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Federal Government Procurement Law Lawyers & Procurement Specialist - YouTube
Channel: Theodore Watson
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hi I'm Travis Luther and today we're
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joined by attorneys from Watson and
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associates the nation's interest in
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federal government contracting has
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significantly increased over the years
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large and small businesses alike are
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actively seeking new opportunities to
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increase revenues the US government is
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by far the largest customer of
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commercial services and products
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although a very lucrative venture there
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are complex regulations and laws that
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contractors must face in the current
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administration there is a mandate for
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more scrutiny on federal contracts and
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performance this puts current
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contractors in sensitive situations here
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with us today is Theodore Watson
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managing member of Watson and associates
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LLC a government contracting and
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business law firm Theodore thank you for
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being with us thanks for having me when
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a lot of us hear the term government
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contracts often we think about companies
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like Halliburton or Boeing what's the
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difference between a large company like
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that and a small business owner that's
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looking to secure a contract how does a
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small business owner best position
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themselves to get that work well I think
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the first approach needs to be Congress
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gets a lot of their taxes the
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significant portion of their taxes
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revenues from small businesses because
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of that it's incumbent upon the
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government to create opportunities for
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businesses small to secure more
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contracts each industry is designated
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with a North American industry
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classification code and in layman's
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terms that is if its construction it
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will be a 236 next codes that identify
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what that company does along with that
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is a certain limitation on annual
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revenues for construction again you're
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probably looking about 30 3.5 million if
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you're making less than that you're
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considered a small business by
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regulation mm-hmm the other point I
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would add is when you look at government
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contracts about 15 20 years ago when I
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was in the blue suit
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government contracting was very
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difficult and a lot of the commercial
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sectors turned away from doing business
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with the government they termed it to
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red tape well Congress seeing that
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wanted to change the rules to encourage
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those businesses to come back to the
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government to do work so what they've
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done now is created what they call
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performance-based contracts in a
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nutshell the government gives the end
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result that they want the contractor
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comes in and tells the government how
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they're going to do it so that's
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something out there that viewers need to
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understand that the rules are changing
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to make it a lot easier for businesses
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to do to come and do with the federal
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government so this does your law firm
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Watson associates do you actually help
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businesses right these contract
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proposals or do you just deal with
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disputes or good question again with the
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economy we're trying to create a
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business model to adapt to the economy
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and more specifically to the needs of
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contractors so what we've done is in
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addition to dealing with the legal
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disputes I always say federal
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procurement is a process it begins part
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a with the companies who are now turned
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into government contracts we're trying
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to market themselves all the way to
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contract closeout so to answer your
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question more directly we try to build
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relationships upfront with the issues
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that customers are looking to get help
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with hence the proposal writing the
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market it and then once they acquire the
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contracts then we go down the pike and
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we deal with the compliance issues
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sometimes it may be a big protest that
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we may have to file so in comparison to
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the other traditional law firms what
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we're trying to do is adjust to the
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economy and focus on what the clients
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are really facing increase their bottom
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line so it's a through z process and so
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having been in the military yourself and
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having been a small business owner
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yourself acquiring government contracts
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I suppose you won't admit it but you
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probably do have some pretty significant
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insight into that process and how it
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works I mean is that really play to your
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firm's advantage and
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being able to help process these things
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perfect question I think for any client
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whether it's a contractor or anybody
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when they come to firms like mine they
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want to understand first that you
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understand what their concerns and
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problems are so answer your question I
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think a good position to be in is to be
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able to have understood to be able to
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understand the other side I've been
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there on the other side dealing with the
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small business programs and so forth so
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that when clients come to me it's not
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just for legal dispute I know how the
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process works so I'm in a better
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position to align them with how to
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restructure how to refocus how to
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develop internal controls so that they
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can be in compliance so an actual fact
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they're talking to somebody has been on
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the other side okay is there anything
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important that you'd like to add that
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you think we have not covered this
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afternoon I think you touched on it
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earlier in this economy I think a lot of
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the contractors out there need to
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seriously look at what's working for
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them and what's not from my perspective
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I'm seeing a big struggle in the
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proposal writing aspect because
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obviously that's how they secure
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government contracts there's obviously
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different ways of getting government
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contracts there's certain small business
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programs such as da days and hub zones
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etc these are congressional programs and
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out there but I really think that they
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need to focus on a restructuring what
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they have done in the past to adjust the
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way the economy is going now and more
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importantly how the agency's change in
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the old habits and selecting bids for
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award once they adjust and do that what
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we're doing is offering training and the
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various aspects for 2012 for example we
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have a lot of bid protests classes and
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how to prevent them proposal right in
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classes to really get into the meat and
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potatoes about what really works instead
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of just a general overview of proposal
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writer that's kind of what you see out
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there and do you provide free
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consultations actually we do yes and
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obviously I think that
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to the benefit of the client they the
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relationships that we form the client
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has to see a as we talked about earlier
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do we understand what their problem is
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and I think it's fair to a potential
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client to at least be able to not be
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charged for that time to be able to see
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if there's a relationship so yes we do
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offer free consultations okay well thank
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you mr. Watson I appreciate you coming
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down the separate bags been a pleasure
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if you are a business owner and you're
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considering looking into government
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contracts where you file the government
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contract and you have some questions or
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concerns about that process I would
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encourage you to reach out to the law
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firm of watson and associates they can
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be reached toll-free at 186 660 155 18
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or you can visit their website online at
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Theodore Watson calm again mr. Watson
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Thank you Thank You Travis
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