foot in the door seemed to be very time-consuming.The are several different steps that need to be made before a business can also be considered for a contract.

Then in the video, it was also mentioned that a small business owner needed to only worry about some of the parts of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. I know that most of us have read a lot of those parts and sometimes it can be a little confusing to people. Not to mention that is only one type of regulations because different ones affect the various agencies throughout the government. That is why the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 was passed (Brown, 2010). If you look on the internet, you can still find that the acquisition process is not streamlined because of these regulations that slow the process. Because of the misconduct of some of these companies not following the rules more rules are created that continue to make the process difficult.