cost and pricing | The Contracting Education Academy

November 17, 2015 By AMK

Securing the future by ‘Bending the Cost Curve’

Bending the Cost Curve (BTCC), one of the 13-Make-Every-Dollar-Count cost initiatives launched by the Air Force, includes a growing and evolving set of more than 20 acquisition reform activities. These activities are focused on finding ways the Air Force can be more effective at how it spends money to get better capabilities to the warfighter faster.

“BTCC is coming up with ideas with industry, then going out and trying those ideas to see if we can actually drive down cost, increase capability and get it delivered faster,” said Dr. Camron Gorguinpour, the director of the Air Force Transformational Innovation Office, Air Force Office of Acquisitions. “Everything we do with BTCC is in collaboration with industry. (They are) a big part of the solution, so working closely with them helps us come up with better ideas of things that we should be doing.”

One program, Open Systems Acquisition, has reached a level of success. The concept is to move Air Force weapons systems toward a more open architecture, allowing traditional and non-traditional industry partners more flexibility for future improvements.

“Basically, OSA is a plug and play type of model. You have a system that anyone can understand and plug into if they develop a product that complies within certain requirements,” Gorguinpour said. “That way one company can create a system, but down the road, when you need a new capability, another company can create the new part and it can be changed out without a huge contracting action.

“This new open architecture environment will allow us to rapidly change out capabilities, to compete to a very broad segment of industry and be able to build on certain designs rather than having just one fixed product.”

As part of this program, the Air Force Research Laboratory created its own acquisition vehicle tailored to the new OSA model. With this new system, it will take only three weeks from the time companies demonstrate their capabilities to the time the winner is funded and doing work.

“This is getting us closer to the point of where you can acquire at the pace of global innovation,” Gorguinpour said. “There is definitely a lot more work to be done to smooth out the process for everyone to use, but we are getting it closer to being a reality.”

Thinking outside of the box and in the spirit of innovation, the Air Force launched the largest cash prizes ever conducted by one of the military services called Air Force Prize — worth $2 million to the entity that can produce a lightweight, mid-sized turbine engine.

“Turbine engines are important, especially if it can be installed into a smaller vehicle, the engine can double the fuel efficiency and improve the lifecycle cost,” Gorguinpour said. “The opportunity to win the cash prize started in May and companies will have two years to provide a product.”

Also included in BTCC is the Cost Capability Analysis program that would create better transparency by providing more awareness of Air Force requirements to industry to reduce the costs and development times for Air Force systems.

“When buying something as simple as a computer, you can see where a small increase of speed or memory is going to dramatically increase the cost,” Gorguinpour said. “So you need to find the optimal setting for your requirement. Because of BTCC, the Air Force is working with industry early in the acquisition process to refine what the requirements should be.”

The Air Force is looking to provide more tools to help navigate the complex acquisition process with AQ Prime, a beta website powered by a learning computer with the knowledge of the federal acquisition regulation. This website will serve as a resource for businesses not used to working with the military, as well as the public, an easy way to understand the complex government regulation.

“Even if we do the best job at streamlining bureaucracy, the fact is that it is going to be complicated because the work we do is incredibly complex,” Gorguinpour said. “We not only need to streamline the process, but also give people the right tools to navigate this better.”

BTCC activities will continue to improve the internal Air Force acquisition process, enhance interactions with industry throughout the acquisition lifecycle, and expand competition among traditional and non-traditional industry partners.

Source: http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/627140/securing-the-future-by-bending-the-cost-curve.aspx

December 3, 2014 By AMK

Why did this federal lab pay 42 different prices for the same computer?

The Energy Department could save $2 million a year by better managing its information technology hardware, according to the agency’s inspector general.

One of the problems uncovered by the watchdog is a wide variation in the prices the department pays for the same technology across and even within agencies.

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, for instance, paid 42 different prices — between about $900 and over $2,000 — for the same desktop model in 2012, the IG found. The machines did, however, have varying configurations.

Since previous audits, the department has to some extent tried to standardize equipment buys, but IT purchasing remains problematic.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2014/11/year-federal-lab-paid-42-different-prices-same-computer/98237

April 11, 2014 By AMK

Information technology price transparency could come at cost

TotaKeep reading governmentwide transparency on pricing for information technology products could have unintended consequences, said a senior acquisition official.

Today, federal agencies have access to the catalog-list prices companies charge through governmentwide acquisition vehicles (GWAC). Although those catalog prices are negotiated with price fairness in mind – to ensure the amounts are comparable to commercial prices – agencies often pay less than list when executing orders of any significance.

That disconnect between the catalog price being the de facto maximum price, rather than the actual price, has led to efforts to record actual prices and share that information between federal agencies.

Rob Coen, acting director of the National Institutes of Health Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center, told an audience of federal officials and private sector sellers that his agency is setting up a dashboard that will permit customers to “see what other agencies are buying, who’s buying what, who they are buying it from and what they are paying.” NIH runs three governmentwide acquisition contracts, contract vehicles dedicated to IT products or services and meant for inter-departmental use.

