Hey r/GovCon,
Looking for some perspective from the veterans here. My company is a niche technology vendor (software/SaaS). In 2024 we competed with a prime on an RFP, the prime won that RFP. Last year, we gave up and signed a Teaming Agreement (TA) with that same Prime to support their recompete on a related program.
Now I'm wondering if we screwed up....
- The Prime was awarded the contract over 60 days ago now
- Since the award, the Prime has been "slow-walking" every interaction. They won’t set a meeting to negotiate the subcontract and keep giving us vague "we're still figuring out workshare" or "maybe you'll start in 2027" answers and it's all verbal
- We know work is already being performed on the contract by the Prime and other subs and sam.gov shows payments are flowing
Our TA has a standard clause about a 60 day fuse, which I totally forgot about until yesterday. That 60-day window has officially passed. We were just completely out to lunch and didn't play hardball on getting negotiations going. They just ignored our emails and on the one call we got with them, they told us verbally (not in writing) that it ain't happening until 2027 at the earliest.
My Questions:
Was this bench and neutralize strategy? Is it common for a Prime to team with a niche vendor just to keep that tech out of a competitor's hands, with no intent to actually use them?
can they actually claim the TA is now expired? Or does their lack of effort keep that clock running?
We are in DC in a couple weeks. We’ve asked to meet at their HQ, and they’re dodging - we're out of town etc etc
do I escalate this to their Contracts/Legal team without permanently burning the bridge?
I’m tired of chasing... Any advice on how to flip the script would be appreciated and thanks in advance.
It's ok to be brutal with us because I forgot about the 60 day window...