Advanced Technology | The Contracting Education Academy

August 17, 2018 By cs

Pentagon’s startup outreach office no longer an experiment

Diving into long-term relationships can be scary, but the Defense Department said it’s ready to go to commit to its startup outreach program.

Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), the office charged with bringing Silicon Valley tech to the Pentagon, will now be known as Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).

The name change reflects military leaders’ “commitment to the importance of its mission” and signifies the permanence of the group within the country’s defense apparatus, according to Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

“DIUx has generated meaningful outcomes for the department and is a proven, valuable asset,” Shanahan wrote in a memo to agency leaders. “Though DIU will continue to experiment with new ways of delivering capability to the warfighter, the organization itself is no longer an experiment.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/08/pentagons-startup-outreach-office-no-longer-experiment/150408/

June 26, 2018 By cs

How a contractor’s bid protest was a surprise boost for procurement innovation

Late last month, the Government Accountability Office overturned a $950 billion contract award to a small Virginia firm to provide cloud services for the Defense Department.

The deal was unusual not just for the extraordinarily high price tag, but for how it was handled. Instead of following traditional, competitive procurement rules, officials used something called a “production other transaction agreement” crafted by the Pentagon’s innovation outpost, the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx). This essentially allowed the department to make the award based on the success of a prototype developed by REAN Cloud, thus bypassing the government’s expensive and time-consuming traditional procurement process. It was a bold move, and to many observers, it offered a far more efficient way to purchase technology — where traditional procurements can take years to play out, OTAs can be conducted in a matter of months.

Not surprisingly, some traditional federal contractors weren’t happy. One of them, Oracle America, filed a protest with GAO, and the watchdog agreed with the company that the Pentagon’s use of other transaction authority was improper. GAO’s decision was a blow to many officials desperate to reform the government’s antiquated procurement practices.

But it shouldn’t be.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2018/06/how-contractors-bid-protest-was-surprise-boost-procurement-innovation/149151

May 31, 2018 By cs

USDS to certify new acquisition specialty

The U.S. Digital Service is adding a digital services contracting certification to create a cadre of “technology acquisition mavericks.”

After two pilot efforts , USDS, along with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, is launching a new certification program for digital services contracting for civilian agencies with an eye to reducing the cost and time it takes to procure digital services in government.

The idea for new program stemmed from a Challenge.gov winning submission, proposed by ICF International and ASI Government.

Government “didn’t teach how to buy digital services,” said Joanie Newhart, Associate Administrator for Acquisition Workforce Programs, Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2018/05/23/usds-new-specialty.aspx

See the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s memorandum May 18, 2018 on this subject at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/fac_c_digital_services_05_12_18.pdf

March 26, 2018 By cs

Riding the acquisition innovation avalanche

You know a transformation is afoot when the Navy chooses as its acquisition chief a man known as “Hondo,” who is famous for an Iron Man exoskeleton project and a “Thunderdrone” UAV tournament.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James “Hondo” Geurts is the father of SOFWERX, the U.S. Special Forces Command’s technology incubator, where the super suit and the drone coliseum are housed. SOFWERX is dedicated to fomenting creative collisions among divergent thinkers, and Geurts is the personification of the most expansive explosion of innovative in federal acquisition in a quarter century.

As Geurts often says, we are in the Age of Surprise. Timelines are shorter. The technology gap between the United States and its adversaries is disappearing.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2018/03/riding-acquisition-innovation-avalanche/146745/

February 5, 2018 By cs

DoD implements streamlining awards for innovative technology projects

On January 9, 2018, Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued Class Deviation 2018-O0009, designed to reduce barriers to entry for innovative entities through streamlining the awards process for research and development contracts.

This Class Deviation allows for the use of simplified acquisition procedures and excuses certain procurement obligations when DoD awards contracts and subcontracts valued at less than $7.5 million to “nontraditional defense contractors” or small businesses. The Class Deviation implements Section 873 of the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for FY 2016, Pub. L. 114-92, as amended by Section 896 of the NDAA for FY 2017 (Pub. L. 114-328).

The Class Deviation, titled “Pilot Program for Streamlining Awards for Innovative Technology,” expands exceptions to certified cost or pricing data requirements under FAR 15.403-1(b) to include contracts or subcontracts valued at less than $7.5 million awarded to small businesses or nontraditional defense contractors. The exceptions apply to awards pursuant to: 1) a broad agency announcement for the acquisition of basic or applied research (see FAR 35.016(b)(2)); 2) the Small Business Innovation Research (“SBIR”) Program; and 3) the Small Business Technology Transfer (“SBTT”) Program. Nontraditional defense contractors and small businesses awarded contracts or subcontracts valued at less than $7.5 million pursuant to a broad agency announcement under FAR 35.106 or the SBIR Program are also exempted from requirements for audits and records examination under FAR 52.215-2. The exceptions expire on October 1, 2020.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2018/01/dod-implements-streamlining-awards-for-innovative-technology-projects/

Diving into long-term relationships can be scary, but the Defense Department said it’s ready to go to commit to its startup outreach program.

Late last month, the Government Accountability Office overturned a $950 billion contract award to a small Virginia firm to provide cloud services for the Defense Department.

The U.S. Digital Service is adding a digital services contracting certification to create a cadre of “technology acquisition mavericks.”

You know a transformation is afoot when the Navy chooses as its acquisition chief a man known as “Hondo,” who is famous for an Iron Man exoskeleton project and a “Thunderdrone” UAV tournament.

On January 9, 2018, Department of Defense (“DoD”) issued Class Deviation 2018-O0009, designed to reduce barriers to entry for innovative entities through streamlining the awards process for research and development contracts.

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