How and when to talk to your customer

Everyone seems to want better communication between government and industry during the procurement process, and yet when we ask how well government and industry communicate, the answer is always the same—not very well.

One reasonably knowledgeable procurement official explained to me that the reason for this is that if he talks with one company, then he has to talk with all of them, and he simply doesn’t have time to do that. Instead, he makes it his practice to talk with no one. Wow! We all want a level playing field when it comes to federal procurement, but nowhere do the rules say the government has to level every player.

How could this procurement official have gotten it so wrong? Here’s some insight into what the rules are for communication during the acquisition life cycle…

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Email your comments to me at RLohfeld@LohfeldConsulting.com.

This article was originally published June 18, 2014 in WashingtonTechnology.com.

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