Your contract clauses pick most of your GovCon software stack. Here are the five systems you cannot choose and the four tools you actually buy. Most GovCon software lists start with vendors. The clauses in your contract decide more of your stack than any product comparison does, and they decide it in a fixed order. Most GovCon software shopping starts with a vendor category. That is the wrong end of the problem. The clauses in your contract decide most of your stack before you compare a single product. Five government systems push you in and give you no vendor choice at all. One buying decision carries real audit risk. Four more are genuine preference. Sort them in that order and a fifty-person contractor can see what to buy first and what waits a year. What GovCon Software Must Do GovCon software has one job a commercial tool never has to do. It has to survive an audit, a solicitation check, or a cyber incident report. Three questions sort every candidate quickly. Does a clause name this system? If yes, you have no choice of vendor. WAWF is WAWF. SPRS is SPRS. Your only decision is who on your team learns it. Does the tool hold government data? If yes, the answer turns into a cybersecurity question before it becomes a feature question. Does the tool produce something an auditor will read? Timesheets, indirect rate pools and subcontract reports all end up in front of someone with subpoena power. Everything else is preference. Preference matters. It just comes third. There is a fourth question most buyers skip. Who holds your records after the contract ends? FAR 4.703 (https://www.acquisition.gov/far/4.703) makes you keep records available for "3 years after final payment," and some clauses run longer than that. Paragraph (d) lets you move computer data between media, so long as you protect the data and keep "an audit trail describing the transfer." Cancelling a subscription in year two does not end the duty. Ask every vendor how you export, and in what format. The Systems You Cannot Choose Five government systems sit outside your control. You register, you learn the interface, and you build your calendar around their deadlines. | System | What it does | The clause that drives it | |---|---|---| | SAM.gov | Entity registration and opportunity search | FAR 52.204-7 | | WAWF (in PIEE) | Invoices and receiving reports | DFARS 252.232-7003 | | SPRS | Assessment scores and performance risk data | DFARS 252.204-7019 and 7020 | | eSRS | Subcontracting reports, the ISR and the SSR | FAR 52.219-9 | | CPARS | Past performance evaluations | FAR 42.1503 | FAR 52.204-7 (https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.204-7) (Nov 2024) treats you as registered only after four things happen. You enter the mandatory data including the unique entity identifier and the CAGE code. You complete the C
Most GovCon software lists start with vendors. The clauses in your contract decide more of your stack than any product comparison does, and they decide it in a fixed order.
Most GovCon software shopping starts with a vendor category. That is the wrong end of the problem. The clauses in your contract decide most of your stack before you compare a single product. Five government systems push you in and give you no vendor choice at all. One buying decision carries real audit risk. Four more are genuine preference. Sort them in that order and a fifty-person contractor can see what to buy first and what waits a year. What GovCon Software Must Do GovCon software has one job a commercial tool never has to do. It has to survive an audit, a solicitation check, or a cyber incident report. Three questions sort every candidate quickly. Does a clause name this system? If yes, you have no choice of vendor. WAWF is WAWF. SPRS is SPRS. Your only decision is who on your team learns it. Does the tool hold government data? If yes, the answer turns into a cybersecurity question before it becomes a feature question. Does the tool produce something an auditor will read? Timesheets, indirect rate pools and subcontract reports all end up in front of someone with subpoena power. Everything else is preference. Preference matters. It just comes third. There is a fourth question most buyers skip. Who holds your records after the contract ends? FAR 4.703 (https://www.acquisition.gov/far/4.703) makes you keep records available for "3 years after final payment," and some clauses run longer than that. Paragraph (d) lets you move computer data between media, so long as you protect the data and keep "an audit trail describing the transfer." Cancelling a subscription in year two does not end the duty. Ask every vendor how you export, and in what format. The Systems You Cannot Choose Five government systems sit outside your control. You register, you learn the interface, and you build your calendar around their deadlines. | System | What it does | The clause that drives it | |---|---|---| | SAM.gov | Entity registration and opportunity search | FAR 52.204-7 | | WAWF (in PIEE) | Invoices and receiving reports | DFARS 252.232-7003 | | SPRS | Assessment scores and performance risk data | DFARS 252.204-7019 and 7020 | | eSRS | Subcontracting reports, the ISR and the SSR | FAR 52.219-9 | | CPARS | Past performance evaluations | FAR 42.1503 | FAR 52.204-7 (https://www.acquisition.gov/far/52.204-7) (Nov 2024) treats you as registered only after four things happen. You enter the mandatory data including the unique entity identifier and the CAGE code. You complete the C