acquisition management | The Contracting Education Academy

January 28, 2019 By AMK

DARPA looks to procurement bots

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for a few good bots to help with procurement.

In a request for information posted Jan. 23, DARPA said it wants information on off-the-shelf options for robotic and intelligent process automation tools that can increase efficiency and expand its ability to manage routine administrative tasks such as proposal evaluation, market research, cost and price analysis and documentation related to price negotiations.

DARPA is also considering integrating robotic process automation into Defense Department IT systems, including the System for Award Management, Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System and the Standard Performance System/Procurement Desktop-Defense. Respondents are asked to provide available information on the software’s security and any interoperability limitations it might have with existing government systems.

Keep reading this article at: https://gcn.com/articles/2019/01/24/darpa-rpa.aspx

January 18, 2019 By AMK

Procurement director recommends regularly talking-up department’s accomplishments

Rockland County in suburban New York City has seen a big improvement in its fiscal health. Budgets in the county (2017 population: 328,868) have been quite tight.

“When I took office, the Comptroller’s Office listed Rockland as the most fiscally stressed county in the state. But in September, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released the 2017 Fiscal Stress Monitoring System report which showed Rockland County as now having ‘Moderate Stress,’ an incredible turn around,” says Rockland County Executive Ed Day.

The proposed 2019 Rockland County budget, which outlines $709,050,000 in planned spending, has been cut to the bone. County fiscal planners had to cut departmental budgets to deal with a $13 million budget gap. Costlier health insurance premiums, increased pay in labor contracts, higher interest payments on county bonds, increased spending to rebuild the county’s infrastructure and higher costs to pay for state-mandated programs helped contribute to the shortfall.

“We are seeing 2019 county operational budgets relatively flat. There are concerns regarding sales tax revenue, due to the tariffs and how they may affect pricing and consumer confidence,” Rockland County Director of Purchasing Paul Brennan tells Coop Solutions. Brennan is both a Certified Public Procurement Officer and a Fellow of the NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.americancityandcounty.com/2018/12/12/new-york-procurement-departments-staff-grows-despite-county-budget-cuts/

July 23, 2018 By AMK

The new structure for the Pentagon’s tech and acquisition offices

Pentagon leaders, already worried about the emerging technologies that will shape the next generation of war, have reorganized their leadership structure to emphasize quantum science, artificial intelligence and directed energy, Defense News has learned.

The new effort is a major restructuring for the two Pentagon offices that determine how the Department of Defense buys and develops weapon systems. Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan approved the changes in a July 13 memo, obtained by Defense News.

The 17-page document lays out the organizational charts for the offices of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, as well their responsibilities. The two offices were created Feb. 1, when Congress required the former Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) office to be divided. A potential organization chart was published in August, but the new document features significant changes, particularly on the R&E side.

**The chart above shows the organization of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. (click on image to enlarge)**

**The chart above shows the proposed organization of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Evaluation. (click to enlarge)**

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2018/07/17/revealed-the-new-structure-for-the-pentagons-tech-and-acquisition-offices

April 30, 2018 By AMK

Military seeks faster cyber acquisition turnaround

The U.S. military is employing a mixture of procurement contracts and innovative practices to speed up the acquisition of defensive and offensive cyber technology as the volume and intensity of cyber attacks and threats against government agencies — both civilian and Defense — continues to rise.

Cyberspace is a warfighting domain that is critical to ensuring the military’s capability to operate going forward. The concept of operations for defensive cyber is complex because capabilities are dispersed across the battlespace and must continually adapt to evolving threats. The capabilities must protect data, networks and net-centric operations as well as be interoperable with other IT and software-dependent systems, according to Lt. Col. Scott Helmore, director of the Army Defensive Cyber Operations office (DCO).

Traditional requirements, funding, development, production and fielding of capabilities usually span years. However, technology is advancing so rapidly, and cyber threats are becoming so much more sophisticated, that cyber weapons and tools can become obsolete within months after deployment. As a result, Army DCO is looking to reduce the acquisition process to 30 days.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/cyber-exposure/2018/04/military-seeks-faster-cyber-acquisition-turnaround/

February 23, 2018 By AMK

VA secretary on $10 billion health records contract: ‘We have to get this one right’

Embroiled in allegations that taxpayers improperly paid for his wife’s travels, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin promised to Congress that the agency responsible for caring for more than 9 million veterans would be better stewards of taxpayer dollars.

Shulkin, testifying before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs Thursday, told lawmakers he would follow recommendations made by the VA inspector general and personally reimburse the Treasury for several thousand dollars’ worth of expenses accumulated by his wife, who accompanied him on a trip to Europe last year.

Shulkin had been slated to appear before the House committee before the IG report went public to provide insight regarding President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal, which seeks $198 billion for the department. That budget, however, includes a reduction of 27 full-time positions within the department’s office of inspector general, “leaving OIG far short of their desired staffing level,” said Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minnesota.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/02/va-secretary-10b-health-records-contract-we-have-get-one-right/146026/

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for a few good bots to help with procurement.

Rockland County in suburban New York City has seen a big improvement in its fiscal health. Budgets in the county (2017 population: 328,868) have been quite tight.

Pentagon leaders, already worried about the emerging technologies that will shape the next generation of war, have reorganized their leadership structure to emphasize quantum science, artificial intelligence and directed energy, Defense News has learned.

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