contractor performance | The Contracting Education Academy

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/

April 7, 2020 By cs

How will COVID-19 impact long term trends in contracting?

COVID-19 presents unique and enduring challenges to business operations and mission fulfillment.

While many “lessons learned” regarding best practices to confront natural disasters can be gleaned from such situations as Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, the unprecedented scope and impact of this pandemic raise troubling issues for legacy business models. In terms of “big A” acquisition policy, we believe that the current crisis will fundamentally alter existing programmatic assumptions. Identifying these trends is an important beginning in terms of what lies ahead.

Reading these “tea leaves” allow us to make impacts of recent events upon the broader framework of government IT acquisition. What can we foresee and predict?

From a macro perspective, we believe that the current unprecedented situation has the potential to fundamentally re-align the basic consensus regarding the much-touted benefits of globalization. In terms of government contractors, and IT specifically, we have been discussing the following trends and consequences.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2020/04/how-will-covid-19-impact-long-term-trends-in-contracting/

April 1, 2020 By cs

Academy launches webpage containing Coronavirus information for contracting officers and contractors

The Contracting Education Academy, a Georgia Tech unit dedicated to supporting the professional education needs of the government’s contracting workforce, has launched a special webpage devoted to providing information and guidance dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on federal contracts.

**Click on image above to visit the webpage.**

The webpage, located here, presents helpful information to both contracting officials and contractors who are navigating the current contracting environment.

Numerous topics are addressed on the webpage. For Contracting Officers and other members of the federal acquisition workforce, topics include:

Teleworking by contractor employees
Quarantine restrictions and excusable delays
Equitable adjustments
Extending performance periods
Contract modifications
Maintaining a contractor state of readiness
Application of the Stafford Act
Communication and transparency in contract administration
DoD emergency acquisition and preparedness
Tracking COVID-19 contract spending
The Defense Production Act
The Defense Priorities and Allocations System
GSA Schedule purchasing
Fraud and price gouging

For the contractor community, the following topics are addressed on the webpage:

Preventing workplace exposure and risks
Identifying critical infrastructure industries
The System for Award Management (SAM)
Excusable delay contract provisions
Changes clauses
Obligation to perform
The Defense Priorities and Allocations System
DoD progress payments
Sales through GSA Schedules
Advice for small businesses
Economic disaster loans
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act

Additional information and updates will be added as often as daily to the site. We suggest you bookmark the site now and check back frequently for the latest news involving the impact of coronavirus on federal contracts.

March 30, 2020 By cs

Pentagon bracing for weapon-delivery delays due to coronavirus

Pentagon officials are bracing for companies being unable to deliver weapons on time as the coronavirus makes its way through company assembly lines and supply chains.

**COVID-19 is identified as the cause of a worldwide outbreak of respiratory illness.**

In separate briefings with reporters last Wednesday, the top weapons buyers for the Department of Defense and the Navy said that they are working with industry to assess the impact of the virus on their workforces, but that already some aircraft production has been halted.

“I do expect there will be some delay and disruption,” said James “Hondo” Geurts, the Navy’s top weapons buyer, on a Wednesday conference call. Navy officials have “real-time systems” to track disruptions when they arise, and already they have spotted changes.

“We’re seeing a tightening on the supply base as smaller shops deal with their local situations,” Guerts said.

As for larger sites run by major defense contractors, it depends on where they’re located.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/03/pentagon-bracing-coronavirus-delay-weapons-deliveries/164118/

March 27, 2020 By cs

Defense industry to DoD: If we send workers home, will you penalize us?

Defense industry executives are being forced to choose between risking employees’ health by sending them into factories amid the coronavirus outbreak, or missing the delivery deadlines in their Pentagon contracts.

Initially, many contractors welcomed the federal government’s March 20 declaration that the defense industrial base is a critical part of America’s infrastructure, and that a good portion of its employees would be “expected to maintain their normal work schedule.” But just four days later, as the COVID-19 death toll rises and state after state announces stay-at-home orders, it has become clear that normal work schedules aren’t generally advisable — or even possible.

On Wednesday, Boeing will shut down its massive assembly factories in the Seattle region that build commercial airliners and military tankers and submarine-hunting aircraft. While some work can be done remotely, such as the re-engineering of the KC-46 refueling system, assembling the planes and their unique components cannot.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/03/defense-companies-want-more-direction-relief-pentagon-amid-coronavirus-outbreak/164077/

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.

COVID-19 presents unique and enduring challenges to business operations and mission fulfillment.

The Contracting Education Academy, a Georgia Tech unit dedicated to supporting the professional education needs of the government’s contracting workforce, has launched a special webpage devoted to providing information and guidance dealing with the impact of COVID-19 on federal contracts.

Pentagon officials are bracing for companies being unable to deliver weapons on time as the coronavirus makes its way through company assembly lines and supply chains.

Defense industry executives are being forced to choose between risking employees’ health by sending them into factories amid the coronavirus outbreak, or missing the delivery deadlines in their Pentagon contracts.

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