Fixed Price Is Now the Default - Can Small Businesses Survive the Risk?: BONUS REACTION EP

Firm fixed price sounds simple: tell the government what the outcome costs, deliver it, and manage your own house.

But for small businesses, the shift toward fixed price contracting raises a much bigger question:

Can you survive the assumptions behind your bid?

That’s the question Hope Skibitsky is unpacking in this episode of Unsolicited, reacting to Michael LeJeune’s post: “Fixed price just became the default. Are you ready to bid this way?”

Fixed price does not make uncertainty disappear. It decides who pays for it.
It rewards contractors who understand their costs, know how to scope work, manage performance, and protect the customer from uncertainty. But it can also expose small businesses that are guessing at labor, transition complexity, staffing models, customer responsiveness, or vague requirements.

This bonus mini-episode breaks down:
- What firm fixed price actually means under the FAR
- Why fixed price does not make uncertainty disappear
- How underbidding can turn into a margin trap
- Why unclear requirements create risk for both contractors and agencies
- What small businesses need before bidding fixed price work
- Why acquisition teams need stronger front-end discipline
- How disciplined contractors can become the least risky and clearest value option in the room

The core takeaway: Fixed price is not automatically good or bad. It is clarifying.

It will reward contractors with pricing discipline, project controls, operational review, and documented assumptions. And it will punish contractors who bid work they do not fully understand, hoping they can figure it out after award.

Before you bid the next fixed-price opportunity, ask:

Are we pricing what the customer actually needs, or are we pricing what we hope the requirement means?

Because in firm fixed price contracting, hope is not a pricing strategy.

Referenced in this episode:
- Michael LeJeune’s LinkedIn post:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/michaeljlejeune_on-may-5-2026-the-president-signed-an-executive-share-7457957725340217344-z46u/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAA5l5roBRHxWeecrcFAkPkbuE3rFqUc3K_g

- Executive Order: Promoting Efficiency, Accountability, and Performance in Federal Contracting:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/promoting-efficiency-accountability-and-performance-in-federal-contracting/

- FAR 16.202-1, Firm-fixed-price contracts:
https://www.acquisition.gov/far/16.202-1