The federal government is the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, spending hundreds of billions of dollars per year, employing hundreds of thousands of people as civil servants or contractors. Yet no textbook is commercially available to discuss how federal contracting is done in a format that is written for the general public as well as the practitioner. This publication is intended fill this void - to demystify the volumes of regulations and policies, and provide in one volume a succinct yet thorough treatment of federal contracting requirements and regulations. Bringing together concepts of business law, politics, public and social policy, pricing, and procedures for contract placement and administration, the author draws on over 30 years of federal government experience to cover the vast spread of this important process which impacts our daily government operations.