62 companies get spots on Alliant Small Business

The General Services Administration awarded places on its Alliant Small Business governmentwide acquisition contract to 62 small businesses today.

“It will provide small firms with terrific opportunities and help GSA’s client agencies hit their small-business target goals,” said GSA Administrator Lurita Doan during a press conference about the awards.

Alliant Small Business has an estimated value of $15 billion over 10 years. The contract offers management and technical support services. It lets agencies buy complex information technology products under a precompeted multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract.

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House passes $516B omnibus spending bill

The House passed a $516 billion omnibus spending bill Dec. 17, days before a continuing resolution expires, but the legislation’s future is uncertain.

The Senate is closely divided on the fiscal 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act and will need to resolve senators’ differences before the bill is sent to the White House.

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Hot or not: Acquisition was a hot spot

Lawmakers and Bush administration officials spent more time on acquisition issues in 2007 than at any time in recent memory. With workforce certification, multiple-award contracts and greater contractor oversight in the limelight, the past 12 months offered agency officials plenty to think about.

Hot: Cooperative purchasing

Not hot: Schedule 70

Hot: Acquisition workforce

Not hot: Assisted acquisition services

Hot: Small-biz score cards

Not hot: Section 508 standards

Hot: Contractor oversight

Not hot: Competitive sourcing

Read the story: FCW.com News - Hot or not: Acquisition was a hot spot

Bush signs continuing resolution

President Bush signed a continuing resolution today that Congress passed late Dec. 13. The resolution extends agencies funding until Dec. 21.

“I hope that Congress will use the additional time productively,” Bush said after a meeting with his Cabinet. He urged lawmakers to pass a clean spending package at his proposed spending levels. He has already issued veto threats on appropriations bills that are higher than his spending proposals. He also said the package should not include language that changes policies, and it should include funding for troops.

“It would be disappointing if members of Congress did not finish their work by the holidays,” Bush said. But if they can’t, he said they should pass a one-year continuing resolution and not carry 2007 business into 2008.

The Senate passed the resolution Dec. 13 by voice vote, and the House passed it 385 to 27. The amended resolution would have expired today.

With the amended resolution, government work will continue until Dec. 21 at fiscal 2007 spending levels.

This is the third continuing resolution already in 2008. Congress and the White House have pushed back and forth over spending bills. Congress has considered an omnibus appropriations bill, and President Bush has threatened to veto any such measure.

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OFPP: Half of contracts must be performance-based in '08

Officials expect agencies to make half their contracts performance-based acquisitions in fiscal 2008, an increase from the goal for 2007, according to a new memo.

Paul Denett, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, raised the goal from 45 percent to 50 percent “to continue to motivate agencies to use the [acquisition] strategy,” the Dec. 5 memo states.

OFPP said it expects agencies to exceed 2007's 45 percent goal based on the data compiled in the Federal Procurement Data System.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - OFPP: Half of contracts must be performance-based in '08

Sen. Byrd: 'It's time to govern, Mr. President.'

The White House should start working with Congress to pass a budget, a top Democratic senator said Dec. 10, after the Bush administration threatened last week to veto an omnibus spending bill that may come before Congress this week.

“The White House should cease its political posturing and work with the Congress to complete the appropriations process,” said Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement.

“It's time to govern, Mr. President,” he said.

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OFPP: Half of contracts must be performance-based in '08

Officials expect agencies to make half their contracts performance-based acquisitions in fiscal 2008, an increase from the goal for 2007, according to a new memo.

Paul Denett, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, raised the goal from 45 percent to 50 percent “to continue to motivate agencies to use the [acquisition] strategy,” the Dec. 5 memo states.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - OFPP: Half of contracts must be performance-based in '08

Army: Bolstering acquisition workforce could take 10 years

Building up the Army’s acquisition workforce into an adequately staffed, experienced labor force will likely take as long as 10 years, a top Army officer told a Senate panel Dec. 6.

The Commission on Army Acquisition and Program Management in Expeditionary Operations stated in a report released Nov. 1 that the Army should add 1,400 employees to balance the dramatic increase in defense spending since the 2001 terrorist attacks against the 25 percent of the acquisition workforce cut in the 1990s.

Lt. Gen. Ross Thompson, military deputy to the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, said it would take about three years to fill 400 positions with military contracting officers and 1,000 jobs with civilian contracting officers.

