 Hey guys, Eric Coffey here, host of Scorecontracts.com on YouTube. Listen, I know everyone is panicking and we're all concerned about the government shutdown. So today I decided to come on board and talk to you guys about the government shutdown, what some of my thoughts were, who's going to be impacted by this? How is it going to make us feel what's happening? What should we do? How should we be preparing? So stay with me today if you want to learn more about the government shutdown. We're talking about right now, who's going to be impacted by this? What agencies? So as you know, or you may not know, most agencies that are under the DOD or the DLA, typically they're protected. So some of the agencies right now that they're talking about that are going to be impacted are the Department of Treasury, Commerce, Agriculture, Homeland Security, Department of the Interior, Department of State, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and Justice Department. The reason why I highlighted Commerce, Interior and Department of State, because those are major agencies, like, for example, the Department of Interior, they have one of National Parks Services. And I'm sure most of us have already heard about the National Parks themselves having to close down, but what about the people like you and I out there, the contractors who are working on those projects? I specifically myself right now, one of my consultant clients has a project at the National Parks and as I was speaking with some other organizations that were working with companies like myself today, they were telling me how their clients were having a hard time being paid by the National Parks. So if the National Parks is one of your clients, you should be aware, pay attention. Now, Department of Commerce, same thing under Department of Commerce. It's a large organization, a large agency as well. So you want to pay attention to some of it that are non DOD agencies. And we'll talk about what kind of questions that you should be asking the people at your agency to make sure that, you know, you're not out there working in vain. So again, some other areas of concern out there are the Department of Energy, Small Business Administration and GSA. In fact, let me take you over here to a slide this morning, because it's, you know, I was actually online this morning looking and I noticed that certified at SB.gov is no longer available during the shutdown. Well, for those of you out here who are trying to get registered for one of the certifications, I know that the ADA certification uses certified at SB.gov to submit your forms, your documents. So those people are going to be impacted. Now here, when we look at this is the actual organizational chart of the United States government, you can see here some of those departments that we discussed earlier. So like I said, you can see on here the other areas that are non DOD. You see labor, justice, interior and whatnot. Now. I want to take you guys over here. Here's National Parks. And as you see on the National Parks website, it says shut down. So now, other than that, I want to help prevent those people from. And again, listen, just so you know, for in my opinion, right, the government shutdown is a temporary measure and it will ultimately be resolved. So I'm not concerned that the issue will not be resolved. My only concerns are I know that a lot of us out here are small businesses and we have limited cash flow. So I just want to make sure that, you know, if you're working on a project where the funds are more than likely there, right, for the project. However, if the people are not there to push the button to transfer it to your account, that doesn't help you or benefit you at all. So let's talk about that matter at hand. So now this is a letter that we received from the National Parks Services recently, and it says that the Department of Interior and National Parks appropriations expired on December 21st. And as of the 22nd, there are no additional annual appropriations for the federal agencies, including Department of Interior and National Parks Services. However, the subject contract, which is our contract, is not dependent on additional appropriations. As a result, we have determined that the performance is to continue during the laps and appropriations until appropriations again become available. The government will be working with a very limited staff. So another contracting officer within the United States Department of Interior may contact you. This is great. And I appreciate this letter. Don't get me wrong. However, if they're working with limited staff and we can't get someone to process or approve our payments, then what benefit is it for me to continue working out there? So again, I just want to help everybody know who you're working with. Check to see if your agency is non-DoD. That'd be the first thing I do. Because again, I also received an email this morning from a military base asking us about a project that we were working on some information that was submitted and they were inquiring as to did we have the information available. So that means that they were all full staff and everybody was working. So the first thing I would do is I would check to see if your agency is a non-DoD agency. The second thing I would do is to check to see if your agency has a continual resolution in place that protects it during times like this. A lot of the agencies have already prepared for these things because they're becoming more common. So a lot of the agencies have already prepared for this. So find out if they have a continuing resolution in place. If you cannot do either of those things, call and you can always just call and ask the contracting officer if the work is being impacted. I know that this morning I've reached out to two contracting officials successfully. But prior to them leaving, they did make an announcement and letting them or no, they were going to be having limited access to emails and no access to the actual phone calls or the call to let you know prior to them actually departing the area. So most of the government people I can see I found them to be very responsible and how they're addressing this particular issue. And then