Cuskey’s advice helps clients negotiate more effectively
June 22, 2017: The Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) presented its 2017 Economic Impact Award to Jeff Cuskey, Senior Government Contracting Advisor at Montana State University’s Techlink Center, for his assistance to a client regarding how to support higher profit positions under the Department of Defense’s structured Weighted Guidelines profit methodology, with the result that his client was able to negotiate substantially higher fixed fees for follow-on and new contract awards.
In May 2016, Cuskey realized that a new client of his might be eligible for a higher profit/fee percentage on their innovative, high tech RDT&E defense contracts. Drawing upon his knowledge of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) provisions regarding development of profit or fee objectives on certain negotiated contract actions, he helped the company develop their future profit negotiation strategies to include positions fully justified under DoD’s Weighted Guidelines (Profit) Method.
Cuskey worked closely with the company president to provide him insight into DoD’s profit policy, procedures, and regulations. More importantly, he advised the company in the development of a negotiation strategy to seek a higher fee (profit) under DoD’s Weighted Guidelines structured profit/fee methodology. With this help, the client was able to demonstrate to the contracting officer that a higher profit/fee was allowable and appropriate for the additional work, resulting in an 84.6 percent increase in the Fixed Fee under the contract.
APTAC’s Economic Impact Award recognizes a member that has fostered significant economic impact through direct and acknowledged assistance to a client business in obtaining government contracts, thereby creating and/or retaining jobs. The intensive, high-level expertise provided by Cuskey to his client and the dramatic result in both the short term and for the future represents just such an accomplishment. In addition to helping this client and other clients, Mr. Cuskey shared his insight and detailed negotiation strategies with other procurement counselors at the November 2016 APTAC National Training Conference in Washington, DC.
APTAC is the professional organization of and for the 98 Procurement Technical Assistance Centers awarded under the Department of Defense’s Procurement Technical Assistance Program. APTAC supports its members by providing them important information, professional networking, comprehensive training opportunities and a voice in national government contracting assistance and policy arenas.
TechLink is a US Department of Defense (DoD) Partnership Intermediary based at Montana State University, Bozeman. TechLink’s primary activity is brokering license agreements between DoD labs and US industry for the manufacture and use of DoD inventions in virtually all technology fields, including medicine, software, electronics, communications, advanced materials, and energy-related technologies. TechLink’s service area covers the entire United States and U.S. territories.
In addition, TechLink helps companies to engage with DoD Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. As TechLink’s Senior Government Contracting Advisor, Cuskey, helps TechLink clients pursue SBIR/STTR and other defense high technology contract opportunities and helps those clients commercialize, market and sell their innovative dual-use products, solutions and/or services to DoD and other federal agencies.
For help with Government Contracting: contact your nearest Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC). Funded through Cooperative Agreements between the U.S. Department of Defense and state and local governments/institutions, PTACs provide free and low-cost assistance in virtually all areas of government contracting.