Surviving Sequestration, Part 2: What’s a company to do?

As agencies grapple with the prospect of sequestration, your contract funding could be at risk. What’s a company to do? PSC attempted to answer that question for its members during a panel discussion on Jan. 17.

Here is some of the advice PSC’s own Alan Chvotkin gave to attendees.

Immediate actions:

• Know your existing contracts:
• Contract Type
• Available period of performance
• Revenue options/ceiling amounts
• Option periods remaining/available
• Ensure that your past performance is the best it can be and that your PPIRS and FAPIIS database references are accurate and most favorable.

Short-term actions:

• Engage your customers, but recognize contracting officers and program managers might not have answers until the last minute or the authority to act in all cases.
• Evaluate agency spending on its priority contracts – even if you aren’t on it.

Long-term actions:

• Ensure that your past performance is the best it can be and that the PPIRS and FAPIIS database references are accurate and most favorable.
• Evaluate your existing contracts for flexibility to add new work or new funding opportunities.
• Evaluate future solicitations and potential awards for performance flexibility and for risk.
• Be an aggressive advocate for your performance capabilities and revenue options.

Surviving Sequestration, Part 1: The Defense Dilemma

There is broad agreement that in the event of sequestration-driven reductions beyond those which are already being planned for the Defense Department, the impacts on each of the services industry segments—from technology development to workforce access—could be potentially cataclysmic, particularly with regard to contingency support and surge capacity, and research and development investments for next generation technology capabilities.

While the Obama administration’s Jan. 5 Defense Strategic Guidance makes the case for mission-driven budget decisions to avoid such calamities, PSC, as part of a multi-association industry taskforce, made its own recommendations for how the department can mitigate a sequestration scenario that could leave the department and industry unable to compete for critical talents.