3 Hazards of Year-End Government Procurement

Much of the AV industry can sum up the month of June can in one word, InfoComm15. The New Year rings in all things involving planning, developing, and producing a company’s business strategy to execute next month in Orlando. To the small group of AV professionals working in the Government sector, there’s another word that’s been on their mind about the month of June and equally as big a show -- Year-End.

Unlike the private sector, the fiscal one-year calendar of most local, county, and state governments runs from July 1st through June 30th at midnight. If you’ve ever worked in or done business with the government, you can appreciate it’s not an exaggeration to know the difference that last 60 seconds starting at 11:59pm on June 30th can make in winning or losing six-figure AV projects.

The are a unique challenges for government owner’s and end-users, as well as, the AV vendors performing any major or minor AV systems integration work at year-end. Often projects that have been delayed for several months are given a green light and less than half the timeline to complete to the business and technical requirements, and the competitive bidding procurement process.

If not addressed properly, the following 3 hazards can greatly impact your ability to move forward and complete the AV project to deliver a high-quality, efficient, and cost-effective solution.

No Time!

On average, client and technical needs assessment, budget cost estimating, and the policy of following public competitive bidding can take up to 6-8 months. Given the compressed 3-4 month schedule typical of year-end projects, owners should start performing several months in advance as much legwork and documentation possible to be ready to move when funding sources being identified.

Where’s The Scope of Work

The Scope of Work (SOW) for any project is critical to ensure the final installation meet the expectations and outcomes of the stakeholders and end-users. Often, the SOW put out to potential bidders is lacking many important details such as functionality, equipment needs, and general direction on the projects intended outcome. Owner’s can find many examples of quality RFP project and procurement documentation, including a detailed SOW, online or through other agencies. Ensuring the SOW is complete, accurate, and understood by the AV installer is one of the most important milestones in a year-end project. Any confusion or misinterpretation can result in serious schedule delay and increased costs due to strict budget policies that restrict fiscal year funding from crossing over into a new fiscal-year budget.

No Bleeding Edges

An important aspect of all government projects at any point during the year is the limitations on the features and specifications of AV equipment that can be installed in government projects and is considered best practices. Government agencies avoid installing cutting-edge or beta-version equipment and features. This is due to the spaces and environment where AV equipment is installed performs a type of political, legal, financial, health, or public safety function, which cannot withstand frequent equipment software/hardware failures or service interruptions. Secondly, general competitive bidding and procurement requirements obligates that all services and features of any installed equipment must be available and on the market through multiple manufacturers. This ensures equipment can be quickly repaired or replaced, is unlikely proprietary, and maintains an open and transparent stewardship for the use of taxpayers dollars. Both owners and AV contractors should be aware of these two requirements and thorough vet that equipment purchased is defensible to any public scrutiny and expected system uptime.

Owners and end-users can run into a variety of challenging hazards during year-end AV projects. Advanced planning, detailed and accurate documentation, strict adherence to policy and procurement procedures, and frequent, thorough, and tight coordination between owners and AV contractors reduce potential delays and budget overruns while improving the likely success of installing a first-class, effective AV solution for end-users and stakeholders.

The article was reprinted with permission from AV Technology, original post can be found here.

~Jennifer H Willard, CTS, President, J Technology Solutions

Jennifer H. Willard, CTS is an award-winning, international speaker on AV design and construction in the judicial, law enforcement, and corporate environments. As founder and President of J Technology Solutions, she provides 17 years of AV/IT design and construction project management, standards development, and strategic business planning for architects, consultants, building trades and AV systems integrators word-wide. As founder of the Women in AV (WAVE), Willard has created an international, female advocacy group that offers networking events, mentoring, scholarships, educational opportunities, and professional and personal development for women in the AV industry. Contact Jennifer H. Willard at 408-892-4440 or jhwillard@gmail.com.

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