In your organization, have you ever used 52.217-8 to extend an ordering period by 6 months, then cut a task order off that extended period? I know for Air Force, we can’t, but heard it used to be done. Just looking for your insights, thanks!
I took FAI.gov CON 1100, 1200,1300,1400. I took the CON 3900V and nailed it!. I have applied to several Contract Specialist jobs I do work Procurement work but not contracts. I have applied but can't get in the seat so to speak. I get referred but not selected for interviews often (Only had one didn't get selected) I need at least 1 year of contracting cradle to grave to get certified. Anybody looking for a determined aspiring contract specialist I'm that person.. Currently and GS9 looking for and 11/13.
My agency had had an influx of tech refresh requirements this FY, completely Commercial Supply buys. I have currently been in a fight with my policy shop and SBPO on if a Streamline Acquisition Plan is required. I do not believe one is required regardless of price, and is slowing my acquisition timeline for what should be a simple acquisition. Thoughts?
Likely to get taken down and I get it but damn that was one of the most tone deaf addresses to the work force I have ever seen.
DLA, IYKYK.
I get my work done, but I really do struggle with long term, slow burn projects. Have a legit emergency where you need me to find someone and get a PO awarded the same day? I thrive. Have a construction project where I have a six month PALT? I struggle to keep myself on target and not let it sit while I go after other more “exciting” projects in my workflow.
I’m looking for really anything that I can take my contracting skills to where the work is more immediate, get it done right now type environment.
Any ideas?
Hello everyone. I recently got hired as a nh2 gs 7 equivalent developmental position with a target nh3 for the DOD/DOW. A nh2 gs 7 pay is tight so I was wondering if there is any pay increases in the three year program before nh3. I appreciate the help.
I'm new to the space. Looking for the best training for using AI in acquisitions. Also wondering if there is a good platform to use? I heard GSA has a contracting app? Is enterprise copilot any good for this use case?
I’ve been working under my current KO for several months now, and one thing that constantly frustrates me is the way he reviews documents. He has a reputation for being extremely nitpicky and overcomplicating things. Even our customers find him difficult to work with, and honestly I think leadership gets irritated with it too.
Here’s what I mean.
Say I submit a negotiation memo, award package, solicitation, mod, etc. for review and signature. Instead of fully reviewing the document and then sending comments back in writing, he’ll stop midway through the review process the second he notices something he thinks is wrong.
For example, I submitted a negotiation document once that was only about five pages long. Before he even finished reviewing it, he called me into his office and immediately started asking, “Where’s this?” “Why isn’t this included?” The frustrating part was that he had only reviewed maybe the first page, and most of the information he was questioning was actually addressed later in the document. If he had just continued reading before stopping the review to call me in, he would have seen the answers to half the questions he was asking.
The issue is that by the time he reviews something, I’ve usually already moved on to other actions. So now I’m getting pulled into his office and being asked on the spot where random information is in a document I submitted days ago, while he’s still actively reading through it in real time.
Then it turns into me sitting there while he quietly reads through the rest of the document and makes comments out loud as he goes. Sometimes this lasts 30 to 45 minutes. It completely disrupts my workflow and honestly feels unproductive.
What makes it more frustrating is that he constantly changes positions on things. A few weeks ago he pulled me into his office over a FAR clause he insisted needed to be included in an award. We spent around 40 minutes going through FAR references, only for him to eventually realize the clause was not required.
Then a week later, we had the exact same discussion on another action. Same clause. Same argument. Same outcome. Another 30 to 40 minutes wasted.
I’m used to KOs reviewing the document in full, marking comments in writing, then sending it back so I can make corrections efficiently. But with him, unless I’m unavailable, he prefers to verbally process every thought while reviewing the document live.
The most exhausting example is with solicitations. I submitted a solicitation package recently that was over 30 pages. He got through the first page, noticed one thing he questioned, and immediately called me into his office. Instead of just marking the issue and continuing his review, I ended up sitting there while he slowly reviewed the rest of the solicitation in real time.
Am I crazy for finding this incredibly inefficient?
I genuinely would rather receive consolidated comments in writing so I can fix everything at once and keep moving. I don’t understand the benefit of stopping a review halfway through just to verbally process every observation with the specialist sitting there watching.
Have my GSA ATD interview next week and would appreciate any advice heading into it! It also says schedule B in parenthesis in the calendar invite, so not really sure what that means if anyone has insight into that.
Also, where can I go to learn more about the position? Just want to do some research so I can ask some good questions at the end. Thanks in advance!
I’m currently a GS-12 and have been a 12 for a few years now. On multiple occasions, I’ve heard GS-13 coworkers or supervisors make comments like, “I definitely don’t miss GS-12 pay,” or talk about how much better things got financially once they hit 13.
