Respect the Process When Doing Business with the Government

FORT WORTH-Partners Trammell Crow Co. and USAA Real Estate Co. were successful in landing the development project to build the Federal Aviation Administration's 357,214-square-foot southwest regional headquarters in Fort Worth's Alliance Park. According to Tom Finan, TCC's managing director with the company's Washington, DC office, many things had to fall into place to be the winning bid.

When it comes to working with the government, the path from bid submission to bid winner is long and arduous, involving an initial expression of interest, to follow-up bids, to getting to the best and final. Finan tells GlobeSt.com that TCC put a follow-up bid to its initial expression of interest in late 2011 and was awarded the project in late 2012. "That was a remarkably fast turnaround for a government bid," he says.

The reason why government-related bids take so long, he goes on to say, is due, in part, to a thick tome known as the Federal Acquisition Regulation. FAR, as it's called, lays out, in minute detail, the government's procurement requirements from buying ball-point pens to buying land and developing something on that site. Finan says government procurement officers are required, by law, to follow every single step outlined in FAR. "Failure to do so," he says, "means they could be charged with a crime."

This means there is no cutting corners when it comes to the process. "Anyone who does work with the government needs to respect the process," Finan says. Respecting the process and patience go a long way.  Finan, who acknowledges he isn't very patient, says he learned to become patient by working with Trammell Crow's Washington DC office on bids.

In fact, familiarity with the government bidding process is what prompted the activity between TCC's Washington and Dallas offices. "We had the government experience and the Dallas office has boots on the ground," Finan says. "it makes a good combination."

Additional participants involved with the FAA project, which is anticipated to break ground this fall, include B & A Consulting Engineers, Haynes Whaley Associates, Mycoskie Mcinnis Associates, Pacheco Koch and Weidlinger Associates.