But getting contracting officers training, certification and essential hands-on experience will require the most time, he told the Senate Armed Service Committee’s Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Army: Bolstering acquisition workforce could take 10 years

GSA issues laptops to kick off teleworking plan

Telework opens a contentious issue about employees’ accessing official agency networks via their own computers, the General Services Administration’s chief information officer said today.

Casey Coleman said GSA is issuing employees government-owned laptop computers as an initial step in reaching Administrator Lurita Doan’s goal of having 50 percent of the agency’s employees teleworking by 2010.

“We have a lot of control over that environment,” Coleman said after a speech at a luncheon.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - GSA issues laptops to kick off teleworking plan

2007 Rising Star: Mark Goodge

At 12, Mark Goodge was driving a three-wheeler through the countryside when he accidentally drove off a cliff. His arm was torn off, and he spent a week in the hospital while it was reattached.

The hospital staff showed amazing compassion, he said, and it changed his life. “I’ve always felt like paying somebody back,” he added.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - 2007 Rising Star: Mark Goodge

OFPP: Better training gets results

Paul Denett, the Office of Management and Budget’s top procurement official, likes to get an audience’s attention by describing contracting officer’s technical representatives as “Mikeys,” inexperienced but energetic employees who are willing to take on the job, despite knowing little about what is expected.

However, in today’s marketplace, Mikeys don’t survive. As administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Denett said he wants to provide training for technical representatives as part of a broader effort to expand the skills of the federal acquisition workforce.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - OFPP: Better training gets results

Agencies overlook disability rule

Agencies often forget about making information technology purchases that meet the needs of people with disabilities, as shown by the tiny number of solicitations that include references to accessibility standards.

Governmentwide, only 3 percent of solicitations for electronic and IT products properly include Section 508 accessibility standards, according to a recent General Services Administration assessment of solicitation notices on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site.

About 75 percent of IT solicitations failed to mention any of the standards that reduce barriers for disabled employees, said Terry Weaver, director of the Office of Technology Strategy’s Information Technology Accessibility and Workforce Division at GSA.

“I’d hoped for better,” she said.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Agencies overlook disability rule

OFPP issues policy requiring training for support workers

Employees assigned to support contracting officers now must meet common training standards, as procurement officials attempt to tie together the diverse parts of the acquisition process.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy has set up a new program that establishes a training program for contracting officer technical representatives. It also standardizes the training and skills necessary for the job. The program requires COTRs to meet certain competencies for certification and maintain their certification through continuous learning.

COTRs follow up on contracts after they’re awarded, watching for problems that may arise. They also help the contracting officer and program manager keep things working smoothly.

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IG: DOD fails on competition

The Defense Department awarded numerous task orders without competition, and it failed to justify why officials went outside of the department for acquisition services, a new report found.

The DOD inspector general audited 98 task orders worth $33.2 million in commercial supplies purchased through the National Institutes of Health’s Electronic Commodities Store III governmentwide acquisition contract. Of those orders, 95 failed to afford all contractors a chance to bid. And on 31 of the orders, contracting officers did not document their reasons for the award, the report states.

“Competition was limited, and DOD did not have assurance it received the best value when procuring goods,” the IG concludes.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - IG: DOD fails on competition

Procurement chief chides IGs

The Office of Management and Budget’s Paul Denett said some agency inspectors general are emboldened now more than in the past, often to the point of essentially directing agencies’ programs.

Denett, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said he believes some IGs are overstepping the boundaries of their statutory role, adding that “they get aggravating sometimes.”

Those comments, which Denett made at a recent industry conference, highlight the growing strained relations between IGs and the agencies they oversee. Auditors and procurement experts say the relationship has become tense at some agencies.

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Survey focuses on green purchases

Congress and the White House want to know if agencies buy with the environment in mind.

The survey, which the Office of Management and Budget distributed along with a Nov. 1 memo, asks agencies specific questions about their efforts to purchase environmentally-friendly products.

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GSA's 'financial house in order,' Doan says

The General Services Administration’s schedules sales increased this year as the agency got a grasp on its finances, the agency said.

GSA’s commercial schedules program showed growth of 2.2 percent, a high for the agency. Its Global Supply sales increased 5.5 percent, mainly because of Defense Department business, the agency said in a Nov. 14 press release.

The news comes with an unqualified “clean” opinion on its fiscal 2007 Performance and Accountability Report.

