Partnering: Dead? Was It Ever Alive?

Some recent public mourning of the death of government-contractor “partnering” has a nice, wistful feel.  But did partnering ever really have a pulse?

Here are seven reasons that suggest partnering never really existed, and may be unhealthy for contractor and customer alike.

1. Federal contracts don’t read like partnership agreements as known in the private sector.  There’s no equitable  risk-sharing or provisions that reflect a high degree of trust between partners. And there’s no discernible trend in that direction.  Rather, it’s for more regulation and forced disclosure of contractor business details.

2. The re-emphasis on contract oversight that emerged when Rep. Henry Waxman’s became chair of the Government Oversight and Reform Committee in January 2007 noticeably rattled the industry. Since then, the rising tide of regulation proposed and signed into law suggests the Federal customer-partner has had declining trust in supplier-partners for a few years.

3. The ever-tightening rules and enforcement concerning organizational conflicts of interest demonstrate less government faith in companies’ ability to identify and mitigate such issues. And just wait for the soon to be unveiled personal conflict-of-interest regs.

4. Both government and industry routinely show their reservations about operating more transparently. On the government’s side, FOIA transactions still seem to take forever.  Contractors’ disclosures to government and the public are almost always in response to government requirements and pressure and are often opposed by industry in the rule-making process. What publicly owned companies reveal is mainly driven by SEC regs and to please Wall Street equity analysts, not taxpayers or government customers.

5. Small businesses—the vast majority of the contractor population but with constant market share of federal prime contract dollars—act less satisfied, and often aggrieved, concerning government set-aside program spending and enforcement of the rules. The government hasn’t delivered any more dollars in percentage terms for years.  And some large companies still get a startling amount of “small-business” set-asides due to unsettled policy guidelines and  administrative error.

6. Government agencies, according to the Professional Services Council, are acting as if there were a mandate to insource, even though there is none.  The Administration has been careful to state its goals for program budget cuts and procurement and management reforms in source-neutral terms.

7. When troubled contracts and programs come to light in audits, reviews, and hearings, contractors remain muzzled by their customers, who prohibit releases of information unless approved by the government. Either (1) the customer-partner wants only its side of the story to be heard, or, (2) it is protecting the contract or contractor.  Come to think of it, there may be a spirit of partnership in this behavior, but it’s not one that’s good for the taxpayers.