Collaboration | The Contracting Education Academy

July 14, 2017 By cs

How to improve DoD industry collaboration

For the past several years, the government has directed that innovation be made a key ingredient of acquisition. Industry has embraced this idea, and it has become a standard practice.

Many Department of Defense (DoD) suppliers have stood up innovation cells within their organization, whereas others have claimed that their entire organization is the innovation cell.

So what other practices can we embrace in order to improve acquisition? What should we be doing more of in order to develop and deliver quality products, on time, at an affordable price? One thing we can do is ensure we maximize collaboration between all stakeholders when developing new requirements, designing new products, or resolving issues on existing programs.

Keep reading this article from the July-August 2017 edition of Defense AT&L magazine at: https://www.dau.mil/library/defense-atl/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/library/defense-atl/DATLFiles/July-August_2017/Ogden.pdf

February 21, 2017 By cs

After the award: How to make contracts deliver

In this article, the authors point out that collaboration, communication and trust characterize the best post-contract relationships.

Recently, the Professional Services Council’s Outcomes-Oriented Acquisition Working Group Chair Tim Cooke joined with me, IBM Center for the Business of Government Executive Director Dan Chenok, and the National Academy of Public Administration to convene a roundtable on post-award contract performance. It was the second on this subject (see here for a summary of first roundtable), and the first to include industry program managers.

As in the first session, senior agency procurement officials and contracting officer’s representatives (CORs) also participated. We are grateful to all who joined in this non-attribution session; their observations are insightful, as are their recommendations for the contracting, IT, and program management communities.

Our first roundtable focused on CORs and their role serving as the eyes and ears for program customers and contracting officers on post-award contract performance. This second gathering focused on the post-award relationship between the government and contractors.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2017/02/kelman-post-award-roundtable.aspx

March 14, 2016 By cs

White House would curb contracting waste with innovation labs

The Obama administration is rolling out a new weapon in the perennial battle against contract cost overruns and agencies taking delivery of instantly obsolete software.

Acquisition Innovation Labs, as announced last Wednesday by U.S. Chief Acquisition Officer Anne Rung, will “provide a pathway to test and implement more innovative approaches to acquisitions, with a strong emphasis on improving IT investments.”

Under the plan, each agency will appoint acquisition innovation advocates (AIAs) to promote testing of new ideas and better ways of executing existing practices in their agencies through managed risk-taking. Agencies will set up innovation labs “to promote meaningful collaboration through an integrated product team,” Rung said, and will participate in a new AIA Council to maximize collaboration across the government as well as share best practices and lessons learned.

Keep reading this article at: http://m.govexec.com/contracting/2016/03/white-house-would-curb-contracting-waste-innovation-labs/126578

February 16, 2016 By cs

No agility without stability in acquisition reform

In early January, the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing to gather suggestions for reducing acquisition cycle times through experimentation and prototyping.

Their hopes for increasing agility were delivered in testimony from three armed-forces acquisition leaders: Lt. Gen. Michael E. Williamson, Army Director for Acquisition Career Management; Mr. Sean J. Stackley, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development & Acquisition; Mr. Richard Lombardi, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.

The embrace of prototyping is a smart move and echoes other approaches to increase agility by the federal government, the private sector and other public sector organizations. Innovators such as Google have adopted and adapted prototyping to their innovation efforts to increase success of project and program outcomes in a process Google calls “pretotyping” which is now appearing in many industries globally.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/management/blog/2016/02/03/no-agility-without-stability-acquisition-reform/79761480/

January 29, 2016 By cs

4 collaboration tips for government teams

A recent survey of 200 North American business professionals who manage or participate in projects found that people waste nine weeks per year to poor project collaboration.

The irony is that the sheer number of online tools to help with collaboration, such as applications, social media and intranets, often hinders teams instead of helping them.

In fact, the study revealed that the average team member uses about five different tools to manage projects. One-third of respondents also said no one in their organization uses the same tools.

It’s no wonder teams are finding it difficult to get on the same page.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/technology-news/tech-insider/2016/01/beyond-email-4-collaboration-tips-government-teams/125099

For the past several years, the government has directed that innovation be made a key ingredient of acquisition. Industry has embraced this idea, and it has become a standard practice.

In this article, the authors point out that collaboration, communication and trust characterize the best post-contract relationships.

The Obama administration is rolling out a new weapon in the perennial battle against contract cost overruns and agencies taking delivery of instantly obsolete software.

In early January, the House Armed Services Committee held a hearing to gather suggestions for reducing acquisition cycle times through experimentation and prototyping.

A recent survey of 200 North American business professionals who manage or participate in projects found that people waste nine weeks per year to poor project collaboration.

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