All Things Sterling

Your Healthy Dose of Federal Acquisition and Gov 2.0
About Me

Acquisition Freak; gov 2.0; open data; worshiper of new ideas, collaborative tech, web tools

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2012 (18)
2011 (72)
2010 (57)
2009 (16)
 

Saving Taxpayer Dollars with Tech

There are trends in the future that I think will end up savings taxpayers a lot of money, and the federal government should be spending its scarce resources on. Because the federal government is such a large driver of the economy, trends it pushes will largely impact American society.
 
1) Telework. More teleworking means fewer offices, few parking garages, and lower utility bills for the federal government. The Department of Defense wants to have at least 30% of its eligible employees teleworking at least once per week by 2020. It's far from that goal right now. Still, I think Defense should be pushing for at least 50%, particularly because acceptance of teleworking varies from agency to agency.
 
2) Virtual Assistants. If you support telework, I believe virtual assistants are a natural extension. I've talked about this one before and with the right piloting and security measures, I think the federal government can save money, boost productivity and train managers in one step. When I tested out a virtual assistant for a few months, I was very impressed with the results. I didn't ask for just simple tasks like "order pizza", but for market research and price quotes for my own projects. I was impressed with what I got. Virtual assistant services that have been getting a lot of attention recently are TaskRabbit and Zaarly. While I haven't heard or seen of virtual assistants in the government arena, I imagine they're not far behind considering the government is a leader in telework versus the private sector.
 
3) Driveless Cars. This one is further out but the technology is real. Google and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are among the organization working on it. Heck, Google got a license for its driveless cars the other day. With telework and driveless cars, we can be driven to work while doing work at the same time. This means we can cut down on time in the office for things like paperwork yet still make it in for the face-to-face meetings. I don't know about you, but that would make me a happier worker.

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MintBlog Talks Contracting of a Different Sort

One of the more interesting things I came across recently was Mint.com's blog post on "Getting the Most Out of Your Contractor". While it's not a perfect analogy to government contracting, there are certain parallels, and it's worth looking at. I'm a particular fan of the part on getting lots of competition. It really makes a difference in price. The post is outlined below. The link to the article is at the bottom of this post.

  • Get it in writing
  • Request changes
  • Address overruns
  • Pay in full after the work is done
  • Get multiple quotes
  • Get recommendations
  • Buy materials yourself
  • License and proof of insurance, please
  • Include clean up
  • Be professional

Link to the original post

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Don't Get Gouged: Contracting Helps in Personal Lives

I've been doing government contracting work for a few years now. One of the things I try to do is apply the mandates of work (getting the best value) to my personal life. Well, a few weeks ago, I had an opportunity.
 
I took my car into an autoshop. The mechanic performed an oil change and a regular checkup. Of course, he found some issues. My car is over 10 years old, so I expect this. The front and right engine mounts are worn and would probably fail in a few months. I also needed transmission fluid replaced. Lastly, I needed brake my brake fluid flushed and bled. I was quoted $950. I didn't know if this was high or not, so I did some research by the Internet and phone calls.
 
The ending analysis told me a few things.

1) The Internet is great for gathering contact information.
2) The Internet can help you with gathering some pricing information, particularly for commodity buys like parts.
3) A series of six phone calls in thirty minutes will yield you better pricing information than thirty more minutes of Internet research in some situations, especially on more difficult items like the labor going with cars.
4) Prices among local shops can vary significantly, even within just a few miles. Quotes varied from $950 to $560. Even in a digital age, competition does not always bring all prices down to a similar level.
5) Customer service via phone varies at each location

In the end, I picked a shop charging $588. The costs of the parts were within a few dollars of the parts if I bought them on my own. I am satisfied with the repairs.

It turns out you can apply contracting skills to everyday life.

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Homestead Act in Space

If today you were offered the opportunity to settle the moon or Mars, would you do it?
 
Seriously.
 
If I were not getting married and knew I didn't have a future on this blue planet, I'd heavily consider it. I had ancestors come over hundreds of years ago. Why not keep the tradition alive? Americans haven't had this chance the West was settled.
 
Still, this is the way things are going for humans.
 
A main reason (but certainly not the only one) we haven't settled the moon and other planets is because escaping Earth's gravity costs a lot of money. That price is dropping pretty dramatically now and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Americans have a adventerous spirit in them -- it's a part of our national DNA. We often wonder about the future of this nation. I think a lot of our future is out there. Here's why:
 
1) America has leading space technology. We are one of the few nations that can do this.
2) American companies are the ones finding ways to drop the price to escape Earth's gravity.
3) Americans explore.
 
Oh and there's one more reason: If can asteroid hits Earth tomorrow, humans are done for. If we're on another planet, we can at least continue.
 
So maybe you're wondering what this has to do with a procurement blog? Well, the U.S. space industry got its start with government procurement. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 

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Just Say No to Pinkerton Detectives

If there's one thing I love, it's forgotten, obscure laws, regulations and policies. They're even better when they're in my line of work. So here's one for you -- FAR 37.109, i.e. just say no to Pinkerton Detectives.
 

37.109 -- Services of Quasi-Military Armed Forces.

Contracts with “Pinkerton Detective Agencies or similar organizations” are prohibited by 5 U.S.C. 3108. This prohibition applies only to contracts with organizations that offer quasi-military armed forces for hire, or with their employees, regardless of the contract’s character. An organization providing guard or protective services does not thereby become a “quasi-military armed force,” even though the guards are armed or the organization provides general investigative or detective services.

