The Very Basics
- Market research can include meetings with industry (as a group or one-on-one), but sometimes only includes research of publicly available information
- Although there have been many efforts to educate government contracting personnel on the value of meeting with industry, many remain cautious based on a fear that they could give one company an unfair advantage
- That said, meeting with prospective customers (especially while those offices are developing their contracting strategies) is strongly encouraged and can be valuable, as these meetings can help shape opportunities in appropriate ways
- Sample scenario: Government office X is planning to solicit proposals for a new capability. As part of their market research, they meet with Company Y whose capabilities are of interest. Office X typically uses an existing multiple-award contract (more below) for its projects; however, since Company Y is not an awardee on that MAC, Office X decides to use a consortium-based Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) (more below) to ensure Company Y has the ability to submit a proposal for the new project/program.
- While a wide range of contract options are available for any given office, each office tends to have a small subset of contracts that they prefer to use; understanding the typical contract strategies employed by a prospective customer is an important part of a successful business development strategy
- Single-award contracts: contracts awarded to a single performer or “prime contractor,” where all work within the scope of that contract is performed by the prime, who has the ability to issue subcontracts to other companies (with government approval)
- Some programs will direct new companies to “meet their prime” to explore possibly establishing a subcontractor relationship (see more on this under the “Defense Primes” section)
- Multiple-award contracts (MACs): contracts awarded to multiple companies, where future opportunities within the scope are only available for bid by the subset of companies awarded the overarching MAC
- Sometimes also called MAC-IDIQs (multiple-award indefinite delivery / indefinite quantify contracts) or MATOCs (multiple-award task order contracts)
- Similar to single-award contracts, there are some potential subcontracting opportunities available through MACs, but the dynamics are different given the multiple awardees
- Consortium-based Other Transactions Agreements (OTAs): OTAs are intended to serve as a more flexible contracting mechanism, with a focus on engaging companies that don’t typically work with the government
- The Consortium Management Firm (CMF) handles a large portion of the administrative requirements, and typically provides support to consortium members, who are eligible to compete for new work solicited via the consortium
- Consortia are required to be open with low barriers to new companies to join, unlike MACs which typically lock in a limited number of companies for the duration of the contract
- Advanced Technology International (ATI) is the non-profit which manages the vast majority of consortium-based OTAs; more info is available at our website.
- For information on other consortium-based OTAs, this website has some useful summary information: https://aida.mitre.org/ota/existing-ota-consortia/
- The Consortium Management Firm (CMF) handles a large portion of the administrative requirements, and typically provides support to consortium members, who are eligible to compete for new work solicited via the consortium
- Single-award contracts: contracts awarded to a single performer or “prime contractor,” where all work within the scope of that contract is performed by the prime, who has the ability to issue subcontracts to other companies (with government approval)
