The Amtower Report

(The Amtower Report is an e-journal on the Business-to-Government market featuring the opinions of Mark Amtower, and occasionally reader comments. This newsletter is only sent to those who request it. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.FederalDirect.net and if you like this newsletter, please pass it along to your colleagues. To unsubscribe, see directions below. The newsletter is posted each Monday at www.FederalDirect.net, and the latest “Off-Center Observations” is on the home page. All back issues available at http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletterarchives.html)

In this issue:
1) Amtower Off-Center Observations
2) The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
3) Events Worth Attending

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: I usually cringe when I see articles about the government market in national magazines. However, the May 15 Fortune magazine had a great article on the Veterans Administration. Check it out.

Item: My radio guest this week is Chris Dorobek, executive editor of Federal Computer Week.. In Central  Maryland you can listen on WBIS 1190 AM at 5 PM. It is simulcast on www.wbis1190.com . The show will be archived at www.GovernmentExpress.com and should be up by the end of the week.

Item: I have not received a single positive comment about the Contracting 101 article in Government Executive magazine. You know the press gets all over industry for how they handle mistakes, especially big ones. It will be curious to see if Government Executive does anything to correct some of the apparent gross mistakes presented in this article (actual quotes form the article: show up at a federal agency and wander the halls looking lost until someone offers to take you to the right person; If you're still having trouble getting to the right person, just show up at an agency unannounced, Kent says. Tell security guards that you need help and you want them to point you in the right direction; Government officials love to nurture, she explains, in large part because time is not thought of as a limited, valuable commodity the same way it is in the private sector.) In response to my inquiry regarding the article on Contracting 101 in Government Executive, these are some of the comments I received. 1) Was this a spoof? 2) Were there publishing errors???? 3) I fell off my chair laughing. 4) Show up at an agency without an appointment…with Popcorn?!?!  5) It starts in the first paragraph and goes downhill… If you missed the article, go to http://www.govexec.com/features/0406-15/0406-15na1.htm - then send me your thoughts. Better yet – send them to Government Exec to letters@govexec.com . Copy me on your letter. If they do not print it, I will. I have not heard back from an email sent a week ago to the publisher and the editor.

Item: POW/MIA funding may be in jeopardy. Stay abreast of this issue and make you opinion known to your congressional representatives. They can find money for earmarks (see next item) but not for our POW/MIAs? Monitor updates on JPAC funding at www.pow-miafamilies.org/updateline.html .

In the Intercepts (always a fun read) of the May 8 Federal Computer Week, there was a short piece on earmarks, and a special mention for the $15 million added into the emergency supplemental appropriations for the USDA program regarding the Lamb and Ewe Replacement and Retention Program by someone in the Senate. This combination, Senate and sheep, gets me wondering what Letterman might say about Senators and sheep? Or is this more of a Lenny Bruce set-up?

Not that I have an opinion.

(With apologies to the real Motel 6). As reported in the May 8 Federal Computer Week. Until very recently, wounded U.S. war-fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan went to a private dinner at Fran O’Brien’s Stadium Steakhouse on Friday evening.  The restaurant was in the basement of the Capitol Hilton, and the dinner was in a private room.  The last dinner was April 28, because with little warning, the lease for the restaurant was revoked. Hilton is not being clear as to why.

You do not suppose it could have anything to do with the fact that maybe a couple of the obviously disabled veterans ventured out of the confines of a private room to sit at the public bar, do you? Or perhaps it was because a request was made to put in an elevator to accommodate vets who use wheelchairs? Were the sensitivities of the patrons so offended that they said something to any of the hotel employees?

Regardless of the reason why, the simple fact that the Hilton has made our wounded, walking or otherwise, feel unwanted, is cause for me to be somewhat more than mildly irritated. What would Conrad Hilton, whose estate founded the Conrad Hilton Humanitarian Prize in his name, think? Is the next edition of Conrad’s book Be Someone Else’s Guest?

Chris Dorobek wrote the editorial about this, and it should be posted on all travel sites. Bob Brewin also wrote about it in the same issue in his Intercepts, and he calls for a boycott.

Amtower’s final words? Deep six Hilton.

Beware of the schlock vendors, producing minimal value events, events that eat your money with no significant return! The events listed below are among those I think are worth your time, money and effort. Just because an event is not listed below does not imply it is not worth attending. If you want my opinion on a specific event or producer, call me. This topic is addressed more thoroughly in the members section at www.GovernmentMarketingBestPractices.com.

May 16, Medical Credentialing: Are We Ready? ITAA http://www.itaa.org/events/event.cfm?EventID=1621

May 16-17, Getting Results from the Government-Contractor (Multisector) Workforce,  http://www.digitalgovernment.com/

June 6, 2006: Coalition for Government Procurement Spring Conference, McLean Hilton, www.thecgp.org

June 15, Government Leaders at the Helm, Women in Technology, www.WomenInTechnology.org

June 20, GovCon, McLean Hilton, (all day) Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce www.gconseries.com

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As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks
Mark Amtower

The Amtower Report is published by Amtower & Company, and is written for companies targeting the government marketplace. The opinions expressed are those of Mark Amtower unless otherwise noted. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 314, Highland, MD 20777-0314 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. Email subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net