Army | The Contracting Education Academy

November 30, 2010 By cs

Army issues revised RFP for ground combat vehicle

The Army on Tuesday asked industry to submit proposals for developing a new infantry fighting vehicle that could be used across the full spectrum of battlefield operations, from counterinsurgency to ground combat.

The request for proposals follows the August cancellation of a similar solicitation after Defense Department acquisition officials questioned the service’s requirements and strategy for buying a new ground combat vehicle. Army leaders have struggled with the best way to fill the service’s need for tactical vehicles after Defense Secretary Robert Gates scuttled that portion of the wide-ranging Future Combat Systems program last year.

“The Army and [Defense acquisition officials] have worked through this and are firmly committed to getting this kicked off,” Col. Andrew DiMarco, ground combat vehicle project manager, said in a conference call with reporters.

Michael Smith, the official in charge of developing concepts and requirements for the vehicle, said the Army is looking for a vehicle that can be adapted “on the fly” to changing battlefield requirements and threats.

The infantry fighting vehicle must be able to carry nine soldiers and their gear, and it must have a modular armor system that can be tailored to specific situations, according to Smith.

The technical development phase will have full and open competition, DiMarco said, adding the Army could select up to three contractors for the initial award. To control costs, the Army has set a spending ceiling of $450 million for the development phase. Per unit manufacturing costs are to be between $9 million and $10.5 million with a life-cycle cost target of $200 per operating hour.

Proposals are due Jan. 21, 2011, and the Army expects to announce awards in April, said DiMarco.

The Army eventually plans to buy about 1,800 vehicles, he said.

– By Katherine McIntire Peters – GovExec.com – November 30, 2010

November 27, 2010 By cs

Alaska Native subsidiary got $250 million Army contract

An Army contract worth as much as $250 million awarded to a subsidiary of Cape Fox Corp., an Alaska Native corporation in Southeast, is drawing attention two years later, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper, which has been reporting on special federal contracting privileges for Alaska Native corporations, says United Solutions and Services, known as US2 and co-owned by Cape Fox Corp., got the no-bid federal contract to help the Army in “a global campaign to prevent sexual assault and harassment, without seeking outside bids.” It was an odd contract to award US2, The Post reports: US2 “had just three employees and several small contracts for janitorial services and other work. It was based in a four-bedroom colonial, where the founder worked out of his living room.” With the Army contract, US2 needed help to complete the work:

With the Army’s knowledge, the firm subcontracted the majority of it to more established companies, a Washington Post investigation has found. Federal rules generally require prime contractors on set-aside deals to perform at least half of the work, something US2 did not do on more than $100 million worth of jobs, according to interviews with Army officials and an analysis of federal procurement data. In response to The Post’s findings, officials at the Department of the Interior, which managed the contract for the Army, said proper procedures were followed in the contract award. But they said in a statement that they have asked the department’s inspector general to investigate.

It’s not the first time Cape Fox has come under scrutiny this year. Alaska Dispatch reported in May that Cape Fox and two companies it owns — APM LLC and 1CI Inc. — were suing two of APM’s former CEOs and four of those men’s companies for $27 million in damages. Last fall, the Air Force expelled 20 contractors from its procurement list, citing an extensive scheme to exploit and deceive an award process designed to assist small and disadvantaged businesses — businesses which, if Native-owned, are given preferential treatment. Six of the companies named had direct ties to Cape Fox. The rest had ties to former APM chief executive Townsend Jackson, his brother Craig Jackson, and other family members.

Cape Fox and other Alaska Native corporations have been under fire for benefiting from a special federal contracting program. Many Native corporations have created subsidiaries that are involved in what are called 8(a) contracts with the federal government. For years, critics have claimed Native corporations have received unfair advantages compared to other small businesses and that the Small Business Administrations 8(a) program lacks oversight.

The program creates preferences for economically disadvantaged small businesses. Alaska Native companies enjoy the lion’s share — 74 percent — of federal 8(a) awards, according to a 2009 report by the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight. Native corporations can go after federal contracts without facing competition. They can also subcontract to larger companies that aren’t Native-owned but have the expertise to fulfill the contracts.

– Alaska Dispatch – Nov. 27, 2010

September 15, 2010 By cs

Army rebuilds acquisition workforce to meet Pentagon reforms

Army officials today said their efforts to rebuild the service’s acquisition workforce fall in line with new plans to cut spending and make the Defense Department run more efficiently.

“The efficiency initiatives, from our perspective, are only beneficial to us because they reinforce what we do as a profession,” said Edward Harrington, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for procurement. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ new tactics to cut overhead costs and reform defense acquisition strategies demand better business arrangements and contracts, as well as a skilled workforce.

Many of Gates’ plans, introduced Sept. 14, centered on DOD becoming a smarter buyer because a significant portion of DOD’s budget goes for contracts. From a $700 billion budget, DOD spends $400 billion on contracts and half of that is spent on services, not weapons, Ashton Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, said during a briefing with Gates on the new programs.

“I think it’s a recognition that we need additional personnel to handle these contracting matters and that we need a much improved and skilled workforce to do that,” said Jeff Parsons, executive director of the Army Contracting Command.

In a memo that described the details of the 23-point reform, Carter said “a capable, qualified and appropriately sized acquisition workforce” will be very important to saving money. While many defense office staffs are being cut, the acquisition workforce’s increases will continue.

During the discussion today, several Army contracting officials said the decision to downsize DOD in the 1990s wiped out a large portion of skilled and seasoned acquisition experts. Now the Army is rebuilding that workforce through internships and those wanting to make a mid-career move.

“We are attempting to reconstitute our technical skills that were lost,” said Kim Denver, director of the National Contracting Organization for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Harrington said the majority of those who left the acquisition workforce in the 1990s were mid- and senior-level contracting specialists.

“Our biggest challenge is to restore that real savvy, seasoned buyer,” Harrington said.

Despite the decrease, the acquisition workload has grown dramatically. Acquisition workers now handle five times more transactions than they did eight years ago, Harrington said.

“We have a tremendous challenge of balancing the workforce with the workload,” he said.

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– by Matthew Weigelt – Sept. 15, 2010 – About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is acquisition editor for Federal Computer Week.