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Patience you must have: No timeline for massive cloud contract, says DoD chief

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said he has no “firm timeline in mind” for completing a review of the Pentagon’s controversial enterprise cloud procurement and hinted that other factors may delay the program.

Speaking to reporters Sept. 5, Esper said the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General’s review of the Pentagon’s handling of the procurement, potentially worth $10 billion over 10 years, also hinders the future of the program.

“I saw where another DoD IG is doing another review. So in some ways, the timeline isn’t completely mine,” Esper told reporters Sept. 5.

Legislators, including Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, have written letters to Esper asking for the award to be delayed until after the inspector general had completed its review. In early August, after pressure from Congress and reported criticism of the program by President Donald Trump, Esper announced he was going to review the contract. At the time, Pentagon spokesperson Elissa Smith said “no decision will be made on the program until he has completed his examination.”

However, Esper emphasized that the Pentagon needed cloud technology to develop better artificial intelligence capabilities, but did not specifically say that JEDI was the solution.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/it-networks/cloud/2019/09/06/patience-you-must-have-no-timeline-for-massive-cloud-contract-says-dod-chief

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We’ve admired the federal acquisition problem for too long

Agencies must inculcate cultures of experimentation and learning if the U.S. is to prevail economically and militarily.

On a recent trip to Tampa, I asked a consultant on my team supporting U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Acquisition Technology & Logistics what accounts for the Command’s acquisition success. “It’s a mindset thing,” she replied.

Later that day, as I continued my visit to SOCOM’s contracting activity, I happened upon the essentials of that mindset. They were captured in an inscription painted on the wall in a heavily traveled hallway. It said:

“We never stop …
We never stop learning …
We never stop iterating …
We never stop experimenting …”

That mindset at SOCOM drives a culture born and sustained from the intensity of the mission and the close relationships, in proximity and bond of purpose, between special operators and the acquirers who support them. The tooth and the tail meld. The mindset is shared by all members of the team. It is expected of everyone. It pushes teams to find the best solutions at the speed of relevance.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/07/viewpoint-weve-admired-federal-acquisition-problem-too-long/158719/

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Shoddy contracting practices lead to overbilling at EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency is overpaying contractors due to poor contract management controls, according to an audit released Monday by the agency’s office of inspector general.

The audit—conducted from March 2018 to February 2019—examined 11 of 64 total invoices made through a single task order on a $100 million IT contract awarded in 2011 to SRA International following a response to an anonymous hotline complaint about invoices and payments. According to the audit’s “limited review,” all 11 invoices EPA IG tested within the task order “did not comply with contract requirements,” leading to an overbilling of more than $5,100 paid to the contractor.

“Our limited review noted $5,158.29 for an unallowable fixed fee billed and paid by the EPA,” the audit states. “However, without adequate review of all invoices submitted under [the task order], the EPA does not know whether there are further unallowable costs that it has paid for under the task order.”

The IG cites various reasons issues occurred, including staffing problems, high turnover, poor contract file management disorganization and inadequate oversight.

Keep reading article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/05/shoddy-contracting-practices-lead-overbilling-epa/157143/

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OFPP issues 4th ‘myth-busting’ memo

The purpose of this memorandum is to improve awareness of vendor engagement strategies that Federal procurement thought leaders are using to create a more responsive buying process, modernize the acquisition culture, and deliver greater value to the taxpayer.

The memorandum also asks each Chief Financial Officers Act (CFO Act) agency to ensure it has designated an industry liaison to work with the agency’s Acquisition Innovation Advocate (AIA), the Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), and other key acquisition personnel to promote modern vendor communication practices and counter misconceptions that drive today’s risk aversion culture.

The President’s Management Agenda challenges agencies to deliver 21st century services by modernizing information technology, increasing transparency and accountability, and building a modem workforce. 1 To keep up with the rapidly accelerating pace of technological change, a number of agencies have sought better ways to communicate with industry so they can better understand the commercial marketplace, attract new contractors, and encourage current partners to use new processes and develop, test, and offer more modern solutions. Despite this progress, the pace of adoption has been limited relative to the total volume of activity that potentially could benefit from these efforts; only a fraction of our transactions are using these new ways of doing business. For this reason, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) is taking two steps to improve awareness of these modem communication practices.

First, OFPP is using its long-standing “myth-busting” campaign to spotlight how front line acquisition officials and managers have been challenging entrenched ideas about engagement between the public and private sectors. Attachment I highlights ten misconceptions related to innovative practices and showcases successful agency efforts. As additional myths are identified and new practices evolve, new examples will be posted on the Innovation Hub2 of the Acquisition Gateway to foster dynamic conversations among the acquisition workforce.

Keep reading memo at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/SIGNED-Myth-Busting-4-Strenthening-Engagement-with-Industry-Partners-through-Innovative-Business-Practices.pdf

 

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The Pentagon’s software buying has been outdated since 1987

The Defense Innovation Board warned that the Defense Department’s age-old approach to software procurement and development could dull the military’s technological edge.

“A large amount of DOD’s software takes too long, costs too much, and is too brittle to be competitive in the long run,” the board said in the study’s executive summary of its Software Acquisition and Practices report. “If DOD does not take steps to modernize its software acquisition and development practices, we will no longer have the best military in the world, no matter how much we invest or how talented and dedicated our armed forces may be.”

The SWAP study was mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act in fiscal 2018. It examines how the agency procures and advances software and offers recommendations on how it could do so more efficiently.

“This particular assessment, from over 30 years ago, referenced over 30 previous studies and is largely aligned with the assessments of more recent studies, including this one.”

Keep reading article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/05/pentagons-software-buying-has-been-outdated-1987/156782/

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