Neither the typical voter nor the typical contracting officer has the least understanding of this. I went into a negotiation with a colonel over a contract extension which included a lot of new requirements. Needless to say, the cost of doing business went up. He threw a hissy fit (at least until I reminded him I was a retired two button) pointing at the 40+ billion USD the corporation had "made" the previous year. Because the government really didn't have an alternative to us, I shut down the negotiation in favor of a 30 minute lecture about something called a balance sheet and the nature of gross, net, and profit margins. Not sure he appreciated it, but he really had no choice with respect to contract award.
That scenario has played out over and over again more times in my career than I care to remember..
Literally just yesterday we had to explain to a contracting officer why a 1 month "extension" to a contract that we have been executing for almost 10 years wasnt just improper (there is no FAR/Federal Acquisition Regulation to support what she wants to do), but was actually going to cost the firm a ton of money, therefore we werent interested..
She legitimately thought she was doing us some sort of favor and handing us a gift..
What is needed is a 6 month bridge contract if she wants to accomplish what she wants to do.. and we're happy to help them through the process.. but a short duration contract costs more per person per day than a long duration contract.. it brings instability in the workforce, you lose economies of scale, etc..etc..
You would have thought we were talking to a 4th grader with no prior business or contracts experience.. it was all going right over her head..
Then.. we had to deal with the contracting officer of another agency we do business with throwing a hissy fit because our project manager, after emailing the contracting officer 4 times over a 2 week period and calling her twice.. with zero replies or return calls, asked the COR/Contracting Officer Representative a question about a lack of funding that is going to create a potential work stoppage if the government doesnt take corrective action very quickly.. She went ballistic basically because she looked bad for not answering emails or phone calls for 2 weeks (even though that was never mentioned to the COR) and didnt like being exposed... not because her incompetence and refusal to actually do some work for a change was about to put a VERY ESSENTIAL, highly sensitive program at risk of work stoppage...
Sadly Ive watched the professionalism and the proficiency of the USG contracting offices across the 3 different divisions of govt we do business with continue to get worse and worse over the last 20 years..
I understood to a certain degree 20 years ago.. the wars were ramping up.. there was a huge influx of new contracting personnel being brought on board and being trained to help manage the huge increase in contract work that was being released etc.. you suddenly had 23 year old E6s with zero prior contract officer experience managing contracts and with the same warrants that 6 months prior a 32 year old O4 with 2 prior years of contract experience had been managing..
But the DoD in particular (although this is a problem across DOS, DOJ, the IC, and others as well) despite having 20 years to catch up, and the wars being over and the contract shops managing smaller portfolios, etc.. continue to just get worse..
Its like they dont bother to even try to train their people anymore..
Sorta sad really..
? Poland would try if they had all the stuff they've purchased recently delivered, but they don't. Nope, it would come down to US forces and all of a sudden the war on the other side of the world that doesn't effect us is a huge problem.
