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April 15, 2016 By cs

How to design contracts that deliver results

The “pay for success” movement in the non-profit world is starting to take hold at the federal, state, and local levels. But a prerequisite is having some way of measuring success — and ensuring that funding models encourage it.
IBM's Center for the Business of Government has issued a report featuring  State of Tennessee today has one of the nation’s best performance-contracting systems for its child welfare program.
IBM’s Center for the Business of Government has issued a report featuring the State of Tennessee’s performance-contracting system for its child welfare program, one of the nation’s best.

The Urban Institute has launched a new web resource to explain various forms of performance-based contracting aimed at delivering targeted, high-impact preventative social services where an intervention at an early stage could reduce the need for higher-cost services in the future.

Pay for success funding systems can take many different forms and already operate in different policy arenas. “They include value-based payments to hospitals and nursing homes, performance-based contracts with workforce providers, merit-based pay in schools, and performance-based payments to colleges and universities,” according to Patrick Lester, director of the Social Innovation Research Center at the IBM Center for the Business of Government. These involve many billions of dollars in annual public funding.

Two of the most prominent of these outcome-based funding systems are social impact bonds and performance-based contracting. A new IBM Center report by Lester offers a guide to understanding and selecting the best approach—through performance-based contracting or social impact bonds—depending on the situation at hand.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2016/04/how-design-contracts-deliver-results/127250

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: cost benefit, pay for success, performance, performance based acquisition, social impact bonds, Urban Institute

March 11, 2016 By cs

Talking with a procurement icon about post-award contract management

Deidre (Dee) Lee entered the government in 1978 as a GS-4 contract specialist buying supplies at the U.S. military base in Okinawa.

post awardFrom there she rose up through the ranks, moving to NASA Johnson Space Center in 1984 and becoming the senior procurement official at NASA in 1992 (where I got to know her during my time as Office of Federal Procurement Policy administrator).

In 1997 she succeeded me as administrator (she was my choice for the job, and I was happy to see this go to a career civil servant), and from there she went back to the Defense Department in 2000. Dee also worked at the General Services Administration, and ultimately retired from the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2008.

During her government career, she twice won a Fed 100 award, in 1998 and 2004. Six years ago she went to work for Fluor as chief for government group compliance and operations, a job from which she retired last year. Dee is now working as an independent consultant focusing on government contracting issues.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2016/02/kelman-deidre-lee.aspx

 

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition workforce, best practices, CO, contracting officer, contractor performance, COR, performance, post-award, program management

September 3, 2015 By cs

How to manage for results

The federal government has been moving a long time toward a more results-oriented, performance-based mission approach—developing a strategic plan, setting clear objectives, defining necessary resources, precisely assessing progress, and accurate results measurement.

NCMA logoThe goal has been establishing a clear connection between agency priorities, strategic goals, and operational plans. The Office of Management and Budget, over several administrations, has led various management initiatives while developing all manner of guidance, tools, and resources for governmental use in reaching these goals. The President’s Management Agenda is built on four pillars:

  • Effective delivery of world-class service;
  • Efficiency-enhancing productivity and cost savings;
  • Economic growth–opening data and research that spurs innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth; and
  • Unlocking the full potential of the federal workforce.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/acquisition/blog/2015/08/17/how-manage-results/31863413/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: leadership, OFPP, OMP, performance, performance based acquisition, project management

March 24, 2015 By cs

OFPP initiates 360-degree reviews of the acquisition process

Vendors now can really tell agencies how they feel about their acquisition processes and procedures.

The guidelines for Acquisition 360, a Yelp-like approach to rating the acquisition process, arrived last Wednesday from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Administrator Anne Rung. The nine-page memo details how agencies should seek customer feedback from contractors and internal stakeholders on how well the contracting process went for specific procurements.

“This effort is not intended to be used to rate individual contracting officers, program managers, or integrated project teams (IPTs), or to compare procuring offices generally, as the complexity of procurements varies greatly among agencies, and unexpected challenges can arise,” Rung wrote in the memo. “However, these tools are meant to help agencies identify strengths and weaknesses with industry partnerships so they can make internal improvements on the planning and making of contract awards.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/517/3821690/OFPP-initiates-360-degree-reviews-of-the-acquisition-process

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: Acquisition 360, acquisition reform, acquisition workforce, GSA Schedules, GWAC, integrated product team, IPT, mythbusting, OFPP, performance

March 23, 2015 By cs

AT&L chief provides guidance on appropriate use of LPTA source selection

The Department of Defense (DoD) Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) Frank Kendall distributed a memorandum to his department’s acquisition professionals on March 4, 2015, providing guidance on when to use lowest-price technically-acceptable (LPTA) contracts.

Notably, the guidance also speaks about how to apply LPTA competitions to acquisitions for professional services.

Kendall’s memo says that DoD should not use LPTA if it is willing to pay more for superior performance.

The memorandum is comprehensive in that it speaks to the types of contracts that DoD may use in LPTA procurements, including fixed-price, time and materials, and cost-plus fixed-fee contracts.

“LPTA is the appropriate source selection process to apply,” Kendall states, “only when there are well-defined requirements, the risk of unsuccessful performance is minimal, price is a significant factor in the selection, and there is neither value, need, nor willingness to pay for higher performance.”  Kendall continues: “LPTA has a clear, but limited place in the source selection ‘best value’ continuum.”

Read the full AT&L memorandum at: https://www.pubklaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/LPTA-memo.pdf

 

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: AT&L, best value, contractor performance, DoD, lowesr price technically acceptable, LPTA, performance, source selection

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