contract award | The Contracting Education Academy

August 20, 2018 By AMK

Federal acquisition workers rate themselves highly on most skills

The government’s civilian acquisition workforce, long under pressure to improve hiring and modernize its skill sets, is feeling more satisfied with its own effectiveness, according to the latest biennial Acquisition Workforce Competency Survey released last week.

***Click on image above to see report.***

Considered the most comprehensive version of the survey yet (an 83 percent increase in response rates across agencies), it showed that the buyers rated themselves highest for issuing contract order changes and modifications, awarding contracts and competition. Also rated highly were inspection and acceptance and business acumen, said the results analyzed by a partnership between the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Federal Acquisition Institute.

Areas rated the lowest in proficiency included negotiating forward pricing rates agreements and contracting in contingent or combat environments.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2018/08/federal-acquisition-workers-rate-themselves-highly-most-skills/150611

April 13, 2018 By AMK

DoD can reduce time to contract

Every administration takes office with the intent to improve the government’s performance, including reducing the time it takes to award contracts for the services and products the government needs for its operations.

**The Marine Corps uses this chart as a guideline for commercial item lead times.**

Nearly every administration in the past 50 years has undertaken specific steps to reduce what is commonly called Procurement Acquisition Lead Time, or PALT. In the end, though, it’s hard to find concrete evidence of success, as complaints of excessive PALT continue to plague the acquisition system and present challenges to both government and industry.

What exactly is the problem? Why does it take too long to get to a signed and executable contract? Is it the time it takes to determine the government’s requirements? To translate those requirements into a statement of work (or similar description) that forms the basis for a solicitation and ultimately a contract? Is it the time for the government to solicit and evaluate bids for that work? To award the contract and get to a start date? To comply with all the procedures and reviews and reports needed along the way? And what exactly is “too long” a time for any or all of those steps?

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2018/03/23/dod-can-reduce-time-to-contract/

November 7, 2016 By AMK

FirstNet to miss contract award deadline

The First Responder Network Authority will not award the contract for its nationwide broadband public safety network on Nov. 1 as anticipated, CEO Mike Poth said.

“FirstNet will continue to execute the acquisition process outlined in the [request for proposals] beyond the Nov. 1 target date for the award,” he said in an Oct. 28 statement on FirstNet’s website. “We will continue to work diligently with our federal partners to complete the RFP process in line with the [Federal Acquisition Regulation] while being as transparent as allowable.”

Although he could not discuss the specifics of the acquisition process, Poth said FirstNet officials were “moving closer to a contract award in accordance” with the FAR.

FirstNet issued its RFP for the sprawling, national emergency radio network in January, and it outlined an ambitious procurement plan to select a lead vendor by November and have final deployment plans in place next year.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2016/11/01/firstnet-misses-deadline.aspx

June 14, 2016 By AMK

Time is ripe to dump the DUNS, industry data group says

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) seems to be exploring possible alternatives to the proprietary standard that agencies have used for decades to identify companies and organizations that win federal grants and contract awards.

omb OMB leaders indicated at a recent DATA Coalition summit that they will conduct an alternatives analysis to the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, which the federal government uses through a contract with the company Dun & Bradstreet.

And the General Services Administration’s 18F team is developing an identification code that would temporarily help agencies move from the nine-digit DUNS number to another standard, according to Hudson Hollister, executive director for the DATA Coalition.

The costs and technical challenges of moving away from the DUNS to another system for identifying and tracking contractors would be simply too great, the Government Accountability Office said in 2012.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/open-datatransparency/2016/05/time-ripe-dump-duns-industry-data-group-says/

March 4, 2016 By AMK

‘Hack the Pentagon’: Will DoD’s bug bounty program attract top talent?

Challenged by hackers and staffing shortages, the Pentagon is inviting plainclothes techies to a competition where they can poke around military code for security bugs.

The idea is to find and fix vulnerabilities unknowingly inserted in software before the bad guys do.

The contest draws inspiration from “bug bounty” programs in the private sector open to hobbyists and professional penetration testers. Microsoft, for instance, offers a reward of up to $100,000 for attacking its software. General Motors earlier this year launched a car-hacking program that seeks glitch reports but doesn’t yet pay for them.

The military’s new “Hack the Pentagon” program, unveiled Wednesday, potentially could offer cash prizes, according to a Defense Department announcement. Perhaps some of those bucks could come from the nearly $7 billion Pentagon Secretary Ash Carter expects to spend on cybersecurity in 2017.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2016/03/pentagon-launches-open-contest-hack-military-websites/126383/

The government’s civilian acquisition workforce, long under pressure to improve hiring and modernize its skill sets, is feeling more satisfied with its own effectiveness, according to the latest biennial Acquisition Workforce Competency Survey released last week.

Every administration takes office with the intent to improve the government’s performance, including reducing the time it takes to award contracts for the services and products the government needs for its operations.

The First Responder Network Authority will not award the contract for its nationwide broadband public safety network on Nov. 1 as anticipated, CEO Mike Poth said.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) seems to be exploring possible alternatives to the proprietary standard that agencies have used for decades to identify companies and organizations that win federal grants and contract awards.

Challenged by hackers and staffing shortages, the Pentagon is inviting plainclothes techies to a competition where they can poke around military code for security bugs.

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