What other obscure parts of the FAR or laws do you like?

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Questions to Ask in Your Contracting Interview

Talking with people from across the industry, people have told me a number of questions they wished they had asked during their interview. Take these in the next time to go in for an interview at a contracts shop.
 
- Do you have a contract file room? Can I see it? (Look to see if it's in disarray or if it's organized).
- Do you have contractor support? How many? (Tells you about the ratio of government-contractor personnel).
- Do you store your contract files electronically in a central document management system? (Tells you about the maturity of the processes and the ease of finding documents, a big deal during audits).
- Do you store your files on a share drive?
- What kind of technical training is provided to contracts people? Is it DAU, contractor-provided training, in-house training?
- What kind of leadership and management training programs are provided?
- Do you usually promote management from within?
- How do people here interact?
- What is the noise level like?
- What's the office's philosophy on Part XX of the FAR?

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College & Real World Knowledge

College is a great time to learn, but it's not the only time to learn in your life. You only stop learning when you're dead.


What I learned in college and how it's enriched me in my professional experience


While I learned the basics of education in high school -- some science, some writing, some speaking, some computer skills, etc. -- where I really took off was in college. Particularly with regard to writing, speaking and history, those oft, and oft-neglected liberals arts areas that are so vital to success in today's world. I thought I knew it all coming out of college. I was so wrong. I thought that all writing had to follow Strunk's The Elements of Style. I thought speaking always would be done from a podium using mostly prepared note cards and prepared manuscripts. I thought history was something you learned mostly from a text book and professor.

What I learned in college versus what I learned in my professional experience 

In spite of all I learned in college, things are different in the worker-bee trenches of government.

Writing rarely follows The Elements of Style. In stead, it follows your supervisor's style and your own style. Speaking is usually not performed from a podium using note cards or a prepared manuscript, but from a conference table or on a phone using an impromptu style where you rely on knowledge you already know and quick analysis. (Of course, more formal events like negotiations require more thorough analysis and preparation, but these events don't happen as much.) Most history in an organization isn't something you learn from a text book and professor, but from word-of-mouth, gossip, and your supervisor and coworkers' opinions. If you're lucky, there is an informal history recorded in a Word or PDF document. In some cases where culture is being built or rebuilt, history will be taught in a formal classroom, sometimes by old employees of the organization.


How what you learn in college differs from what you learn in your professional experience and how the combination of the two develops your intellect as a professional

Certainly there are differences, but the approaches have actually combined and made me a better professional. One approach just wouldn't cut it, but are necessary. Writing for a supervisor while also understanding formal writing improved my writing style by exposing me to different situations and audiences.  You also can't become a world-class public speaker (which I'm always striving to be) by only practicing in the classroom. Real-world exposure gets you in front of different opinions and forces you to defend and attack different positions. However, without college, I wouldn't have discovered how much I enjoy speaking. Without real-world experience, I wouldn't have improved as fast as I have. Because I had both experiences, I now know I enjoy public speaking and I do it as much as I can. An old professor told me, "If you don't know where you were, you don't know where you're going." I have trouble disagreeing with him. Without that tidbit, it'd be easier for me to get lost in the details of everyday life as you attempt to progress. Appreciation for history and trying to make your own history can let you see the big picture when you otherwise wouldn't.

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Eventbrite for Industry Day

I've never used Eventbrite for a government industry day, but I can't help but imagine it'd be a good idea.

It's free, saving the government money. It automates the registration process and any changes made, saving you hours as opposed to using regular email. Being in contracts, documentation is a big deal. The final attendee list can be PDFed, so you document that as well. Its works: I know professional organizers that swear by it, and I've used it as well.

I imagine there could be issues with Eventbrite's terms and conditions, but I haven't looked at those specifically. That might be up to your agency's legal team to decide if the tool could be used.

Link: www.Eventbrite.com

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Why Working for the Fed Gov is Great: The Missions

I'm often asked if I like what I do. Yes, I like contracting. Beyond that, I really like working for the federal government.

Sure, feds catch a lot of flack, but consider this: government is the only field with the capability and mandate to do anything. Just consider the range of federal missions: forest protection (U.S. Forest Service), fighting piracy (U.S. Navy), and space exploration (NASA). This just scratches the surface of the federal government's mission. In the private sector, most companies have a niche, and that's not only great, but necessary. Those niche industries employ Americans, develop expertise, and drive the economy. Some larger companies like Lockheed Martin, General Electric and IBM have larger missions, but nothing approaching the scope of the federal government.

And the federal government is a single employer, which means you can switch agencies. It's a lot like internal versus external hiring in the private sector -- it's easier to move within the federal government than it is to first get hired. This means that once you're in and if you want to develop skills in another area, you have a leg up. Just having that option increases your job satisfaction.

So yes, I really like working for the federal government.

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Escaping Your Funk: Just Exercise

About 3 weeks ago, I injured my ankle. I've been crutches-bound ever since. For this two week period, something changed in me. I just wasn't as motivated and energetic as I once was. I figured it would leave me after a few days, but it didn't. I suspected it was because I couldn't jog, which I rely on to relieve stress. As an alternative, I did push-ups and sit-ups. My heart was pumping blood and all the stress left my body. I arrived at work with a focus I hadn't felt in two weeks.

Once you're in a haze, it's easy to forget that exercise is the best friend. So even if your ankle is hurt, find another way to get your heart going. You'll be better before you know it.

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