IDIQ Contract Is The In Tool

The multiple award contract is becoming a way of life in the federal government. Many large, federal multiple award contracts have been awarded this year; several of them carrying ceilings of more than $1 billion. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. Federal contacting offices are severely understaffed so the government is necessarily awarding more multiple award contracts to make purchasing quicker and less staff intensive. Multiple award contracts are becoming so prevalent that it is almost a prerequisite to have one or more to do business with the federal government.
For companies new to the federal market, the concept of a multiple award contact can be confusing. This type of contact is called an Indefinite Duration Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract and the liberal use of the acronym "IDIQ" adds to the confusion. The following describes a typical scenario:
A large (often several billion dollar) multiple award contract opportunity is posted.  The result is a number of  "pricing only" awards to from 3 to 100 companies for periods ranging from 3 to 10 years. Meaning that the government agency agrees on each vendor's pricing but does not commit to future purchases.The contract with each individual contract holder is not funded until individual orders are competed among all or a select group of the companies holding the contract (a "mini competition"). The winner of the mini competition is then funded to perform the order in what could be called a "mini contract."
Multiple award contracts reduce competition. Free and open competition (a public bid) is inefficient and the government would grind to a halt without multiple award contracts. Public bids typically take an average of 270 days to award while purchasing under a multiple award contract can be achieved in a matter of weeks or days. In some cases, a subgroup of awards under a particular multiple award contract is set aside for small businesses while other opportunities are open to businesses of all sizes. As a practical matter, large businesses usually win the open, public bids, particularly the multiple billion dollar deals. This is not necessarily true with multiple award contracts.
Many types or flavors of multiple award contracts exist as a result of the following factors: the types of products or services being purchased, the number of vendors selected, the master contract's duration, the restrictions on which agencies can use them, the sizes of businesses that are eligible for award, and how competitions are held among the winners for individual orders. There are approximately 3,000 multiple award contracts currently active for the acquisition of everything from military material to professional services. They are particularly popular for the acquisition of information technology products and services. Such contracts may be available for use by a single agency, several selected agencies, or all federal agencies.

I have been very involved in the development of IDIQ Contracts   Most recently having secured a position for Textron Defense Systems on a large Army IDIQ with 6 partners. My team and I secured the addition of our sensor products for the application areas involved with Integrtaed Base Defense

New Word On Navy Carrier Groups

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&srchtype=discussedNews&gid=2150975&item=65018568&type=member&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_pd-ttl-cn


See my resposne to an AOL non News Story regarding the Navy Carrier Groups
This group continues to run negative DOD themes.

CBRN New World Order for Sensor Design

CBRN largely is still locked in the thought process of Cold War scenarios. By and large our available sensors where designed when we felt we would face the Soviets in traditional CBRM attacks. Namely their Brigades would fire shells full of toxic material at our massed brigades or their camps or they would launch a toxic cloud and it would float towards us. It would all be done “gentlemanly” or as “gentlemanly” as one can be in CBRN warfare. Our counter would be sensors designed to detect the presence or launch of these materials. The logistics train and the need to take samples back to the lab were ever present. The bottom line is this approach is behind the curve as was the entire FCS thinking. That process evolved around our feeling that pre 9/11 we would simply fight an extension of WW-2 only instead of the Germans we would face Soviet formations in European scenarios. The advent of jihad and 9-11 has profoundly changed that thinking. The new Muslim threat has no organized unit structure with a process of operation on a classical scale. The threat for chemical or biological attack is still there. It would come from a clandestine plan though and not the process of ordered doctrine.   In order to detect these new threat scenarios new approaches and new enabling technologies will be required. The new enabling technology will be based on next generation sensors that are small and allow for the fusion of data from various modalities not bulky cold war designs that required data be taken to a lab for analysis. Even the thought process for cold war hand held sensor technology that allowed for sample collection to occur won’t be valuable in terror driven asymmetrical CBRN based attacks. I have found that the traditional CBRN publications have largely stayed clear of picking up on these themes. While it is an obvious trend at the conference sessions at the CBRN events it isn’t one the publications or media that covers the CBRN space wants to explore. The answer as to why can probably be best stated as economic. At present the CBRN space in terms of products has been and continues to be dominated by the same players providing bulky equipment as has always been the case. These players don’t really want to change as their world revolves around the economy of today for them. The longer they can maintain status quos the longer they can generate predictable revenue.  Unfortunately Mr. Nasty isn’t bound by this process and only cares about creating an event that will cause maximum damage.

Fortunately several things might assist hitting the big currant contractors and the traditional program offices that have been running the programs along with an overall rethinking of military force posture. The beginning of this trend was hastened by the cancellation of the out of date FCS Program and its potential lighter weight BCTM follow on.

Another potential assist in right minded thinking can be found in the packaging of data from the CBRN arena by the publication http://www.cbrneworld.com/ Out of all the publications covering the CBRN area I believe this publication and its associated ecosystem seem to have an excellent grasp of the new asymmetrical paradigm. Let’s hope moving forward they will continue to look to how to craft and shape the message that unless we change our thinking we will be eroded by multiple CBRN 9/11’s on a regional basis

Great CBRN Site

Great Words Of Wisdom

Tommy

Rudyard Kipling had it right. Sales People & Soldiers are seldom appreciated :


I  went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o'beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mr. Atkins," when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.

Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy how's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints:
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country," when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
But Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

Great Blog For Defense Updates

http://defense-studies.blogspot.com/2010/04/south-korea-to-integrate-textron.html

This is a great link to keep updated on the happenings within Aerospace & Defense Industry

Great Site

http://www.managerjobs.com/my/profile/update

This is a fantastic site for positions.

Great Site

http://www.managerjobs.com/my/profile/update

This is a fantastic site for positions.