In 2014 an announcement was made with plans to embark upon a new paradigm for purchasing by moving from managing purchases and prices individually across thousands of procurement units, to managing entire categories of common spend and total cost. The intention is to apply the principles of Category Management – used extensive in industry and other countries – to the Federal acquisition process. This is intended to be more than jus...

Want to do business with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Have questions about current procurement rules, changes or how the VA will create business opportunities for small business under this new administration!” Join the ACT-IAC Small Business Alliance on Wednesday, February 15th at the 20 F Street Conference Center for Straight Talk featuring Thomas Leney. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs OSDBU focuses on growing small busin...

Join the ACT-IAC Small Business Alliance on Thursday, May 5th at the Westin Tysons Corner for Straight Talk featuring Keith Nakasone, Senior Procurement Executive with the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Nakasone started his civil service career in 1989 specializing in the field of Procurement with an emphasis in Telecommunications and IT Services, Hardware and Software. His 26 years of experience include various positions with DoD, DIS...

Join the ACT-IAC Small Business Alliance for Straight Talk featuring: Jolene Merkel Deputy Director of the Small Business Development Program Office Marcus Benefield Management/Program Analyst at the Federal Aviation Administration. During this interactive session, both Ms. Merkel and Mr. Benefield will discuss the importance of the Federal Avaiation Administration’s Mentor Protégé program and provide details for those look...

Contrary to a current myth, a GSA Schedule contract is not required by law or regulation to obtain a government contract, but it is an excellent sales tool to obtain government business by means of task or delivery orders. A GSA Schedule is a simplified process of acquiring commonly used commercial supplies and services. But obtaining a schedule contract is neither simple nor easy, and subjects the commercial contractor to numerous laws and re...

Synopsis: Companies and agencies concerned with implementing new ideas/processes have to contend with the federal budget cycle. One of the great challenges of both the government desiring new, innovative technologies or great service provider companies that are entering the market is the need to obtain funding. The issue becomes: how do new technologies/services become integrated into the government budget cycle? This course will provide an ov...

Synopsis: As an emerging business in the federal market how do you respond to the bid requests of the federal agencies? As a federal technology worker how do you write a proper statement of work? What are the various bids that need to have a response? When is too much information not applicable? This course will provide the basic tools in order for an individual to read a government requirement document, decide if the requirement is one for yo...

Understanding how the government evaluates contractors’ proposals is a key step in pricing a deal to win. In this unique course, we review how the government contracting officers analyze contractors’ costs and prices; how they acquire their data; what reviews are performed; how data is validated; and how strategies are changed depending on the type of contract. Armed with this information, contractors can avoid the pitfalls that ca...

Synopsis: If putting a 1500 page FAR under your pillow hoping for brain penetration through the night isn’t working and you need a basic understanding of the FAR, this course is for you. The course provides a quick overview of the FAR to help you understand how to find things and a review of the main topic areas and how they can impact your organization. Armed with this information, you’ll know when you need to refer to the FAR to...

Synopsis: Companies and agencies concerned with implementing new ideas/processes have to contend with the federal budget cycle. One of the great challenges of both the government desiring new, innovative technologies or great service provider companies that are entering the market is the need to obtain funding. The issue becomes: how do new technologies/services become integrated into the government budget cycle? This course will provide an ov...