acquisition planning | The Contracting Education Academy

November 4, 2019 By cs

Is Congress in the dark on supply chain risk?

Top senators on the Senate Homeland Security Committee have warned the Office of Management and Budget that IT professionals in Congress and the federal judiciary may not be getting all the supply chain risk information they need to secure their computer systems and networks as they make acquisitions.

The senators wrote to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney ″urging” the Federal Acquisition Security Council (FASC) to develop a strategic plan for sharing supply chain security information with Congress and the judiciary. The letter is signed by Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wisc.; Ranking Member Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

The FASC is responsible for increasing information sharing within the federal government regarding supply chain risk and creating guidelines and practices for risk management. The FASC distributes the intelligence community’s supply change risk management (SCRM) threat analysis to federal civilian agencies making acquisitions decisions. But the senators said that the information from FASC is not reaching the other two branches of government and supply chain solutions that work for executive agencies don’t necessarily work for the “whole of government.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fifthdomain.com/civilian/omb/2019/10/11/is-congress-in-the-dark-on-supply-chain-risk/

April 22, 2019 By AMK

FBI’s long-awaited $5 billion IT services recompete goes back to draft

The FBI is once again delaying release of the final solicitation for its central $5 billion IT services contract, prompted by more significant changes to the acquisition strategy and the historic government shutdown.

Not only that, but the contract is getting a new name and a new draft request for quotes, too.

The Information Technology Supplies and Support Services contract, also known as ITSSS or IT Triple-S, the FBI’s main IT contract, was set to expire in April. After extensive market research and debate, the bureau decided last year to go with a $5 billion, multitrack replacement contract to support needs across the agency.

In October, contracting officers shifted gears, opting to focus on pre-vetted contractors on the General Services Administration’s IT Schedule 70 rather than solicit through an open competition. The move was first in a trend last year, with the Air Force, Pentagon and Homeland Security Department all following suit.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/03/fbis-long-awaited-5-billion-it-services-recompete-goes-back-draft/155936/

April 3, 2019 By AMK

ATF rushed sole-source contracts without market research, watchdog finds

In its efforts to meet small business contracting goals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives neglected proper market research and record-keeping before awarding sole-source contracts, a watchdog found.

“Proper documentation is necessary to show that ATF safeguarded federal funds, furthered the purpose of small business programs, and complied with sole-source contracting authorities,” wrote the Justice Department inspector general in a report released on March 14th.

“ATF did not maintain complete contract files and could not demonstrate that it had conducted required market research before awarding several sole-source contracts,” auditors found in a review of 16 sole-source contracts totaling $56 million to nine small businesses in 2016-2017.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2019/03/atf-rushed-sole-source-contracts-without-market-research-watchdog-finds/155640/

April 2, 2019 By AMK

Why federal IT projects fail (and how to ensure success)

In any business, it’s not uncommon to have several projects taking place at the same time, forcing organizations and their employees to play a delicate balancing act. For federal agencies and contractors, it is even more critical to appropriately juggle their projects due to the missions they are supporting.

These numerous tasks, large and small, are essential to the federal government’s efforts in aligning with and working towards their missions. Federal agencies prioritize specific initiatives, allocating resources and talent to ensure their projects are successful and their goals are met. Much blood, sweat, tears and taxpayer money is put into these projects, and yet, one in three IT projects is canceled before it’s completed.

That seems like a stunning figure. How can this be true? What goes wrong along the way for a third of every project started to be cut back?

As it turns out, projects are often derailed from the beginning. In fact, the most common problem is the lack of immediate action to get these projects back on track, allowing problems to grow until they become too large and too far gone for project managers and their teams to resolve.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2019/03/why-federal-it-projects-fail-and-how-ensure-success/155435/

March 27, 2019 By AMK

DoD seeking comment on how ‘undefinitized contract actions’ are definitized

In the National Defense Authorization Acts for 2017 and 2018, Congress required the Department of Defense (DoD) to implement certain reforms for issuing and definitizing Undefinitized Contract Actions (UCAs).

After a long delay, DoD has issued a proposed rule and requested comments from industry.

UCAs are meant to be used when the Government has urgent needs that do not leave enough time for the parties to agree on all the terms, conditions, and pricing of a formal contract. In those circumstances, the parties can agree to a general framework that allows work to begin and payments to be made on a modified cost-reimbursement basis under a UCA, and the parties agree to definitize the contract in the near future – aspirationally, no later than 180 days after the UCA award date, or before 50 percent of the work is complete, whichever is earlier. (See: DFARS 217.7404-3)

The Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) currently allows the contracting officer to extend that date to 180 days after the date on which the contractor submits a “qualifying proposal” for definitization. In practice, as the GAO repeatedly has highlighted and as Congress has noted, poor acquisition planning has led to the unnecessary use of UCAs, and UCAs often are not definitized within the 180-day time set by regulation.

One particularly inequitable result of the delayed definitization of UCAs is its effect on profit. Because UCAs are cost-type agreements with the contractor bearing minimal cost risk, the DFARS provides guidance for acceptable profit rates when “a substantial portion of the required performance” is completed before definitization. If a contractor completes a large proportion of the work before the contract is belatedly definitized, an agency often will insist on a profit rate that is materially lower than it would have been if the agency had promptly definitized the contract.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=787536

The FBI is once again delaying release of the final solicitation for its central $5 billion IT services contract, prompted by more significant changes to the acquisition strategy and the historic government shutdown.

In its efforts to meet small business contracting goals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives neglected proper market research and record-keeping before awarding sole-source contracts, a watchdog found.

In the National Defense Authorization Acts for 2017 and 2018, Congress required the Department of Defense (DoD) to implement certain reforms for issuing and definitizing Undefinitized Contract Actions (UCAs).

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