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Bypassing procurement can introduce some unwanted visitors

The federal IT procurement safety net may be developing some holes.

Many federal developers are forgoing traditional software purchasing in favor of going directly to the source and downloading code from tens of millions of open source repositories and libraries. While this can certainly expedite innovation, it also has the potential to expose agencies to security risks if they’re not careful.

This backdoor approach to code procurement can let in some unwanted visitors through that door: unknown and dangerous vulnerabilities that may have gone undetected in the code. Without the checks and balances of procurement, how can they be sure that the code they are downloading does not contain some form of malware or another bad actor?  How can they stay agile while keeping their applications and networks safe?

A rigorous procurement process that takes into account security hygiene and quality assurance can help keep the bad stuff from getting into the system. Circumventing that process can create a couple of different challenges.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2018/12/bypassing-procurement-can-introduce-some-unwanted-visitors/153144/

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Congress passes too much acquisition legislation

In 1972, the Commission on Government Procurement wrote that Congress should limit its acquisition legislation to fundamental acquisition matters and let the Executive Branch implement Congress’s policy through specific acquisition regulation.

If Congress had listened, it would be passing less acquisition legislation and the FAR Councils would be performing their regulatory duty to implement Congress’s acquisition policies. Unfortunately, Congress didn’t listen.

Today, Congress doesn’t deal with fundamental acquisition matters, it deals with acquisition minutiae and details–especially when it comes to the Department of Defense (DoD). Someone thinks of an idea and before you know it it’s a legislative requirement. Apparently, no thought is too small for another bit of defense acquisition legislation. For the most part, Congress meddles in the acquisition process through the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. These committees propose acquisition legislation in their annual National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA) with much of it in Title VIII of the NDAAs. Title VIII is usually labeled: Acquisition Policy, Acquisition Management, and Related Matters.

In the past 17 NDAAs, Congress has passed nearly 900 sections of legislation.  What is worse, Congress is picking up its legislative pace and passing more legislation than ever.  Read about Congress’s junk legislation, zombie legislation, and just plain old excessive and incoherent legislation.  

Keep reading this article at: http://www.wifcon.com/analysis.htm

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In government contract management today, less is more

It has been a relatively quiet, yet tumultuous year.

Fiscal 2017 is over and done with, having begun full of anticipation for momentous changes in contracting policy, leadership, budget priorities and overall direction, but disappointingly ending in a relative status quo.

In many ways, acquisition has been on “pause” as the new administration’s perceived priorities and controversy took center stage. In fact, there is no significant administration-expressed public policy concerning acquisition. There have been side comments about the use of time-and-materials contracts and high-visibility program negotiations (such as the F-35 and Air Force One programs), but no new policy.

There have been no new procurement rules, either (excepting two at NASA), which is the longest time between a new administration taking office and publishing changes to procurement rules since the adoption of the FAR. Executive Order 13771 (Jan. 30, 2017) established the so-called “Two for One” rule, whereby for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations should be identified for elimination. While the ultimate effects of this policy have yet to be realized, agencies have thus far appeared to respond by simply not issuing any new acquisition-related regulations (meaning none have been cut, either).

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2017/11/27/in-government-contract-management-today-less-is-more-commentary/

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OTA contracts are the new cool thing in DoD acquisition

Other transaction authority (OTA) contracts seem to be the hip new thing in defense acquisition circles.

The Defense Department, the services and some of their components are all trying to jump on the OTA train as Congress continues to grant the military more authorities with the special contracts.

“This mechanism is just so much faster and so much more attuned to getting something quickly that we want today and not have to spend a couple years going through a protest, going through this huge process to get something we wanted two years ago,” Air Force Director of IT Acquisition Process Development Maj. Gen. Sarah Zabel said during an Oct. 19 speech at a Defense Daily event in Washington. “Everyone is very enthusiastic about OTAs. Still learning how to use them, still growing in the use, but they’re performing very well.”

For those unfamiliar, OTAs give DoD and the military services a work around for the traditional acquisition process. OTAs can take many forms, but are typically used to build prototypes of systems outside of the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition/2017/10/ota-contracts-are-the-new-cool-thing-in-dod-acquisition/

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IT modernization, procurement policy, and the GSA schedules: ‘To be or not to be’

On Aug. 30, the American Technology Council (ATC) issued for public comment its draft 36-point plan for federal IT modernization.  

The draft, “Report to the President on Federal IT Modernization,” sets forth a blueprint for IT modernization focusing on three broad implementation areas:

(1) Network modernization and consolidation;

(2) Shared services to enable future network architectures;

(3) Resourcing federal network IT modernization.

Layered cybersecurity capabilities, use of commercial cloud services, shared security services, and applications are among the key features to be addressed as part of the overall modernization strategy. Comments on the draft were due Sept. 20.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/commentary/2017/09/it-modernization-procurement-policy-and-the-gsa-schedules-to-be-or-not-to-be/

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