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July 10, 2013 By AMK

Acquiring services: How the feds can get it right

For the fifth consecutive year, the federal government has spent more on the purchase of services than any other type of contract spending. And yet, the Department of Defense has made little progress in improving how they buy services, and civilian agencies have yet to even spell out a strategy.

It was appropriate that the department’s April 2013 release of its Better Buying Power (BBP) 2.0 memo included a major component titled “Improving Tradecraft in Acquisition of Services,” with six specific actions required to be taken. But while BBP 2.0 carried forward several of the initiatives for services that were included in the original BBP memo issued in September 2010, there has been little progress made by the department in reaching those original objectives.

Still, at least DOD has a plan. While the Office of Management and Budget has issued some government-wide directives requiring reductions in spending on services, the civilian agencies, which annually commit a greater percentage of their contract spending on services than does DOD, have not spelled out any comprehensive acquisition strategy focused on services.

The first step on the path to improving the tradecraft in services is to recognize that there are wide variations in the types of services government buys, and that each type requires some specialized market research and skills to acquire them. For example, there is a considerable difference between how the Department Homeland Security acquires information technology services from how the Department of Energy acquires environmental remediation and management services. Thus, at the Professional Services Council, we have been strong advocates for reexamining the taxonomy of services and focusing on the key differences in these acquisitions.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2013/06/acquiring-services-how-feds-can-get.html?page=all

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition strategy, Better Buying Power, budget cuts, contract management services, DoD, GAO, management support services, market research, OMB, professional services, service contracts, spending, support services

September 17, 2012 By AMK

DoD seeks to improve operational contractor management

Efforts to improve management of civilian contractors performing critical mission support functions are creating a cultural shift in the way the military prepares for battle, senior Defense Department officials told the House Armed Services Committee Sept. 12.

Alan F. Estevez, assistant secretary of defense for logistics and materiel readiness, and Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Craig C. Crenshaw, the Joint Staff’s vice director of logistics, testified along with other experts at a hearing held to examine the Defense Department’s planning and management of contractors on the battlefield.

Lessons learned in the combat theater over the last decade can optimize management and oversight of operational contract support in future operations, they said.

Estevez said that as the DoD has increasingly embraced operational contract support, he has seen a cultural shift in the way the military prepares for contingency operations.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.ftleavenworthlamp.com/news/x928644178/DoD-seeks-to-improve-operational-contractor-management.

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition strategy, acquisition workforce, contract management services, DoD

July 27, 2011 By AMK

OMB lists contract categories vulnerable to overspending

When the Office of Management and Budget on July 7 announced a new directive for agencies to cut spending on contract management services by 15 percent, officials mentioned 15 product service codes that were considered most at risk of overspending because they have a high proportion of time-and-materials contracts.

Since that briefing, OMB released a list of the codes, noting that they are the same as those that appeared last November in guidance on service inventories. The 15 codes affected by the management support services directive are:

Description of Function Product & Service Code
Professional & Management Services
Cost Benefit Analyses B505
Policy Review/Development Services R406
Program Evaluation Services R407
Program Management/Support Services R408
Program Review/Development Services R409
Specifications Development Service R413
Management Services/Contract & Procurement Support R707
Intelligence Services R423
Engineering and Technical Services R425
Systems Engineering Services R414
Personal Services Contracts R497
Information Technology Support Services
ADP Systems Development Services D302
Automated Information Systems Services D307
ADP System Acquisition Support Services D314
ADP Backup and Security Services D310

Focusing on these product codes, according to Stan Soloway, president and chief executive officer of the Professional Services Council, a contractor trade group, may have limited utility. Use of all but one or two already is going down, he said, “so why add this rule now?”

— by Charles S. Clark – GovExec.com – July 14, 2011 – at http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=48250&printerfriendlyvers=1 

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: contract management services, information technology, IT, management support service, OMB, overspending

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