The second edition of Government Contracting: Promises and Perils picks up where the first edition’s mission left off: exposing fraud, incompetence, waste, and abuse (FIWA) and analyzing corruption, mismanagement, and ineptitude that defile government contracting. The first edition thoroughly outlined procurement throughout the contracting cycle including initial planning, contractor selection, contract administration, contract closeout, and auditing. This significantly revised new edition provides additional much-needed guidance on contracting documents, management tools, and processes for addressing negative influences on government contracting, including an improved approach to evaluating proposals. Specific guidance for avoiding FIWA is provided for government officials and employees, government agencies, and government contractors, and practical solutions to problems faced by individuals and organizations involved in government contracting are intended for both practitioner and pedagogical applications. The "Government Procurement Corruption Wall of Shame" that was introduced in the first edition to illustrate contracting perils such as conflicts of interest, duplicity, favoritism, incompetence, kickbacks, and protests is continued in the second edition, and cases illustrating the existence of FIWA in government contracting have been thoroughly updated. Contracting documents and contract management tools are provided on a website designed to accompany the book. Written at the graduate level and specifically intended for state, local, federal, and international government procurement activities, this textbook is required reading for public procurement, contract management, business, and public administrations courses.

A Guide to Federal Contracting: Principles and Practices demystifies the federal buying process, providing in one volume a succinct yet thorough treatment of federal contracting requirements or regulations. Bringing together concepts of business, law, politics, public and social policy, pricing, and contract placement and administration, Dan Lindner draws on 40 years of federal government experience to cover the vast spread of this important process that impacts our daily government operations. This completely updated second edition incorporates the nearly 16 regulatory changes that have occurred since the first edition was published and adds new subsections on Product Planning and Placement, Major Systems Acquisition, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Other Transaction Agreements, Corporate Budget, and Work Breakdown Structure.