McCullough: more agencies collaborating with vendors

Collaboration between agencies and vendors is increasing, and agencies will see the benefits in better contracting. That’s one goal of GSA Administrator Martha Johnson, and GovPlace VP/Federal Ryan McCullough confirms he’s seeing it in the marketplace.

“I think we are seeing a trend there that’s obviously faster there than at some other [agencies],” Ryan says. “There are a number of groups that are engaging the same kind of strategy that GSA has been talking about. Where I think we’re seeing less of it is on the task order side – the things that are a specific mission requirement being addressed.”

But Ryan sees more room for agencies and vendors to work together well before the RFP comes out. “I would like to see an increase in the industry/agency collaboration that happens around understanding the possibilities. We still see it in the form of RFIs, where there’s an influx of paper…how much of that really gets translated? It’s tough to weed out the amount of information you can get in that kind of environment. It’s really the ongoing kind of engagement that has to exist between industry and government.”

Ryan and I discussed a wide range of issues including cloud computing, data center consolidation, and communication between industry and government.

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