“GSA’s financial house is in order,” GSA Administrator Lurita Doan said.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - GSA's 'financial house in order,' Doan says

Senate bill would increase IG oversight

Congress may tighten controls on agency inspectors general but offer them more authority under new legislation introduced in the Senate.

The Inspector General Reform Act (S. 2324), which Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) introduced Nov. 8, would guarantee that administrations appoint qualified people to be IGs, that IGs remain independent of agency pressure and that they make their reports accessible to the public.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Senate bill would increase IG oversight

Panel finds contracting disarray

A panel of Defense Department experts has concluded that the Army overworks and undervalues its contracting officers, and it has recommended that the service immediately make some tough decisions to fix its contracting problems.

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the Army’s contracting workload has increased 600 percent and spending on contracts is up 300 percent, said Jacques Gansler, former Defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, who led the Commission on Army Acquisition and Program Management in Expeditionary Operations. During a period when workloads and spending increased, the Army’s acquisition workforce numbers stayed the same or declined in some cases, Gansler said.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Panel finds contracting disarray

Congress endorses GSA's assisted services

Lawmakers want the Defense Department to use the General Services Administration’s assisted acquisition services so DOD experts are free to work on defense-specific procurements.

That congressional endorsement in a conference report on DOD’s fiscal 2008 spending bill was welcome news at GSA, which faces shrinking revenues from its assisted acquisition services and fresh criticism from DOD’s inspector general.

The reports highlight divergent views among oversight officials: Congress likes GSA’s assisted services, while DOD’s IG questions their value. The lawmakers’ endorsement came two weeks after DOD’s IG told employees to stop wasting money on GSA’s assisted services.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Congress endorses GSA's assisted services

House passes $460B defense spending bill

After less than 10 minutes of debate, the House passed a massive $460.3 billion defense spending bill for fiscal 2008 that contains a resolution to continue funding the government through Dec. 14.

The bill, in the form of a conference report, addresses many problems inside the Defense Department, including contract accountability.

The legislation would provide funding for additional civilian inspector general employees to bring more oversight to defense contract services.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - House passes $460B defense spending bill

GSA lashes back at DOD IG

A top General Services Administration official said today he was very disappointed by a report from the Defense Department’s inspector general condemning the Air Force for wasting money by using GSA’s assisted-acquisition services.

The report states that DOD wasted $607,000 when it turned to GSA for help in placing 91 orders on an Air Force task-order contract known as Network-Centric Solutions. Officials should have used DOD resources to handle the work and put the money to better use supporting the warfighters, the report states.

“Frankly I take great offense at that.... I don’t appreciate it, and I think they got it dead wrong,” said Jim Williams, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.

Williams said the Air Force had three options in such a circumstance: It could have failed its mission by not doing the work; the service could have handled the work in-house despite its already overworked acquisition staff and still faced failure; or the Air Force could have gone to GSA for help.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - GSA lashes back at DOD IG

Denett: IGs are 'aggravating,' and overstep boundaries

Inspectors general are overstepping their bounds in federal contracting, a chief procurement official said today.

The IGs have taken over the role of program manager, Paul Denett, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said in a speech at a Coalition for Government Procurement conference.

“They get aggravating sometimes,” Denett also said after his speech.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Denett: IGs are 'aggravating,' and overstep boundaries

SBA plans to keep pressure on agencies

The Small Business Administration does not intend to let agencies wriggle out of their small-business contracting goals.

The agency has no authority to enforce the government's small-business mandate. But as SBA Chief of Staff Joel Szabat sees it, the agency wields two "hammers" that it can use to force the issue: the small-business score card and the Office of Management and Budget’s authority.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - SBA plans to keep pressure on agencies

SBA stumbles on e-mail privacy

The Small Business Administration has issued a temporary directive to prevent officials from accessing employees’ e-mail inboxes without prior approval from the chief privacy officer. SBA published the directive after officials discovered the agency had no e-mail policy to protect whistle-blowers.

SBA officials, with help from the agency’s general counsel and inspector general, also are drafting an agencywide policy that would establish rules for conducting an administrative review of an employee’s e-mail messages and the appropriate authorization needed for such a review.


Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - SBA stumbles on e-mail privacy

IG: DOD wasted money by placing orders with GSA

The Defense Department wasted more than $600,000 when it turned to the General Services Administration for help in placing orders on an Air Force task-order contract, according to a new report from DOD’s inspector general.

