445 - What are "Open and Frank" Discussions? (Part 1)
Communication between government and industry matters throughout the acquisition process. In this episode Kevin and Paul dig into another common misconception that gets in the way of effective communication – namely a lack of clear agreement on what is fair game (or not) to communicate about. In the FAR, the phrase “open and frank communication” is one of the phrases used to describe that effective dialogue between both sides.
Ok, while we can appreciate that “open and frank communication” is something we would want…what exactly does that mean? How open is too open? How frank is too frank? When can we be both open and frank. These are burning questions because the reality is that we cannot ALWAYS have open and/or frank communication about everything.
In this episode, Kevin and Paul outline some of the conditions that get in the way of open and frank communication – and how to remove them. They also provide some frameworks to help both sides increase these “open and frank communication” throughout each Acquisition Time Zones®.