the last thing I tell people is just asking if your payment is going to be impacted because I know that they want us out here doing the work, which I'm all fine with doing the work. But if if you can't get paid or reimburse for your monies, then that's going to be a problem for you and your company long term. And obviously the objective is to make money, not to lose money. We don't want to put any of you guys out there in jeopardy of not being able to float the cash flow. So I would really have a serious conversation, maybe not today, but maybe in a week or so with my subcontractors as to, hey, this is what's happening. We all are aware where we're working at and to see if you guys can somehow manage to pull it off. If you guys can't continue to fund your projects during this process, then it would be you to to notify the government, your contracting officer, contracting officials, the regional contracting officer and writing of such an item. But again, it may never be get to that. So what I want to do is I want to make you aware of the appropriate steps to take because a lot of people have been emailing me and asking me these questions. So what should you be doing in the meantime? What I would do is, first of all, if you have any upcoming, say, meet and greets or an organization event, any type of conferences that are coming up, dealing with the government, I would make sure that those things are still happening before I set up any reservations. For example, I've got an industry J with GSA coming up on the 23rd of January up in Maine, so I'm going to be calling and following up to see if they're still going on before I book my flights and my reservations. Stay the course. Again, listen, we've had 21 plus furloughs. I mean, 21 plus slowdowns and or say government shutdowns, so to speak, where we've had a gap in funding. Like I said, only a few of them have actually resorted in furlough. And so now, but all of them have been resolved. So I have faith in American public. I have faith in American people. I have faith in our Congress and our government to get to get this issue resolved and worked out. And by the way, so just so that you know the top 10 DOD contract, the top 100 DOD contracts, they're not doing anything different. They're staying the course as well. Remember this, that the government does pay for any lapses in your contract. So there is there's a way for them to claw back and make you make up the difference in terms of monies for any loss of revenue or being on a site without being compensated. So they do have those provisions in place. I'm not saying for you guys to actually have to utilize them or go through this process, but there are provisions in place for those people who have the ability to sustain and continue working through the project. Also, continue doing your investigative research. Listen, this morning I'm on the phone talking about putting together my team. Right. I'm looking at some larger contract opportunities and I'm trying to put together some JV partners, mentor, protégé arrangements. And so I'm staying the course because after this all finishes up, guess what's going to happen? They still have to get all these products completed and finished and done. And so they're still going to be looking for people to go out here and do the work. So I mean, myself personally, I'm still putting together the team. So now what's going to happen once it's resolved? Like I said in my first government shutdown video in 2013, when this happened, there was 19 days of shutdown, the government had the largest amount of federal funds that were spent that year. So when they had the largest shutdown, which included furloughs, it was the largest amount of money that the government spent. So stay the course, stay diligent, continue to reach out to the people that you've been talking to, follow up with them. If you do have a contract in place, just ensure that, you know, again, that you're not doing anything that puts your contract in jeopardy. You don't want to just get up and walk away from a contract. I'm sure most of you guys are smarter than that. But I have to say it anyways, because again, a lot of people say, well, I'm not going to get paid, so I'm just going to get up and leave the contract. Maybe you want to pull back, you may want to scale back on the contract. Maybe you want to not have so many teams out there. Again, you want to have a for the people that are still on site. For example, we've had our project manager still on site. He was I won't say his exempt from the furlough. I'm not sure how they did it, but he's still outside and working to making sure our project is done because our project is mission critical. So a lot of times your projects may be critical to something long term that you're not aware of. So you don't want to just pull off the site. You definitely want to have a conversation, a candid conversation about what you can and can't do and let them know that. And again, everyone's aware. No one's expecting anyone to work without compensation or pay. But again, the reason why we do this and we work in the federal marketplace is why because the government has already, if you have a contract, existing contract, they have already allocated the funds for existing contracts. So the money is there. It just there's no one there to push the button to distribute into your account. So, hey, listen, I'm going to come back probably later this week and do a more in-depth overview of what the government shutdown means and how this continuing issue can affect those of you and also how we can take advantage of it and capitalize on these things. Remember, when there is downturns in the market, there are people that are making tons of money and capitalizing on downturns. So you don't want to be the guy that turns your head away from or girl, excuse me, that turns your head away from the government marketplace when you're in actually probably one of the best periods of time to get involved. Because why? A lot of people are scared right now. So this will be a chance to get soul source set aside contracts where no one else can be competing against your bidding. All right, so stay the course and I'll see you probably in a few days.