The previous installment discussed federal end users aversion to risk when selecting a contractor. The fear is particularly acute for rebids of information technology service contracts. The thought process of a federal Chief Information Officer might be as follows: "My prime contractor successfully (albeit sloppily at times) runs my network serving 20,000 federal employees worldwide. And now the contracting officer is insisting that I put the next five years of the contract out for public bid; lots of luck to those electing to bid. I will listen to their stories but they better be bullet proof. I would need the following to switch:

The bidder would need ironclad agreements that key members of the incumbent's staff, especially the project managers, will join them and work on the contract.

The bidder would have to have a plan to retain all of the incumbent's staff and a foolproof plan for replacements just in case a few decide to leave.

Even with these assurances written eloquently in the proposal, it might not be enough."