DHS ADMISSION POINTS TO OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR CONTRACTORS

Department of Homeland Security acquisition officials get an “A” for honesty in discussing what went wrong with their recently-cancelled Flexible Agile Support for the Homeland (FLASH) procurement.  It’s not terrible to try and fail, especially in the name of innovation in a market that can be very risk averse.  One key admission, however, points out the challenges contractors face when offering state of the art solutions in the federal sector.  In addition to procurement errors, DHS officials stated that they may lack the expertise to properly evaluate agile software services.  The fact is that the “DHS” and “agile software services” of this disclosure can probably be swapped out for many civilian agencies or many leading edge commercial product or service solutions.  The loss of in-house technical expertise is by no means limited to software.  It’s an important reminder to contractors on the need to keep their proposals straightforward and easy for laypersons to understand.  It’s also no accident, though, that many technical evaluators on government projects today are, indeed, contract workers.  This poses an opportunity for companies that can provide specialized knowledge workers.  Keep in mind, however, that providing such services on an acquisition disqualifies your firm from actually bidding on the requirement.  Proceed accordingly.