Contracting With Uncle Sam: The Essential Guide for Federal Buyers and Sellers [Hardcover]

Bill C. Giallourakis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2008

Written for federal contractors and their government counterparts who bid on, award, execute, or administer contracts, this guide makes complex federal contracting easy to understand. With many different eGovernment databases available on the Internet, the author realizes that those wanting to buy and sell with the government can easily get overwhelmed. Giallourakis, however, makes sense of the information presented on the Internet, alleviating much of the stress involved. An excellent primer for companies inside and outside the U.S., his book covers acquisition basics from the perspective of both buyers and vendors. Supported by numerous diagrams and illustrations, the text includes selected examples from the author's firsthand experiences and offers time-proven, established principles to use in trading with Uncle Sam.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

BILL C. GIALLOURAKIS is a legal consultant on military procurement matters and a lecturer on federal contracting. He has practiced procurement and intellectual property law for more than twenty years. He lives in Tarpon Springs, FL.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press (October 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591143152
• ISBN-13: 978-1591143154
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,953,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book lives up to its subtitle, March 13, 2009

By 

J. Rudy "Major, USAF" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Contracting With Uncle Sam: The Essential Guide for Federal Buyers and Sellers (Hardcover)

Bill Giallourakis shares his personal experiences establishing contracts with the Department of Defense in this essential reference book for government acquisition professionals. Attempting the impossible, Giallourakis breaks down the indecipherable government jargon into terms the average businessman or woman can understand. It's a daunting task, but he succeeds for the most part. The book's subtitle lives up to its name, this book truly is "The Essential Guide for Federal Buyers and Sellers."

The author's intent is to teach the business community how to enter into the competitive world of federal contracting. The book has a heavy slant towards the Department of Defense, because Giallourakis' retired from the Army as a Colonel. Despite this bias, his approaches to establishing contracts apply across the entire federal government.

The book begins with the author's first federal contract. Interestingly enough, he chose to discuss what is known as a SBIRS (pronounced "sibbers") contract. The Small Business Innovation Research is used not to procure current technology, but to develop technology that can be applied or manufactured in 3-5 years. This is a niche contract for businesses, but the important message from this chapter is "my small 1-person business did it - so can yours."

The book covers topics such as the contracting process; tips for conducting your market analysis; tips for writing a winning proposal; how to leverage socioeconomic advantages for minority/veteran-owned businesses; tips for protecting your intellectual property; and how to keep your company's image clean.

With the author's credibility established in landing government contracts, he then launches into explaining the contracting process. For any established business, there should not be any surprises. The book's value is the translation of the government language into language understood by laypeople. For those people who have not worked with government documentation, this is a rare gift!

To summarize each chapter, Giallourakis provides helpful tips & links to applicable government websites. He also does an excellent job explaining the applicable government laws for each one of his subject areas.

This book is intended for the small business owner compared to "Gunn Sights: Taking Aim on Selling in the High-Stakes Industry of International Aerospace (Blue Jacket Bks)" written by a former Vice President of a major defense contractor. In that book, Gunn shares his similar personal experiences in winning the multi-billion contracts.

This book is a great reference book for defense acquisition professionals. This book has found a permanent home on my office bookshelf.