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GAO says FEMA needs to use and manage advance contracts more effectively

Following 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Congress required FEMA to establish contracts for goods and services in advance to enable quick and effective mobilization of resources in the aftermath of a disaster.

As a result, the Federal Emergency Management Office (FEMA) and the Army Corps of Engineers used “advance contracts” for $4.5 billion in goods and services after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, and the California fires of 2017.

But in new audit report just released, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that FEMA’s guidance on the use of these types of contracts is unclear, and that inconsistent information from FEMA could impair its efforts to help state and local governments use advance contracts.

GAO found limitations in FEMA’s use of some advance contracts that provided critical goods and services to survivors, including:

  • An outdated strategy and unclear guidance on how contracting officers should use advance contracts during a disaster, and
  • Challenges performing acquisition planning.

FEMA also did not always provide complete information in its reports to congressional committees.  Specifically, GAO found 29 advance contract actions that were not included in recent reports due to shortcomings in FEMA’s reporting methodology, limiting visibility into its disaster contract spending.

FEMA identified challenges with advance contracts in 2017, including federal coordination with states and localities on their use.  FEMA is required to coordinate with states and localities and encourage them to establish their own advance contracts with vendors.  However, GAO found inconsistencies in that coordination and the information FEMA uses to coordinate with states and localities on advance contracts.  Without consistent information and coordination with FEMA, states and localities may not have the tools needed to establish their own advance contracts for critical goods and services and quickly respond to future disasters.

In its new report, GAO made nine recommendations to FEMA, including that it update its strategy and guidance to clarify the use of advance contracts, improve the timeliness of its acquisition planning activities, revise its methodology for reporting disaster contracting actions to congressional committees, and provide more consistent guidance and information to contracting officers to coordinate with and encourage states and localities to establish advance contracts. FEMA concurred with GAO’s recommendations.

See GAO’s full Dec. 7, 2018 report here: https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/695829.pdf

 

 

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Agencies still don’t write in understandable language

An independent research group found federal agencies still don’t communicate with the public in language everyday people can understand — if anything, they’re using more jargon.

The Center for Plain Language has issued its seventh annual report card on agencies on their use of concise, understandable writing. The center also graded agencies on their compliance with the 2010 Plain Writing Act, which requires organizations to train employees to write clearly and follow other best practices.

Of the 23 agencies included in the report, only four—the Agriculture and Education departments, Social Security Administration and Small Business Administration—received grades of “A-minus” or above for writing quality. No groups failed the evaluation outright, but three agencies—the Homeland Security, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development departments—earned grades of “D-plus” or lower.

The average writing grade dropped from a “B” to a “C” since last year.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/10/report-agencies-still-dont-write-understandable-language/151985/

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GSA’s Murphy doubles down on reform efficiencies to drive transformation

With the federal government poised for one of the largest technology transformations in its history, Administrator Emily Murphy’s plan for the General Services Administration is simple in its definition, if not its execution: streamlined processes leveraged by technology to uncover new efficiencies and resources.

Murphy detailed areas where that playbook is currently being deployed across the enterprise on Oct. 16th at the 2018 ACT-IAC Imagine Nation ELC conference, spotlighting ongoing reforms of the schedules acquisition program, increasing shared services operations and the introduction of emerging technologies to operate alongside the workforce.

One case study underway is the introduction of robotic process automation (RPA) as a way to drive savings throughout the agency’s components, such as the Public Buildings Service.

Murphy said the service is looking to deploy RPA to help augment data-based efficiencies that saved $900 million last fiscal year, aiming to match that number this year.

“There’s actually one initiative they are looking to launch this year that in and of itself will save 10,000 hours of work a week,” she said. “If you think about it, that’s five years for any individual person. That gives us that ability to reskill the workforce to high-value work.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/murphy-doubles-reform-efficiencies-drive-transformation/

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Agency buyers express rising optimism about workforce skills, communication

Contracting officers around government are feeling more upbeat about their colleagues’ skill levels and ability to execute complicated information technology purchases, according to a survey unveiled last week.

Despite perennial worries about budgets, regulatory restraints and obstacles to hiring, most of the 65 acquisition professionals interviewed are optimistic, according to the ninth biennial survey from the 400-company Professional Services Council and Grant Thornton Public Sector.

Agency contracting professionals—seen as “more seasoned” after a recent hiring spree—also see improvements in regular communication between their teams’ staff and outside contractors.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2018/07/agency-buyers-express-rising-optimism-about-workforce-skills-communication/149851

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DoD implements FY18 NDAA requirement for post-debriefing Q&A process

This past March marked the beginning of a more fulsome required debriefing process for defense contracts. 

The Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) issued a class deviation memorandum, effective March 22, 2008, requiring contracting officers to: (1) provide unsuccessful offerors an opportunity to submit additional questions within two days after receiving a debriefing; and (2) hold the debriefing open until the agency delivers written responses.  The class deviation implements Section 818 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (NDAA).

Federal agencies have long been required to debrief unsuccessful bidders after it awards a contract on the “basis of a competitive proposals.”  And the existing FAR provisions applicable to such debriefings, FAR 15.505 and 15.506, already require agencies to include, as part of the debriefing process, “reasonable responses to relevant questions about whether source selection procedures were followed . . . .”

In practice, however, agencies regularly ignore that requirement — often providing a limited written debriefing, declaring the debriefing closed with no opportunity for questions, and thereby putting the disappointed offeror on a 5-day clock to protest, without all the information to which it is entitled.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2018/05/questions-department-defense-implements-fy-2018-ndaa-requirement-post-debriefing-qa-process/

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