ABSTRACT
The history of federal acquisition has many success stories, and it is also littered with cancelled programs, terminated contracts, and systems plus services that failed to perform against expectations. While some programs have been cancelled due to political decisions and some contracts have been terminated for convenience, others are due to tragic failures in the government’s requirements, source selection, or oversight processes. Most certainly the contractor will not be free from blame when money is spent without results, and some contractors can be legitimately accused of deceiving the government. However, if we are not the type of contractor who would consciously leverage false information in proposals and in contract reporting, then we must deeply understand how to avoid being drawn into the potential paths of tragic government failure as we develop solutions for proposals and implement solutions in contract performance.
