Ever hear about that 25-page military specification for chocolate chip cookies? It described more detail than you can imagine about what the cookie had to taste like, look like, etc. It contained such commands as "diameter at its greatest dimension shall not be less than 2 5/16 inches."

Not much room for creativity. Famous Amos, the chocolate chip cookie king, stood no chance -- he was too innovative, too much of a maverick.

Such milspecs emerged from the "low bid" rule. To buy based on the low bid, government had to specify precisely what it was buying so it could select the correct low bid. Government had to compare apples to apples, if you will, apples of the same size, weight, color, etc., to zero in on the exact low price.

When government would discover that a winning low bidder had cut corners resulting in a shoddy product, it would add more language to the specs, tightening them even further. Over time, good companies, successful in the commercial sector and making perfectly good products, headed for the exits, leaving behind those whose sole reason for being was to comply with specs -- baking companies, for example, that could pass the tests but couldn't make tasty, cheap cookies.

Today, the specification document for a wide variety of cookies (butter, coconut macaroons, waffle sandwich wafers, kreamsickle, molasses, shortbread, chocolate chip, oatmeal, etc.) is only 12 pages long. It generally describes what government wants and leaves it up to the cookie-maker to figure out how to get there.

How did that happen? What changed? Mainly this: procurement reform of the 1990s vested government buyers with more power to make common sense purchases, to think more like folks in the commercial sector, to acquire items and services based on "best value" rather than lowest cost.

There is a strong preference now for the purchase of "commercial items." These days, federal agencies are told that they shall--

1. Conduct market research to determine whether commercial items or nondevelopmental items are available that could meet the agency's requirements;
2. Acquire commercial items or nondevelopmental items when they are available to meet the needs of the agency; and
3. Require prime contractors and subcontractors at all tiers to incorporate, to the maximum extent practicable, commercial items or nondevelopmental items as components of items supplied to the agency. FAR 12.101.

"Commercial items" are defined as "Any item, other than real property, that is of a type customarily used by the general public or by non-governmental entities for purposes other than governmental purposes, and (i) [h]as been sold, leased, or licensed to the general public; or (ii) [h]as been offered for sale, lease, or license to the general public." FAR 2.101.

This definition was recently expanded. Through November 24, 2003, contracting officers may treat as a commercial item acquisition any acquisition of supplies or services that, as determined by the head of the agency, are to be used to prevent a terrorism attack. FAR 12.102(f)(1).

Homeland Security Act-driven changes to the FAR expand the general policy favoring commercial items. For example, agencies are told that they shall "conduct market research on an ongoing basis" and identify "the capabilities of small businesses and new entrants into Federal contracting" that are available in the commercial sector. FAR 10.001(a)(2)(v).

The point of all this? Don't feel defeated if your firm is inexperienced in federal contracting. You can do well if you have innovative commercial products or services that can be matched up with agency needs. You can sell high volume without all the red tape. For example, contracting officers, under a test program that will be around till at least January 2004, can use simplified acquisition procedures for commercial items for orders up to $5 million. FAR Subpart 13.5.

Then there's the subject of GSA Schedules. The whole process of obtaining a GSA Schedule award is about disclosing your commercial practices. Generally speaking, you need to have a commercial track record just to be even considered for award. Commercial pricing is the starting point, setting the benchmark for your government catalog pricing.

Note: we offer services to help companies obtain a GSA Schedule award. Contact us at editor@fedmarket.com for more information.

In short, "commercial practices" and "innovation" are in; tome-like, dictatorial government specs are out. One can't help think that if Famous AmosŪ were just getting started today, rather than in the 1970s, he'd make a darn good federal contractor