April 2, 2018

Government contracting rules can seem byzantine and overly bureaucratic.  Anyone who has looked at a solicitation from CMS or the DHA can be taken aback by all the requirements.

One should not be deterred.  The requirements are there to ensure processes and services are developed and delivered in a quality and secure manner.  Any government contractor extols their certifications in these regards – CMMI levels, ISO9001, ISO 27001 and others.  These certifications take a good deal of work but their real value is in the improvement, efficiency and effectiveness their acquisition requires.

Commercial companies are catching up in a lot of ways.  They are beginning to recognize that requiring certain certifications frees them from developing a plethora of individual requirements.

The lesson is twofold.  Those companies looking to get into government work should look at leveraging their quality and security work to obtain these certifications.  Prime government contractors should think about commercial work; the work they have done to obtain their certifications may put them ahead of competitors without government work.