The General Services Administration is also developing a “Price Paid Tool,” an online portal currently in proof of concept stage.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/information-technology-price-transparency-could-come-cost/2014-03-25

April 2, 2014 By AMK

Agencies setting off into the next data frontier — procurement

Agencies are starting to grasp the real value of procurement data. Several agencies are asking the General Services Administration, NASA and others for more details on what they buy, how they buy it and how they could make better decisions.

NASA, for example, is working closely with the Veterans Affairs Department to provide them with an assortment of data points around energy efficiency, such as how VA’s IT products are rated for Energy Star or E-Peat. NASA also plans to provide VA with information about how their purchases meet the Trade Agreements Act and about their buying habits based on product classifications.

Joanne Woytek, the program manager for NASA SEWP governmentwide acquisition contract, said the fact that VA and other agencies are asking for and receiving this type of data is a sign of maturity for both the GWAC providers and the agencies in understanding what’s available and why the data matters.

“I’ve seen this happening more with our contracts and SEWP V. A lot of what we are putting into that is to make it a more mature model. We can’t just say, ‘we can do that,’ we will actually demonstrate the things we can do,” she said at the 2014 Acquisition Excellence conference in Washington Thursday sponsored by GSA, the Homeland Security Department and ACT-IAC. “We will be able to show agencies what they are buying. We’re going to be able to provide them with more information. We always said we could do that, but we actually are going to start doing that. I think that’s going to have a bigger effect on agencies who no longer will say ‘I don’t want to use you because I’m not sure you can give me that information. I’m not sure you can control what we’re purchasing.’ We can do that for them and we’ll actually start showing that. So I see us having a better impact on people now that we’ve gotten to this point.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=533&sid=3587330&pid=0&page=1

August 7, 2013 By AMK

Government contracting courses for 2014 announced

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech (The Academy) has released its course calendar for calendar year 2014.

Representatives of both the government and private sectors will be pleased to learn that the courses include both traditional favorites as well as new offerings for 2014.

The Academy is an official training equivalency provider of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). Since each of The Academy’s courses is DAU-equivalent, they satisfy the federal government’s FAC-C and DAWIA certification programs. In addition, continuing education units (CEUs) are granted by the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting Program (FAC-C) establishes graduated education, experience, and training standards for contracting professionals in all civilian agencies. FAC-C certifications are mutually accepted among all civilian agencies as documentation of accomplishment of these standards.
The Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) established a very similar, but not identical, program for the Department of Defense (DoD). Civilian agencies may accept DAWIA certification as equivalent to FAC-C certification.

Of particular interest to representatives of the business community is the fact that The Academy’s coursework has been tailored to be relevant to both government contractors and government contracting professionals. This makes The Academy’s classroom one of the few places anywhere where representatives of the private and government sectors can learn side-by-side about federal acquisition. As a result, students find Academy courses especially rich in content and lively in conduct.

Courses currently scheduled for 2014 include:

CON 090-1: Contracting Overview of the FAR (EASC 0901P)—This is the first of four modules from CON 090 – Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Fundamentals and is a limited lecture, exercised-based curriculum that takes a look at the Federal acquisition environment from a macro-level.
CON 090-2: Contract Planning in the FAR (EASC 0902P)—This is the second of four modules from CON 090 – Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Fundamentals and is a limited lecture, exercised-based curriculum that covers acquisition plans, market research, describing agency needs, and the preference for the acquisition of commercial and non-developmental items.
CON 090-3: Contract Formation in the FAR (EASC 0903P)—This is the third of four modules from CON 090 – Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Fundamentals and is a limited lecture, exercised-based curriculum that applies the relevant rules of FAR Part 13 and DFARS Part 213 to make an appropriate contracting decision.
CON 090-4: Contract Administration in the FAR (EASC 0904P)—This is the fourth and final module from CON 090 – Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Fundamentals and is a limited lecture, exercised-based curriculum that covers the various aspects of contract management to include contract modifications and contract closeout.
CON 090: Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Fundamentals (EASC 0900P)—FAR Fundamentals is a four week, resident, foundational course that provides a total immersion into the Federal Acquisition Regulation (Parts 1-53) and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS).
CON 120: Mission Focused Contracting (EASC 0120P)—Learn the entire acquisition process, from meeting with the customer to completing the contract closeout process, applying leadership, problem-solving, and negotiation skills.
CON 170: Fundamentals of Cost and Price Analysis (EASC 0123P)—Learn to accomplish Cost-Volume-Profit analysis, calculate contribution margin estimates, and develop cost estimating relationships in order to accomplish an effective price analysis pursuant to FAR Subpart 15.4.
CON 260B: The Small Business Programs (EASC 0122P)—Learn the intricacies of the associated programs and initiatives that support the SBP and the DoD’s efforts to improve small business participation in prime contracting and subcontracting.
COR 206/222 – Contracting Officer Representative Course and the Contingency Contracting Environment (EASC 0124P)—The Contracting Officer’s Representative course provides a comprehensive review of the authority and responsibilities of the Contracting Officer Representative. It also addresses the role of the Contracting Officer’s Representative in the Contingency Contracting Environment.

To see each course’s scheduled dates, please click on the links above or visit: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/training.

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