competitive bid | The Contracting Education Academy

February 17, 2021 By cs

Army awards $5 million ‘bridge’ contract for cyber training

Army Materials Command skipped a competitive bidding process for short-term cyber training services, citing urgent need while it waits for a bid protest to be resolved.

“The growth of the Cyber threat to the Armed Forces mandates that the cybersecurity and tactical network management efforts for Program Executive Offices and [Major Army Commands] continue without interruption,” reads a notice of the justification published on Beta.sam.gov Monday. “A lapse in services would have impacted and/or delayed operational requirements at the tactical level, resulting in increased cost to the Government as well as the risk for potential loss of life during operational deployments.”

The Army’s contracting command awarded a $5.6 million bridge task order to Beshenich Muir & Associates, LLC, or BMA, on Jan.11 to provide support to the Regional Signal Training Sites of the U.S. Army Signal School at the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence. The contract comes with a three-month base period, to account for the adjudication of the protest of an initial task order issued to BMA on Nov. 23 from Obxtek, Inc. The bridge task order also has an additional three-month optional period in case there’s a supplemental protest.

A decision on the protest, which is not publicly available, is due from the Government Accountability office March 29 and Obxtek said it generally doesn’t comment on open cases.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2021/02/army-awards-5m-bridge-contract-cyber-training/171973/

August 11, 2020 By cs

DHS seeks permanent flexible acquisition authorities

Temporary acquisition authorities that aid the Department of Homeland Security in getting innovative commercial technologies and goods in response to the COVID-19 crisis should be lasting tools in the department’s acquisition toolbox, the agency’s top acquisition official told a Senate panel.

The DHS other transaction authority (OTA) that allows the agency to conduct pilot projects outside of the traditional competitive bidding regulations expires at the end of each fiscal year.

Soraya Correa, the agency’s chief procurement officer, told lawmakers at a recent hearing of the Senate Finance Committee that she’d like permanent authorization for OTAs.

Similarly, the Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program (CSOP) expires at the end of 2022. Correa would like to see that become a permanent fixture of agency acquisition.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2020/07/29/rockwell-covid-acquisition-dhs.aspx

June 19, 2020 By cs

Feds spend billions on COVID-19 contracts, often without fully competitive bidding

When nurses and doctors across the country were struggling to treat coronavirus patients without enough protective gear, and the federal government was scrambling to find those supplies, Quedon Baul saw an opportunity.

His three-person company in McKinney, Texas, distributes medical supplies but didn’t have much experience with face shields. Still, he landed two government contracts worth up to $20 million to deliver the personal protective equipment. He couldn’t meet the first deadline, so he found subcontractors to do the job.

“You get an opportunity, you take it,” Baul says. “It wasn’t my first rodeo, but it’s certainly my first big rodeo.”

The U.S. government has granted contracts worth as much as $25 billion as it races to address the COVID-19 public health crisis. NPR reviewed a database of thousands of contracting actions and found more than 250 companies that got contracts worth more than $1 million without going through a fully competitive bidding process.

Some of the companies, such as Baul’s, had little or no experience with personal protective equipment. Others had never worked in the medical field at all. Contractors also included a company that imported vodka and a school security consultant.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/869052415/feds-spend-billions-on-covid-19-contracts-often-without-fully-competitive-biddin

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech has established a webpage where all contract-related developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are summarized. Find the page at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/coronavirus-information-for-contracting-officers-and-contractors/

November 13, 2018 By AMK

PA bill would open door to competitive school construction bids, away from cooperative purchasing

Pennsylvania state representative Jesse Topper has introduced a bill that would open major construction projects to competitive bidding, reports The Inquirer of Philadelphia.

The bill, which is with the State Government Committee, was precipitated by a study from research firm Ducker Worldwide that found from 2005 to 2010, schools across the state wasted more than $100 million in taxpayer money on roofing by using cooperative purchasing rather than competitive bidding.

The proposed bill would outlaw cooperative purchases for construction projects, which the bill’s backers say will save money, especially for public schools having financial troubles. One school district received a roofing bid from a cooperative for $2.4 million, whereas an open bid for the same project totaled $1.4 million.

Still, many Pennsylvania school officials say cooperative purchasing agreements have merit, offering quality assurance, consistency and reduced maintenance, reported The Inquirer. They also say that open bids, unlike cooperatives, don’t take design costs or project monitoring into account.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.constructiondive.com/news/pennsylvania-bill-would-open-door-to-competitive-school-construction-bids/541536/

January 7, 2016 By AMK

Viewpoint: Reverse auctions don’t help agencies or taxpayers

Dozens of organizations representing hundreds of thousands of America’s small construction firms— whether minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, HUBZone or just plain old small business—agree: using reverse auctions to procure construction services for the federal government does not save money, does not encourage quality and does not help small businesses.

Reverse auctions do not guarantee the lowest price for a contract. Rather, like in “The Price is Right” game show, they guarantee that one business will underbid others by just one dollar. A bidder has no incentive to offer its best price and may never have to offer its lowest price. Nevertheless, business do offer their best price for low price technically acceptable procurements and other contracting approaches conducted through sealed bids, where competitors do not know their competitor’s price. Data reporting any bid savings is, therefore, highly questionable.

Reverse auctions do not make sense for the procurement of many contracts, particularly those for professional services and especially construction services.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/12/viewpoint-reverse-auctions-dont-help-agencies-or-taxpayers/124791/

Army Materials Command skipped a competitive bidding process for short-term cyber training services, citing urgent need while it waits for a bid protest to be resolved.

Temporary acquisition authorities that aid the Department of Homeland Security in getting innovative commercial technologies and goods in response to the COVID-19 crisis should be lasting tools in the department’s acquisition toolbox, the agency’s top acquisition official told a Senate panel.

When nurses and doctors across the country were struggling to treat coronavirus patients without enough protective gear, and the federal government was scrambling to find those supplies, Quedon Baul saw an opportunity.

Pennsylvania state representative Jesse Topper has introduced a bill that would open major construction projects to competitive bidding, reports The Inquirer of Philadelphia.

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