1. Contracting Officer Podcast Slides
Knowledge & Insights From Contracting Officers

2. Who are the Key Players in an Acquisition?
Episode 060
Who are the Key Players in an Acquisition?
Original Air Date: Jan 3, 2016
Hosts: Kevin Jans & Paul Schauer

3. 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

4. Introduction
Purpose of this podcast: To explain the people in the whole process and how they interact
Inspired by a recent discussion with a Community member (Proposal Mgr)
Interaction between contracting and proposal managers as critical.
However:
Her proposal company did not: saw no reason to get her CFCM
NCMA also did not: “proposals are a ‘subset of the Contract Mgt profession.’ ”
Most people don’t see the whole market like we do.

5. When do the Key Players interact?
Acquisition Time Zones (from Podcast Episode 003)
Requirements Zone
Market Research Zone
RFP Zone
Source Selection Zone (or sole source)
These interactions occur throughout the entire Pre-Award phase of the process

6. The Government Contracting Ecosystem
User (who has the requirement)
Acquisition Personnel
Program Manager (or COR) (who manages the technical acquisition)
Financial Managers – different types of money combined into one program
“Reviewers” of the acquisition process
Policy
Legal
“Acquisition Center of Excellence”

7. The Government Contracting Ecosystem
“Reviewers” of the acquisition process, continued
Other reviewers as driven by contract value and/or agency policy
Supervisor
Source Selection Team
Technical Evaluators (user, PM, SME – subject matter expert, customer)
Past Performance Assessment Group (PRAG)
Pricer (may be the CO, may be a CS, may be an actual pricer)
Acquisition Consultant (often a grey beard SETA – Systems Engineering & Technical Assistance – with more repetitive experience)

8. The Government Contracting Ecosystem
Industry (some companies use different terms, but these are common)
Targeting Strategy (see Podcast 016)
Opportunity Tracking (software or manual) PIPELINE
Business Developer (broad) and Capture Manager (focused)
Capture Manager starts solidifying the team

9. The Government Contracting Ecosystem
Industry
Proposal Manager (see Podcast 031 and 032)
Often outsourced if you don’t need/can't afford a full-time employee
May be anybody, but assign someone!
Process
Market Research, Draft RFP Analysis
Strategy, win theme, story boards, etc.
Pricer
Owner / Business Unit Leadership (final approval)

10. Why are Key Player interactions important?
Government contracting is a team sport
Everyone needs to understand who needs to be involved at each stage of the process
All participants must understand their roles, and have a basic understanding of the other roles
Everyone can benefit from understanding how the Government acquisition process works
You can write a better requirement if you know how industry will answer
You can write a better proposal if you know how it will be evaluated

11. Why Should Government Care?
Internally, need to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Can't build requirement without users
Can't buy anything without finance (budget)
Can't do a source selection without physical space
IT resources, version control, etc.
Can't do a source selection without evaluators
Emotions run hot here too! – Need To Plan Ahead

12. Why Should Government Care?
Externally, need to understand who does what on the contractor side
Why should I talk to Capture Managers?
How does my RFP impact the number of people needed to write a proposal?
And the cost of preparing the proposal

13. Why Should Industry Care?
Need to understand who is in charge of what on the Government side
For small buys, CO has power: CO is SSA (Source Selection Authority)
Larger buys mean more levels of review
PEO or Director may be SSA
Need to understand who is in charge of what in writing the proposal
This is a stressful time
Lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities can contribute to a meltdown
You do NOT want a meltdown at T minus 2 days!

14. Summary
Terms, role descriptions, and functions vary by agency, by company, and even (and especially) by acquisition (depending on size and complexity)
This could be one person ($200k contract) or an army of people (F-22 program)
But most of the same stuff needs to be done for every acquisition and proposal, scoped to size and complexity
Know ‘who’ is going to do ‘what’ before you start
Oh, there’s that planning again…

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