PREFACE
This book is a logical outgrowth of and follow-on to my first book about negotiation, Essentials for Government Contract Negotiators, which was published in 2006. That book addressed the need for true, focused, effective training for folks on the government side of the negotiation table. It actually started as a script for a two-day negotiation seminar, but soon it ballooned into the manuscript for a 400-page book. There was that much I thought I needed to cover about contract negotiation.
I am truly blessed that that book has been a Management Concepts bestseller since it was published. And, of course, I think everyone who negotiates should own at least one copy of it! However, it's a pretty thick, all-encompassing book—even delving into the psychology behind certain strategies and tactics. In the back of my mind, I had always toyed with the idea of creating a smaller, scaled-down, "just the essential facts" version of my tome. Coincidentally my publisher had been thinking along these same lines.
My publisher approached me and said it was launching a new series of books that would have the title The Government Manager's Guide to ____, filling in the blank with various essential areas important for government professionals to master. These books would serve essentially as quick reference guides for the working professional, rather than bedside table reading material or bookshelf reference space fillers. They were going to be designed to be easy to follow, concise, and quickly useful. Wow, just what I had been thinking! Management Concepts Press wanted the subject of contract negotiation to be one of the books in the new series. I quickly agreed, and the result is this book.
This book will benefit anyone who is involved in any way as a government negotiator across all federal agencies: contracting officers, specialists, administrators, price analysts, cost analysts, legal staff, small business specialists, program personnel, program managers, project managers, and contracting officer representatives. While it is geared to federal government negotiators, state and local contract negotiators, as well as contractors, will also find this book useful. Finally, since most negotiation principles, strategies, and tactics are universal, this book will be helpful to anyone needing to apply sound negotiation strategies and tactics in their personal life. It will help you understand the negotiation process, plan for it, develop strategies and tactics, anticipate and counter the other side's strategies and tactics, and conclude and document the negotiation. Knowing the strategies and tactics in this book will help you the next time you buy a car, a house, or a used table at a flea market. My hope is that this book will become extremely dog-eared from use!
—LeGs McIntyre
