Commerce Dept. | The Contracting Education Academy

July 9, 2015 By AMK

Commerce Dept. not accurately reporting contracting data to FPDS-NG database

The Commerce Department isn’t accurately reporting contracting data to the federal government’s main procurement database, says a recent Commerce inspector general report.

The IG originally initiated the investigation to determine whether contracting officials effectively managed undefinitized actions, or a contract for which the terms, specifications or price are not agreed upon before the work is started. Undefinitized actions are only meant to be used to meet an urgent requirement, the report says.

But because NOAA and NIST incorrectly coded some of their contract actions as undefinitized in the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation, or FPDS-NG, the IG redirected the investigation to see how much of the reported data is accurate.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/ig-commerce-not-accurately-reporting-contracting-data-fpds-ng-database/2015-06-25

April 30, 2015 By AMK

Commerce’s innovation exec seeks to hire entrepreneurs

The chief of innovation in the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration wants to bring more entrepreneurs into government, perhaps as two-year fellows, she said on Wednesday.

“There is lots of entrepreneurial thinking in government—it’s surprising,” Julie Lenzer Kirk, director of Commerce’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, told small business owners at a conference of the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council. But she added that when she ran the state of Maryland’s Center for Entrepreneurship, “I would tell business people, ‘You’re my tribe.’ When I got to government, I’m still trying to fit into the tribe.”

The EDA’s role, Kirk said in a pep talk to small business contractors titled “It Takes a Village,” is not direct investment like the Small Business Administration, but helping build capacity through partnerships, grants, and tools that bring people together. “Making sure state and local officials understand that small businesses are the job creators is essential,” she added. It’s “connecting the dots” on a regional basis because “what works in Detroit is not what is needed in Atlanta.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/04/commerces-innovation-exec-seeks-hire-entrepreneurs/110965

March 12, 2015 By AMK

Government spent less on contracts in 2014 than it did the previous year

Federal spending on government contracts decreased in 2014, with the Defense Department seeing the biggest overall decline, according to a March 3 report from Govini, a business consulting company for government contractors.

Govini, each year, releases a federal scorecard that tallies and analyzes data on federal contract spending and agency performance.

The scorecard, which was released to reporters, shows that overall contract spending from the federal government was down 4 percent in 2014 compared to 2013.

The DoD saw the greatest overall decrease in dollars spent, with a nearly $9 billion year-over-year decrease in both the Navy and Army.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/report-government-spent-less-contracts-2014-it-did-previous-year/2015-03-05

January 13, 2015 By AMK

GAO forbids funding for disposable flatware

Federal agencies cannot use department funds to buy disposable flatware for employee use, as those items don’t directly support an agency’s mission,according to a recent decision from the Government Accountability Office.

The Department of Commerce instituted a policy in 2009 to provide disposable cups, plates and utensils, along with hand sanitizer and disinfectants to employees at the National Weather Service offices in response to concerns over an outbreak of the H1N1 virus, colloquially called “swine flu.”

In 2013, Commerce announced that it would no longer provide disposable flatware to the regional offices, stating that the “purchase was for the primary benefit of the employees” and not the agency’s mission.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/management/agency/2014/12/29/gao-disposable-utensils/21014951/

November 7, 2014 By AMK

Cloud service contracts lack needed clauses, security standards not met

A review of cloud computing services in the Commerce Department found missing clauses in contractors’ agreements to permit reviews of their facilities and operations, as well as lack of compliance with federal security standards.

In examining a sample of cloud service contracts from three bureaus, the department’s inspector general found that four did not contain a specific Commerce Department clause that would allow its investigators access to the provider’s facilities, installations, operations, documentation, databases and personnel that would be used to perform such services. As a result, the IG would not be able to conduct inspections, investigations, audits and other reviews.

Additionally, one contract did not contain a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clause that would permit the agency access to a service provider’s installations, documentation, records and databases, which is needed to make sure that government data remains secure and confidential, according to an IG memo dated Oct. 14, 2014.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/commerce-ig-cloud-service-contracts-lack-needed-clauses-security-standards/2014-10-20

The Commerce Department isn’t accurately reporting contracting data to the federal government’s main procurement database, says a recent Commerce inspector general report.

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