The IG said the officials should have sought assistance from DOD’s procurement officers, not GSA, for the orders placed under the Network-Centric Solutions (NetCents) contract.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - IG: DOD wasted money by placing orders with GSA

Speedy interagency contracts face possible new restrictions

Interagency contracts appeal to contracting officers who are understaffed and under pressure to meet their agencies’ acquisition requirements quickly. But those contracts may lose some of their appeal if Bush administration officials and lawmakers impose stricter rules governing their use, federal contracting officials say.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Speedy interagency contracts face possible new restrictions

Feds seek the art of negotiation

Contracting officers provided a snapshot view of their skills in a new survey that gives policy-makers insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the federal acquisition workforce.

Federal contracting officers and specialists, who made up 80 percent of the survey respondents, said they need more training in three areas that affect their ability to make good deals for the government: the art of negotiation, strategic planning and contract dispute resolution.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Feds seek the art of negotiation

The competition question

For decades, the federal government moved slowly and deliberately whenever it needed to buy something. In contrast to past acquisition procedures, today’s acquisition process is swift and lean. But critics have discovered a downside to speedy acquisitions. All that speed, they say, has undermined fair competition for government dollars — a hallmark of federal contracting.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - The competition question

Congress looks for price fix

Regulators left a gap in a final rule on time-and-materials contracts that lawmakers say exceeds the authority that Congress granted. Now, lawmakers want to close that gap and curtail the use of such contracts.

The Senate Armed Services Committee said contractors can defraud the government too easily through time-and-materials contracts because departments have a hard time monitoring the work and ensuring that the prices they pay are fair.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Congress looks for price fix

SBA drafts policy on authorizing access to employee e-mail

Small Business Administration officials are drafting an agencywide policy to determine the authorization necessary to review an SBA employee’s e-mail messages, officials said Oct. 25.

In August, SBA’s assistant inspector general for auditing, Debra Ritt, told Liu that a manager in the Office of Disaster Assistance retrieved e-mail messages from an employee who was a confidential source for the IG and a congressional committee.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - SBA drafts policy on authorizing access to employee e-mail

Industry to evaluate GSA's grasp on info protection services

As it works to construct a new multiple-award schedule contract, the General Services Administration wants to understand how businesses deal with securing information.

GSA officials developed a proposed catalog of commercial services to help departments comply with regulations and laws to safeguard confidential information, according to a request for information posted today on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Industry to evaluate GSA's grasp on info protection services

Bush: Provisions in small-biz bill 'constitutionally suspect'

President Bush opposes new legislation that would update contracting programs for small-business contractors because some provisions raise constitutional concerns.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Bush: Provisions in small-biz bill 'constitutionally suspect'

OMB adds to High Risk list

The Office of Management and Budget has added 50 information technology projects to its High Risk List since August, bringing the total to 603 projects the agency is concerned about.

The projects equal at least $15.5 billion in IT spending for fiscal 2008, OMB said today.

The boost in numbers continues a trend at OMB.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - OMB adds to High Risk list

Grassley: Sun controversy a sign of deeper contracting problems

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and the General Services Administration are sparring again over the Sun Microsystems contracting controversy, a week after the company let its schedules contract expire.

Grassley said he wants to know if the Sun case reflects deeper problems with how the government negotiates and manages contracts, leading to contracts that benefit vendors at the expense of taxpayer dollars.

GSA said he's using "false innuendo to impugn the motives of GSA management."

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Grassley: Sun controversy a sign of deeper contracting problems

Contracting officers need training in critical areas, survey finds

Many government contracting officers say they or others in their organization lack training in critical contracting areas, according to a new workforce report.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Contracting officers need training in critical areas, survey finds

Denett: Proposed bills include "poison pills" for competitive sourcing

Lawmakers are working on several major bills that could undermine the Bush administration's competitive-sourcing initiative, according to the government's top procurement official.

Language in those bills would make it difficult to create a fair environment in which federal employees and private companies compete for non-inherently governmental work.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Denett: Proposed bills include "poison pills" for competitive sourcing

Homeland security plan draws fire

When the White House released an updated National Strategy for Homeland Security last week, a reporter asked, “Where’s the beef?”

It’s in a strategy document written in 2002.