At the same time, I’ve also had a supervisor tell me that realistically the increase was only around a couple hundred dollars more per paycheck after taxes, deductions, TSP, etc.
So now I’m curious what it actually felt like for people who made the jump.
Did becoming a GS-13 noticeably improve your lifestyle or financial situation? Did it feel substantial, or more like “nice extra cushion” money?
Were you able to:
• save more aggressively
• buy a home
• travel more
• max retirement accounts
• pay off debt faster
• feel less financially stressed
Or did taxes and deductions eat up more of it than expected?
I know locality pay and individual situations matter, but I’d love to hear real experiences from people who actually went from 12 to 13.
It's now been over a year and I've barely even had any interviews. Add into that, that those few have seemed very interested until they meet me and either one of two things. Either because I'm older (ageism) or that I'm a minority. I am not trying to pull any race cards. I had 25+ years and a very successful career going with only 5 years to full retirement. So my qualifications, as well as references, are beyond solid.
PLUS...every single thing I've interviewed for would already mean a 50%+ paycut and I can't even get one of those.
I left the Federal Govt as a Competitive Status employee with six years of 1102 experience and took a job in the private sector a couple years ago. I was unexpectedly laid off and now I’m looking at USAJOBS but it seems like there is still a hiring freeze in effect. The agencies that are hiring are only hiring displaced federal workers or disabled vets. I end up sorting through “open to public” and apply to jobs that way. I get referred then it’s radio silence. Does anyone have any leads for 1102 positions? From what I gather, agencies are hurting for people with 1102 experience. For every four people that leave, the agency can only hire one person.
I’m also pursuing private sector jobs with my clearance but even then I value the stability of the government or what I thought it was back in 2023 to 2024.
I’ve also noticed salaries in the DMV area are lower than equivalent GS12- GS13 roles. Anyways, trying not to be discouraged. Please let me know if you’re in an agency with a direct hiring authority in the DMV area.
I’m an GS-12 1102 and wanted to see if anybody else has heard similar messaging from leadership regarding AI.
A few months ago, my KO and I were talking after a pretty contentious customer meeting. For context, my KO is known for being extremely nitpicky and honestly very difficult to work with. Everything turns into a long discussion, every minor issue becomes a major issue, and simple actions tend to get overcomplicated. Even our branch chief has had to step in multiple times asking about the status of relatively low dollar actions because things drag on so long.
During this conversation, my KO told me there had been discussions among leadership that AI could eventually replace a lot of contract specialist work. He specifically said branch leadership was encouraging KOs to make sure specialists were using AI tools because some agencies may stop hiring interns and lower level specialists altogether. While telling me all of this, he suggested that I don’t tell any of my other coworkers about this which I found odd
What stuck with me was when he said contract specialists are going to have to “actually bring value” moving forward. He said that KOs are basically safe because it is an inherent government function. At the time, I didn’t really think much of that statement, but later it started bothering me because honestly, I would hate to be a KO in a world where there are no specialists supporting them.
Right after saying that, he started using examples of documents I had submitted for review where something minor needed to be corrected or clarified before moving forward. For example, a customer package may not have been fully sufficient or complete when I routed it up. But in my opinion, isn’t part of the KO’s role reviewing packages and providing comments when things need to be adjusted? Instead, minor issues often turn into hour long discussions, FAR lectures, or deep dives over things that could honestly just be returned with comments for correction.
That’s part of why the AI conversation rubbed me the wrong way in hindsight. It almost felt less like a discussion about technology and more like a broader commentary about specialists needing to prove their worth.
What also made the timing feel odd is that literally the day before this conversation, I had received positive feedback publicly from one of our customers in front of leadership during a meeting.
I later asked another branch chief his opinion about AI replacing 1102s, and his response was much more balanced. He basically said AI may eventually change how all of us work, not just contract specialists specifically.
So now I’m curious:
Have any other 1102s heard leadership seriously talk about AI replacing contract specialists specifically? Or is this more just general discussion about AI tools improving acquisition workflows?
Because from what I’ve seen in contracting, there’s still so much human coordination, judgment, customer interaction, documentation cleanup, and decision-making involved that it’s hard for me to picture AI fully replacing specialists anytime soon.
I’m thinking about taking a 10k pay cut to get into some of the bigger defense companies like Northrop or General Atomics for long term growth. Even though I love my current work schedule and pay, I’ve been unhappier since all of the stuff that has been evolving over the last 1.5 years. What is everyone’s thoughts?
