Woodley Park
Washington, DC
April 04, 2018
Woodley Park reminded people of the early days of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. The area attracted an eclectic group of people and cultures living in a bustling tribute to diversity. Perhaps the proximity to the National Zoo drew them in. The Department of Homeland Security announced a second HS2 Industry Day being held in a large hotel with conference facilities rarely used since the National Harbor complex in Maryland opened. DHS had been strongly encouraged by a vocal DC politician to hold the conference within the District. The program revealed the Department had about two hours of presentation material packed into a six hour agenda that allocated plenty of time for networking and glad-handing with the military-industrial complex. After all, it did take one hand to wash the other.
The Contracting Officer presented the usual disclaimers, and the Program Manager provided additional details on work scope, the approved budget and the rough timeline for the Draft RFP. He encouraged feedback from contractors on any hard spots they saw in the draft solicitation, projecting proposals would be required in September and stating that the government intended to make an award before the end of the calendar year. Nothing changed. Once again the government offered an ambitious schedule for the award that was clearly not executable. In today's contracting environment, no one would make an award if they didn't think it was protest proof and the stakes were too high to follow the sanguine timeline outlined by the PM.