Those of us at Fedmarket have noticed that, at least in some federal agencies, the contracting office is moving away from the end users. The chronic under-staffing of contracting offices has caused office consolidation and reduced communication between end users and the contracting office. In some instances, the contracting office and end users are no longer found at the same location. And large Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) task order contracts are being procured through centralized contracting offices.

What does this mean for federal sales?

1. You should be careful the end user you have sold does not lose control of the procurement and his/her best value decision, i.e., ending up with a contractor that he/she does not know and trust.
2. Incumbent contractors should take pains to stay close to their end users and not assume a re-win.
3. Consider the distance between the end user and contracting office as a factor in making a bid/no bid decision.

What should be done other than the suggestions above? Hang tight and roll with the tide; it will probably swing back and if it doesn't adapt to reality.