Educated guesses have been made by people much smarter than yours truly about how the federal market is changing.
Recently, a definitive study by Bloomberg Government found that “U.S. government spending on multiple-award contracts rose 49% to $121 billion in four years, more than double the growth rate of all contracting.”
This focus on a specific multiple-award contract (MAC) is creating a culture of competition that includes teaming, even among usual competitors. Large and small business may team to pursue and win these large multi-million-, even billion-, dollar contracts.
One example is the upcoming FirstSource II contract through the Department of Homeland Security. This is a small business set-aside contract worth more than $1.4 billion over 10 years. In order to compete for (and win the right to bid on) upcoming task orders, a small business will team or subcontract with other businesses (both large and small) to satisfy the full contract requirements.
Once the MAC winners are announced, they then have the right to “hunt” for the subsequent task orders and will then compete only with a much smaller pool of vendors.
A multiple award contract is intended to reduce the government’s overhead administrative costs by creating groups of pre-approved winning bidders who then compete for individual task orders on each contract to provide goods and services to the government agencies.
From a businessperson’s perspective, a MAC takes a great deal of time, money and effort to pursue. However, if named as a winning MAC holder, that vendor then has rights to pursue individual task orders within a much more limited pool of competitors.
But it is not a guarantee of success. While some companies see a great deal of success, if the task orders are not aggressively pursued, a vendor may see very little revenue out of the entire process.
The Bloomberg Government study further states that “Lockheed Martin Corp. won the most business through MACs during that period [the fiscal year 2010] — $13.7 billion spent by 16 departments and agencies via 72 MACs. SAIC Inc. was second, winning $12.2 billion from 15 departments on 81 contracts. Small businesses won a higher percentage of awards as prime contractors on MACs than they won in the overall federal market [and] small businesses with lucrative MAC slots have become prime acquisition targets for large companies in the federal contracting market.”
Plan to explore the MAC option in federal contracting in 2012; it will be just one of the ways to limit competition in this potentially lucrative market. For more information about the Bloomberg study, contact your author at the number below.
In the meantime, check with the firms noted here for possible subcontracting and teaming opportunities on these and other contracts.
• BAE Systems, Rockville, won a $58,238,299 contract from The Strategic Systems Programs to provide Systems Engineering Integration support for the TRIDENT II Strategic Weapon System, SSGN Attack Weapon System, Ohio Replacement and United Kingdom Successor Common Missile Compartment programs. www.baesystems.com/ContactUs
• DRS C3 & Aviation Co., Gaithersburg, won a $45,065,661 contract from The U.S. Army Contracting Command for procuring a secure border system for the Jordan Border Security Program phase. www.drs.com/ContactUs/index.aspx
• Frequentis Defense, Columbia, won a $9.1 million contract from the U.S. Army Contracting Command for procuring voice communications systems and installation and training services for Columbia. www.frequentis.com/en/us/service-links/contact
• Lockheed Martin Global Training & Logistics, Gaithersburg, won an $11,374,978 contract from Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk to provide security cooperation, assistance, and foreign military sales technical and program/project management support services to Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support and Navy International Programs Office. www.lockheedmartin.com/gtl/gtlcontact.html
• Neany Inc., Hollywood, won a $12 million contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division for training of Persistent Ground Surveillance System instructors and operators. www.neanyinc.com/contact.htm
• Northrop Grumman Corp., Electronic Systems, Linthicum Heights, won a $32,329,491 contract from the Marine Corps Systems Command for the continuation of the Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar Increment I effort. www.northropgrumman.com/information/index.html
• Smiths Detection, Edgewood, won a $9,356,571 contract from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command for the production of three Meteorological Mobile Facility Next Generation systems; one training system; and associated engineering services and technical data. www.smithsdetection.com/contacts.php
• Sysco Eastern Maryland, Pocomoke City, won a $26,154,688 contract from the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support for food and beverage support for DoD and federally funded non-DoD customers in North Carolina. www.syscoeasternmd.com/ordereze/1027/Page.aspx
• TCOM, Columbia, won a $10,414,828 contract from the Marine Corps Systems Command for the contractor engineering technical support services in support of Kuwait Low Altitude Surveillance System Program for the government of Kuwait under the Foreign Military Sales Program. www.tcomlp.com/overview_contact.html
• Trandes Corp., Lanham, won a $51,186,607 contract from Space & Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific to provide various Department of Defense systems commands technical and engineering services support for a variety of airspace systems: command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. trandes.com/contact.php
• URS Federal Technical Services, Germantown, won a $7,575,930 contract from the Naval Sea Systems Command for professional support services to Team Submarine in support of towed array systems, associated component systems and hull sensor systems. www.urscorp.com/Contact/index.php
Gloria Berthold Larkin is president of TargetGov and an expert in business development in the government and corporate business markets. She can be contacted at 866-579-1346 and via www.targetgov.com.