Wasn’t sure how to catalog this. Anyway survived being RIF last year. Was in limbo until this February. Was notified not being RIF was a HR error on March 13 and that I may be RIF within the following two weeks they didn’t know for sure. Well it’s May and still working but really lost all motivation. I’ve met all my job duties but got excuses for my grade promotions due to being in this limbo realistically since February 2025. Others that are safe have moved forward with their careers. I should be grateful I still have a job but honestly wanted to resign before Voldemort became president and played with federal workers out of boredom but there was a lot of pressure to stay and not like I’m getting job offers to whisk me away. Long story short would you stay or go? Thinking of just setting a date to resign and just take some time to just regroup from this twilight zone episode we are all stuck in that’s not ending. I could also just stay until when the RIF happens and then have my mid life crisis LMAO. Anyway thanks for reading your viewpoints are much welcomed. Oh and I have 13 years of service working in procurement acquisitions and contracting.
Does anyone here work for the federal government while also selling to it?
I’ve heard this is possible provided you have written supervisor approval, the work occurs outside of official hours, and you aren't selling to your own agency. Does anyone actually do this?
Currently, I am a Project Manager at the GSA specializing in construction and build-outs. My wife is interested in pursuing federal service contracts—specifically catering for the military. Since her business is in the food service industry and entirely separate from my role in GSA construction, there shouldn't be a conflict of interest, right?
I’m an 1102 working under a KO who is technically knowledgeable, but extremely difficult to work with because every small action turns into a full production.
For example, we recently had a low-dollar supply purchase with a large number of quotes submitted. We obviously had to send unsuccessful offeror notices, which is fine. But instead of simply notifying the unsuccessful vendors, the KO also wanted every single vendor to review the notice, sign it, and send it back so we could upload all of those acknowledgements into the contract file. We’re talking about around 100 vendors for a relatively small-dollar purchase. It felt wildly excessive and created a huge amount of unnecessary administrative work.
Another recent example: I prepared a mod and used the funding document that my KO had already created and we reviewed together weeks earlier. When I finally completed the mod and sent it over to him for review, he reviewed it and he decided the pricing wasn’t adding up and pulled me into a long review session. We spent almost an hour recalculating and going through the numbers. I finally suggested we call the contractor, and the contractor explained how they calculated the totals.The numbers were correct. The issue was just how the KO was calculating them and again… overcomplicating. Now if the numbers did end up being wrong, that would’ve turned into a whole session about needing to pay attention to detail…..despite the fact that the KO was the one who created the funding document originally. The moment that the contractor was able to back up their number, I could feel my KOs ego deflating in real time.
This happens a lot. If I miss something small, instead of sending a quick comment like “please add X,” he pulls me into his office, reads FAR clauses out loud, explains the issue for 30 to 45 minutes, and turns it into a teaching moment. I understand that KOs have to review our work and protect the file. I’m not saying compliance doesn’t matter. But it feels like every issue gets treated like a potential protest, claim, or audit finding, even when the action is low risk and the fix is minor.
What makes it frustrating is that I fully understand a KO has to review what a specialist submits. That’s literally part of the job. Nobody expects a blind signature. Comments, corrections, and feedback are normal. The issue is the scale of the reaction. With this KO, if something minor is missing or needs clarification, it turns into an entire event instead of a concise review. A simple “please add this” becomes a 30 to 45 minute lecture with FAR citations, hypotheticals about protests, and extended teaching moments over relatively minor issues.
I’m trying to understand if this is normal KO behavior or if this is more of a personality/style issue. I’ve worked with other KOs before, and while they were thorough, they were much more efficient. They reviewed, gave comments, and moved on.
Has anyone worked under a KO like this? Is this extreme risk aversion, insecurity, lack of trust….? How do you manage working under someone who makes every action feel heavier than it needs to be?
Hello everyone,
I’ve been working for the federal government for close to 10 years and currently work in the 2005 supply/logistics series as a Log Tech. Over the years I’ve handled a lot of government purchasing responsibilities, including regional purchasing support and managing a government purchase card for multiple organizations.
My current position has honestly become very comfortable, and I’m trying to branch out professionally into the 1102 contracting series because acquisition and procurement is what I genuinely enjoy.
The issue I keep running into is qualification requirements. I have a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and around 10+ years of government purchasing experience, but it seems like every 1102 posting I apply to says I’m not qualified.
For those who successfully transitioned into 1102 from another series:
Would you recommend trying for a GS-9/11 ladder?
Should I pursue a lateral move first?
Would taking a GS-5/7 just to get into the field be worth it long term?
Should I go back to school for my masters and then apply ? I see so many internships for contracting jobs , how do I get into that ? Please help . I would love to go to Alabama or NC but anywhere really , I’m currently in DC area .
Are there certain agencies more open to bringing in people with purchasing/GPC backgrounds?
I’d appreciate any advice because contracting is something I really want to get into, but I’m trying to figure out the smartest path forward.