Buying Smarter | The Contracting Education Academy

February 27, 2014 By AMK

5 tips for hiring federal contractors

The process of hiring a government consultant/contractor isn’t easy, and most federal leaders and managers have to do it at some point in their career. Maybe they can’t get hiring authority to bring in new people. Maybe they need to jump start a new project or program with skills that aren’t available inside their office or agency. It’s a big decision, and many managers, especially those doing it for the first time, are uncertain about how to move forward.

Here are five tips to help make federal leaders more educated buyers:

1. Take some time to think about the problem and put aside the solution for a bit.

2. Talk to a few different trusted companies.

3. Understand procurement vehicles.

4. Pay attention to the evaluation criteria and personnel qualifications.

5. Keep another company in the wings.

See the details associated with each of these five tips and read the complete article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2014/02/5-tips-hiring-federal-contractors/78884

January 21, 2014 By AMK

Jordan exits OFPP knowing progress toward buying smarter is real

Joe Jordan, the outgoing administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), said agencies have only scratched the surface of the administration’s campaign to buy smarter.

Jordan, whose last day at OFPP was Friday, January 17, 2014, said savings from strategic sourcing are up, there’s more competition among vendors than in previous years, and he expects overall federal procurement spending to go down once again when the final fiscal 2013 numbers come in next month.

“You’ve seen the largest two-year decrease in contract spending in history. The President has long said we need to reign in contract spending, and I’ve said we have to buy smarter,” Jordan said in an exclusive interview with Federal News Radio. “I think you see some clear evidence we’ve been able to do that, and not just because the topline went down. A lot of that is due to smarter buying techniques and some of that is due to budgetary issues.”

He pointed to several areas, including a larger number of agencies buying more strategically, cutting management support service contracts, increasing contracts to small businesses and ensuring there is real competition for procurements.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/517/3544369/Jordan-exits-OFPP-knowing-progress-toward-buying-smarter-is-real-

November 14, 2012 By AMK

GSA plans new governmentwide software contracts

The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to create a slate of new blanket purchase agreements with large commercial software publishers to be used governmentwide, according to solicitation documents issued Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012.

The new contracts will allow agencies to use software from a collection of large publishers based on standard rates negotiated by GSA rather than negotiating purchases themselves.

Officials from GSA’s SmartBUY program and a cadre of software advisers from across the government are seeking input from major publishers as they put the BPAs together, the sources sought document said.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cloud-computing/2012/11/gsa-plans-new-governmentwide-software-contracts/59418/?oref=ng-channeltopstory.

October 25, 2012 By AMK

OFPP memo on CAOs addresses weaknesses

Joe Jordan, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, issued a memo Oct. 18 to clarify roles of the chief acquisition officer, but an expert said that it offers little new.

Jordan issued the memo as a follow-up to a Government Accountability Office report from July. GAO found many departments do not have documents defining the CAO’s duties. As a result they may lack a strong basis for more permanently including the CAO within their organizational leadership structure, GAO concluded. In addition, the amount of detail on an agency’s CAO’s authorities and responsibilities varies greatly based on the agency’s Federal Acquisition Regulation supplement and other policy documentation.

Keep reading this article at: http://fcw.com/articles/2012/10/22/jordan-cao-memo.aspx

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