The Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all inked so-called âmegacontractsâ last month, but the government made sure to negotiate for lower prices, increased competition and more leveraging power.
While this is positive for the governmentâs bottom line, âit is not always beneficial for vendors that must pay more for a chance to participate in all the contracts,â Nextgov reports.
All three of the contracts are of the ID/IQ variety: indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity, meaning contractors will provide many work orders during the contract. But often they can âcomplicateâ the bidding process, Nextgov reports, because of the necessity of submitting multiple proposals.
“I don’t think a lot of people in government are sensitive to what impact it has on industry,” Ray Bjorklund, chief knowledge officer at FedSources, told Nextgov. “When you start making contractors incur more expenses, many of those additional expenses are rolled up into future pricing.”