Frances Townsend, assistant to the president for counterterrorism and homeland security, said the updated document purposely steps back from operational details to offer a longer-range view.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Homeland security plan draws fire

Meet Mr. Procurement Policy

He’s known as the man behind the curtain at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Robert Burton, deputy administrator, has been a steady influence, a fixture guiding governmentwide acquisition policy through good times and bad.

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SBA looks beyond small businesses to modernize systems

The Small Business Administration recently widened its search for a systems integrator beyond small businesses in an effort to bring its loan management and accounting systems into the 21st century, an agency official said today.

SBA started an initial search in April for small businesses to handle the modernization, but the agency decided to expand its options. It’s researching the market now to find what other companies can offer.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - SBA looks beyond small businesses to modernize systems

Last-minute spending hurts IRS, IG says

The Internal Revenue Service’s end-of-year spending increased dramatically in the past five fiscal years, according to a new report.

The overload of work coming at the last minute caused problems in acquisitions. On 15 percent of 92 purchases in August and September 2006, TIGTA found that IRS violated appropriations regulations on four acquisitions, and contracting officers may have skipped steps in the procurement process on 10 others, the report states.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Last-minute spending hurts IRS, IG says

No pain, no gain on small-biz goals

Agencies can pressure prime contractors with tough consequences to make them adhere to their small-business subcontracting goals, but some lawmakers wonder why agencies aren’t under the same pressure to meet their own goals.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - No pain, no gain on small-biz goals

Retiree bills face uncertain future

Two bills that would soften the expected blow from a wave of federal worker retirements face an uncertain future in Congress.

The bills, introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), would make it easier for agencies to rehire retired federal employees to stave off anticipated staffing problems. The chairmen of committees reviewing the measures have not decided if they will consider them in committee.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Retiree bills face uncertain future

Bush threatens to veto a bill that would stengthen IGs

Democrats in the House, citing political pressures that interfere with the work of inspectors’ general, passed legislation last week that would reinforce the independent role of IGs as agency watchdogs. The legislation faces a divided Senate and White House officials who oppose the bill.

Democratic leaders said the legislation is necessary because of numerous recent instances of IGs appointed by President Bush who seem more concerned about covering up potential political embarrassments than doing their jobs.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Bush threatens to veto a bill that would stengthen IGs

IGs may have to hunt for redundant programs

Inspectors general may have to report redundant programs to Congress and the president each year, according to an amendment to legislation the House passed today.

Then the IGs would have to include with those reports proposed legislation to encourage Congress to do something about the redundancies, according to the Improving Government Accountability Act. The House passed the legislation 404 to 11. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - IGs may have to hunt for redundant programs

Senate amendment aims to restrict competitive sourcing

The Defense Authorization bill passed by the Senate Oct. 1 includes provisions that would restrict competitions between private contractors and government employees for federal work, a practice the Bush administration advocates as a way to save money.

An amendment Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) added to the Fiscal 2008 National Defense Authorization Act seeks to level the playing field for civilian defense employees in public/private competition, known as competitive sourcing under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Senate amendment aims to restrict competitive sourcing

SBA to focus on women’s centers

Small Business Administration officials say they intend to improve programs for helping women who own small businesses to win more federal contracts. Agencies awarded only 3.2 percent of federal contracting dollars to woman-owned small businesses in fiscal 2005.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Congress passes continuing resolution

Congress passes continuing resolution

The government’s work will continue at least through Nov. 16.

The Senate passed a continuing resolution Sept. 27 making appropriations for fiscal 2008. The House passed its version Sept. 26, and next, President Bush must sign the legislation.

The resolution avoids a government showdown and gives agencies money to continue their work from fiscal 2007.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Congress passes continuing resolution

Meet small-biz goals or face consequences, officials say

With half of federal departments missing their small-business contracting goals in fiscal 2006, agency officials and legislators said the solution may be punishment.

“I’m troubled by the fact that there are no penalties here,” Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Government Management, Organization and Procurement Subcommittee, said Sept. 26.

To get agencies to meet their small-business goals, officials who testified said attach consequences.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Meet small-biz goals or face consequences, officials say

Agencies can rehire retired experts

As more federal acquisition experts retire, agencies are struggling to fill the knowledge gap. By using a little-known provision in the General Services Administration Modernization Act of 2006, managers can pull retirees back into contracting jobs without any pension penalties.

Read the rest of the story: FCW.com News - Agencies can rehire retired experts