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:
Amtower Off-Center Observations
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly:
Events Worth Attending
Amtower on the Radio- WFED

AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS

Item: My next two radio shows, August 31 and September 7, should be good listening.

This Friday my guest is security expert Roxane Graham and our discussion will cover all aspects of security clearances. This is a one-on-one interview for the entire hour. On September 7 I have Soraya Correa of the DHS EAGLE program office and Aimee Cubbage of Kadix, an EAGLE awardee, and we will be unravel the EAGLE contract. This will also be for the full hour. These will both be very informative shows. The radio show, Amtower Off Center, airs Friday at 2 PM on WFED, AM 1050 in Washington and is simulcast and archived at www.Federalnewsradio.com – tune in.

Item: This is issue 199 of the electronic version of my newsletter. The newsletter has been coming out either hardcopy or e-version since 1991. Feedback has always been critical in developing content, so as I approach the 200^th issue of the electronic version of the newsletter, I really would appreciate more feedback about what you are looking for, especially for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. In the meantime, thanks for reading.

Repeat Item: If you sell products to government (as in commodity products, including IT), the place to be this November 5-6 is The Sixth Annual Amtower Summit on Selling Products to the Government. This is the only event focused exclusively on selling products to the government and we offer information you can act on immediately. We have a great lineup of speakers and we are in a great new Hilton hotel, the BWI Hilton, 5 minutes from Baltimore-Washington International airport. Join us for good food, great speakers, excellent networking and more. This is a limited seating event, so register NOW. See Events below for the link.

Repeat Item: Yes, I have a new book coming out. No, it is not the 2^nd edition of Government Marketing Best Practices. The book is Why Epiphanies Never Occur to Couch Potatoes and it will be out in mid September. You can take a look and preview listen at www.EpiphanyBook.com . The first cartoon you see will be on the cover.

Item: Sun to be kicked off Schedule? Well, that would be yet another boost to the best run GWAC contract - SEWP. Senator Grassly, seeking yet more headlines, told GSA that Sun should be removed from Schedule. Scott McNealy contends the GSA IG has a bias against Sun and is calling for a third party resolution. Why not? The government needs Sun and Sun needs the government business – so get a third party in there and settle this bad boy.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY: OFFICE DEPOT THROWS A HISSY FIT

As first reported in the Federal Times on August 16, GSA awarded a BPA for office products to several companies, some large and several small. Office Depot, after submitting what must have been a poor bid, was excluded. So Office Depot filed a protest at GAO

The basis of the protest was that the small (and I mean REALLY SMALL, not the Army ITES variety small) businesses were not manufacturing the products.  Apparently Office Depot was out to lunch when SBA waived the manufacturing rule in the Jan 27, 2006 Federal Register.

Or perhaps Office Depot was hoping they could weasel into the contract simply by filing a protest. Well, if GAO does its homework, it will simply throw out the protest as it is faulty.

Office Depot is simply the latest in a long line of companies attempting to bully small businesses out of the government market and it needs to stop.

I think the small businesses should get together and look into some of the contracts awarded to Office Depot and others that may not have been bid properly.

 
EVENTS WORTH ATTENDING

Beware of the SCHLOCK EVENT PRODUCERS, producing minimal value 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.

October 18, 7:00PM - 11:00PM, GIT ROCKIN' 2nd Annual BATTLE OF THE GOVERNMENT IT BANDS, The State Theatre, Falls Church, VA  www.GitRockin.com

October 23-25, Federal Information Assurance Conference 2007, University of Maryland at College Park http://www.fbcinc.com/fiac/

November 2, Heroines in Technology, Hyatt Regency Reston, www.WomenInTechnology.org

November 5-6, 2007 – The Sixth Annual Amtower Summit on Selling Products to the Government, BWI Airport Hilton. Save the date – details to follow at www.FederalDirect.net/2007summit.html

November 7-8, The Coalition for Government Procurement Annual Fall Conference, Hilton Arlington, http://www.thecgp.org/

AMTOWER ON THE RADIO - WFED

Amtower Off-Center airs Friday at 2:05 PM on WFED 1050 AM in Washington, DC and is simulcast and archived on  www.FederalNewsRadio.com. Tune in!

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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