Contracting Officers | The Contracting Education Academy

June 5, 2019 By AMK

A Pentagon contractor’s 9,400% profit on a half-inch metal pin is challenged

As the Pentagon weighs whether to recommend legislation to require more disclosure by contractors, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will review the audit and TransDigm’s pricing policies in a hearing on Wednesday.

The inspector general’s report “exposes how a company entrusted with supporting our military men and women took advantage of American taxpayers by overcharging the government more than $16 million” in parts sales sold between 2015 and 2017, Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings said in a statement. The hearing will “investigate whether these pricing issues are more widespread, and demand answers,” he said.

From 2013 through 2015, according to the audit, the contractor increased the price of a valve that opens and closes to change the pressure of fuel moving through an engine to $9,801 from $543. In those years, TransDigm also charged $1,443 each for a “non-vehicular clutch disk” that cost $32 to make.

Planes, Copters

The Pentagon’s inspector general first raised pricing concerns over TransDigm in a 2006 report, followed by the one this year that was released in redacted form in February.

TransDigm manufactures spare parts for airplanes and helicopters including the AH-64 Apache, C-17 Globemaster III, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the CH-47 Chinook. From April 2012 through January 2017, DOD issued 4,942 contracts valued at $471 million to TransDigm.

Liza Sabol, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland-based company, said in an email “that we are not providing comments on specific questions related to the IG report.”

Keep reading article at: http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2019/05/14/transdigm-pentagon-costs

April 2, 2018 By AMK

Government’s acquisition training website restored

Inoperable since February, the Federal Acquisition Institute Training Application System (FAITAS) came back online on Friday, March 30th.

The Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) previously stated that FAITAS was unavailable due to “unscheduled maintenance,” but there was widespread speculation that the site suffered a cyber incident. FAITAS is operated for FAI by the U.S. Army through its Army Training Requirements and Resources System (ATRRS).

FAI has updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about use of FAITAS to request training, document continuous learning points, and related matters. The FAQs can be found here: https://www.fai.gov/drupal/sites/default/files/FY18MILRestriction_AccessRestored_FAQs.pdf.

FAITAS, and the training accessible through FAITAS, can be accessed only by civilian and military members of the government. FAI operates a helpdesk that can be reached via email at training@fai.gov or by phone at 703-752-9604.

Vendors who have had their courses verified by FAI for purposes of meeting Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) standards are listed at: https://www.fai.gov/drupal/certification/verified-contracting-course-vendor-listing.

February 7, 2018 By AMK

Did the government’s acquisition training website have a cyber incident?

Did the federal acquisition website called FAITAS suffer a cyber incident? Are thousands of contracting officers and contracting officer representatives’ (COR) data at risk?

The government isn’t offering any details of what’s going on, so I pulled out my reporter’s notebook (pun intended) and started to do some digging.

Let’s look at what we know for sure and you, the reader, can decide whether there is something more than meets the eye.

Fact 1: The Federal Acquisition Institute Training Application System (FAITAS) has been down for “unscheduled maintenance” only for civilian agencies for more than a month.

So if you have a .gov email address, you are out of luck.

But if you have a .mil email address, all is well and you can use the site to get training.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook/2018/02/did-the-governments-acquisition-training-website-have-a-cyber-incident/

August 26, 2016 By AMK

DoD’s new proposed guidance on commercial item pricing no longer includes ‘market based pricing’

The Department of Defense (DoD) has reversed course on its proposed preference for “market-based pricing” and is instead now proposing rules under which it would use “market pricing” to determine whether prices are fair and reasonable.

While the terminology is similar, the legal difference is significant.

Last year, we reported on DoD’s proposed guidance on commercial item pricing. The August 2015 proposed guidance implemented section 831 of the NDAA for FY 2013, which required DoD to establish standards for determining the adequacy of pricing information and when uncertified cost data is required. Among other things, this 2015 proposed rule introduced “market-based pricing” as the preferred method for determining a fair and reasonable price for commercial items in the absence of adequate competition. It defined market-based pricing as the pricing that non-governmental buyers in the commercial marketplace pay for an item. Contracting officers could presume that an offeror’s price for a particular item was “market‑based” if non-government buyers purchased 50% or more of the item’s sales volume.

The proposed rule proved controversial, however.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=520638

March 25, 2016 By AMK

COs told to check with SBA on WOSB certifications

On Wednesday, March 23, 2016, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on its website that for the next “several weeks” federal Contracting Officers (COs) will need to check with the SBA to verify self-certifications submitted by women-owned small businesses (WOSBs) competing for contract set-asides.

The reason for this temporary change is a planned migration of WOSB records from SBA’s General Login System (GLS) repository to a new portal to be located at https://certify.sba.gov.

SBA says that the on-line repository where WOSBs have been uploading ownership and control documentation has been inactivated. SBA’s notice indicates that the WOSB repository will be replaced within “several weeks” by a new portal that will support the WOSB program.

The new portal is located at https://certify.sba.gov however, as of March 25, the website is marked: “This site is a work in progress.”

SBA’s existing rules stipulate that small businesses interested in responding to a solicitation set aside for WOSBs must first submit a checklist of certification documentation. Once certification uploads are submitted, Contracting Officers are responsible for checking the repository to ensure all required documents have been submitted.

During the period where the new portal is not fully functional, it is unclear how WOSBs that have not previously uploaded their certification documentation will satisfy the 13 CFR 127.300(e) certification requirements.

Until SBA’s new portal is fully functional, the SBA is directing Contracting Officers to contact the SBA to request verification of self-certification compliance by specific WOSBs.

The instructions SBA has issued are as follows:

SBA will review the Repository on behalf of a CO. A CO may request that SBA review the Repository on their behalf by sending an email to wosb@sba.gov(link sends e-mail) with the following in the subject line:

“PENDING AWARD UNDER FAR 19.505(e) VERIFICATION REQUEST- SOLICITATION NUMBER [insert solicitation number].”

In the body of the email, the CO should provide the following: provide the apparent successful offeror’s DUNS, EIN, FIRM NAME, OWNER NAME; indicate whether the pending award is a WOSB or EDWOSB set-aside or sole source award; specify the NAICS code assigned to the procurement; and identify the State where the CO is located. Within 2 business days, SBA will perform the necessary check to determine whether the apparently successful offeror has filed all the required eligibility documents and provide the CO with an email response which either: (a) notifies the CO that all required documents have been provided or (b) identifies which documents are missing in order to allow the CO to file a status protest in accordance with SBA regulations and the FAR.

Emails for this information will be processed only for Contracting Officers.

More information on the WOSB program and the features of the new portal can be found at: https://www.sba.gov/content/women-owned-small-business-program.

As the Pentagon weighs whether to recommend legislation to require more disclosure by contractors, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will review the audit and TransDigm’s pricing policies in a hearing on Wednesday.

Planes, Copters

Inoperable since February, the Federal Acquisition Institute Training Application System (FAITAS) came back online on Friday, March 30th.

Did the federal acquisition website called FAITAS suffer a cyber incident? Are thousands of contracting officers and contracting officer representatives’ (COR) data at risk?

The Department of Defense (DoD) has reversed course on its proposed preference for “market-based pricing” and is instead now proposing rules under which it would use “market pricing” to determine whether prices are fair and reasonable.

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