commercial item | The Contracting Education Academy

February 11, 2021 By cs

A reminder of the key provisions of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act

Each year, Congress presents us in Title VIII of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) a potpourri of procurement reforms, changes, and additions.

Some are effective immediately, while some are bound for rulemaking and regulation and surface years from enactment.

Some require analyses, reports, and studies which have no immediate impact but provide a roadmap that can and should be used by government contractors in their business planning.

Finally, some provisions of the NDAAs just wither away and have no impact whatsoever.

Nineteen days before the Trump Administration ended, the U.S. Senate followed the U.S. House of Representatives in overriding the President’s veto of the William (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (H.R. 6395) (FY2021 NDAA), making it law on January 1, 2021. As for its Title VIII, the FY2021 NDAA is no different from its predecessors in its procurement potpourri.

Here’s a tour of key provisions you oughta know.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/here-to-remind-you-of-the-key-2306320/

December 11, 2020 By cs

Proposed rule will revise the FAR definition of ‘commercial item’

The FAR Council has issued a Proposed Rule implementing amendments to the current FAR definition of “commercial item.”

The Proposed Rule will eliminate the current FAR definition of “commercial item” and replace it with separate definitions for “commercial products” and “commercial services. The proposed definitions are designed to benefit both contractors and the acquisition workforce by simplifying the application of the “commercial” concept and providing greater clarity on the scope of each term.

Comments on the Proposed Rule must be submitted no later than December 14, 2020.

As a matter of background, the Proposed Rule implements both Section 836 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 and a recommendation from the Section 809 Panel.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/government-contracts-procurement-ppp/1000792/clarity-sweet-clarityproposed-rule-will-revise-the-far-definition-of-commercial-item

September 10, 2020 By cs

CMMC auditors about to wrap up training

Highly anticipated audits related to the Pentagon’s new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification process are inching closer, with auditors assigned to evaluate companies expected to complete their training by the end of September, according to the official spearheading the initiative.

Industry has been waiting with bated breath for the audits as part of CMMC implementation, which is meant to protect defense industrial base networks and controlled unclassified information from cyberattacks. Contractors will be required to meet different levels of security — Level 1 being the lightest and Level 5 the most stringent — depending on the type of work they are performing. The new rules will require contractors to be certified by third-party auditors to ensure that companies are adhering to certain standards.

Katie Arrington, chief information security officer in the office of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and the Defense Department’s point person on CMMC, said training for the first batch of auditors began Aug. 31.

“We’ll be starting to get some provisional assessors out into the marketplace very soon,” she said Sept. 2 during the Department of the Navy Gold Coast Small Business Procurement Event. The webinar was hosted by the San Diego Chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association. “Within a couple of weeks, we should have some capability out in the environment.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/9/2/cmmc-auditors-about-to-wrap-up-training

August 14, 2020 By cs

Changes to the CMMC Advisory Board as Congress turns up scrutiny of cyber standards

Less than two months after the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) advisory board became official, there’s already changes afoot.

Two original members of the advisory board have recently left. John Weiler, CEO of the IT Acquisition Advisory Committee (IT-ACC), and Jim Goepel, the CEO and general counsel for Fathom Cyber LLC, are no longer listed on the main board of directors section.

Goepel left for personal reasons, while Weiler decided to work with the CMMC AB in a new way.

The change comes as the Senate and House armed services committee members turn up the heat on the CMMC by adding nine provisions — six from the Senate — in the fiscal 2021 Defense authorization bill.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/08/changes-to-the-cmmc-advisory-board-as-congress-turns-up-scrutiny-of-cyber-standards/

August 7, 2020 By cs

Frictionless acquisition means changing hearts and minds, not necessarily processes

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s new cross-agency priority goal isn’t about changing the acquisition rules or processes.

Instead, the goal of frictionless acquisition is about how contracting officers, program managers, industry and so many others view what it takes to buy a product or service.

Michael Wooten, the administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said frictionless acquisition is part of his plan to reduce complexity through leadership.

“We are really focused on reducing the time between when a person conjures up a need and when they get what they want,” Wooten said in an exclusive interview with Federal News Network. “We think the opportunities for friction are significant because of the scale and scope of the federal acquisition system, the complexity of our requirements can be mind boggling when you look at some of the systems under development, whether it’s the Defense or Energy departments or whomever, and then the myriad systems and processes that support this.”

As a result of this friction, Wooten said agencies, contractors and taxpayers are feeling the brunt through increased costs, increased time to market and decreased value.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/acquisition-policy/2020/07/frictionless-acquisition-means-changing-hearts-and-minds-not-necessarily-processes/

Each year, Congress presents us in Title VIII of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) a potpourri of procurement reforms, changes, and additions.

The FAR Council has issued a Proposed Rule implementing amendments to the current FAR definition of “commercial item.”

Highly anticipated audits related to the Pentagon’s new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification process are inching closer, with auditors assigned to evaluate companies expected to complete their training by the end of September, according to the official spearheading the initiative.

Less than two months after the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) advisory board became official, there’s already changes afoot.

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s new cross-agency priority goal isn’t about changing the acquisition rules or processes.

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