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October 18, 2018 By cs

Efforts to speed procurement of commercial off-the-shelf items influenced by ‘The Amazon Effect’

Amazon looms large over the world’s commerce, drawing a stark contrast to old ways of shopping, and an even starker contrast to the way government agencies buy things. In fact, there’s even a term for it: The Amazon Effect.

So, when Section 846 of 2018 National Defense Authorization Act was enacted, providing for the Pentagon and other federal government agencies to buy directly from e-marketplaces, it was immediately dubbed the “Amazon Bill,” and not just because of the Amazon Effect.

Introduced by Congressman Mac Thornberry, the bill was crafted to help speed the procurement process for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products through e-commerce portals. The General Services Administration (GSA), in partnership with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is currently working on the strategy and plan to properly implement and execute this legislation.

Based on input from the providers of commercial e-commerce portals and e-procurement solutions, the GSA and OMB team has developed the initial plan (Phase I) and is now working on the market research and industry consultation needed to develop the program’s implementation guidance (Phase II). This is not a simple task, as the team must review and consider existing processes and all the requirements of public procurement — buying off negotiated contracts from vetted suppliers who have invested heavily in meeting government requirements, and giving fair treatment to small, disadvantaged, minority women-owned and veteran-owned companies. The target is to have things completed by 2020.

However, the gap between expectations of selection, ease of use and speed that Amazon has created among consumers, and the reality of what is actually possible in the federal government continues to crop up as we move into the next phase of this process, the proof of concept phase.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.publicspendforum.net/blogs/andrew-malay/2018/10/09/future-federal-government-procurement-ecommerce

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, Amazon, commercial item, commercial off-the-shelf, commercial products, COTS, NDAA, OMB, procurement reform, streamlined acquisition process

July 11, 2017 By cs

Acquisition reform bill contemplates DoD’s use of online marketplaces to purchase commercial products

Imagine if a DoD agency could purchase commercial-off-the-shelf products of any value simply by placing an order at an Amazon-like website – no need for solicitations, quotes, evaluation, or detailed price analysis and absolutely no government-unique terms and conditions.

That is the vision of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) in a bill introduced on May 18, 2017. If enacted, this reform would revolutionize the way the Department of Defense acquires commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products and likely diminish DoD’s use of GSA’s Federal Supply Schedules.

However, as explained below, the prospects of the Bill being enacted into law without significant revision seem low because, as currently drafted, it contravenes many ingrained strands of Federal procurement policy and exposes DoD to unintended consequences and risks.

Proposed Acquisition Streamlining “on Steroids” by Bringing the Online Shopping Experience to Federal Procurement

The proposed use of online marketplaces is set forth in § 101 of the “Defense Acquisition Streamlining and Transparency Act” (H.R. 2511) (the Thornberry Bill). The Thornberry Bill directs the DoD Secretary to establish contracts with one or more “online marketplace providers” to enable DoD-wide use of such marketplaces. For reasons that are not clear, the Bill authorizes DoD to award contracts to marketplace providers without the use of full and open competition.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=603722

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, CICA, commercial off-the-shelf, commercial products, COTS, DoD, GSA Schedule, GSA Schedules, market research, procurement reform, risk, streamlined acquisition process

July 3, 2017 By cs

House begins work on another round of DoD acquisition overhauls

For the third year in a row, the annual Defense authorization bill the House Armed Services Committee will begin considering is chock full of provisions that are meant to reform the acquisition system – including one that would represent the biggest change in decades in the way the government buys commercial goods.

Among the more than five dozen acquisition provisions in the bill is committee chairman Mac Thornberry’s proposal to require DoD to buy its commercial-off-the-shelf products from private sector “online marketplaces” like Amazon. The chairman first floated the idea in a discussion draft a month ago, and the version the panel will consider today is mostly unchanged with two major exceptions: it would apply to the entire federal government, not just DoD, and it would require the government to do its buying through at least two online  platforms rather than “one or more.”

But the revised version seems to have done little to satisfy industry’s many concerns with the proposal, including that it does not make clear how agencies would comply with numerous other acquisition laws and regulations – including protections for small business – and that it would bypass the Competition in Contracting Act.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/defense-news/2017/06/house-begins-work-today-on-another-round-of-dod-acquisition-overhauls/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, Buy American Act, CICA, commercial off-the-shelf, commercial products, COTS, DoD, GSA, HASC, House Armed Services Committee, NDAA, procurement reform, regulatory reform, Trade Agreements Act

November 22, 2016 By cs

GSA to offer cloud-based contract writing system next year

The General Services Administration (GSA) will offer a new service to federal agencies next year designed to speed up contract writing.

GSA logoAccording to a blog post published on Nov. 15th, GSA will launch a cloud-based shared service contract-writing system that will “offer federal agencies a turnkey, comprehensive, contract writing and administrative solution.”

The commercial-off-the-shelf application will offer agencies an incentive to move away from standing up and maintaining their own contract writing systems, and its pay-as-you-go offers scalability and flexibility, according to GSA. In addition, high-volume users are eligible for tiered volume discounts through GSA’s buying power.

keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cloud-computing/2016/11/gsa-offer-cloud-based-contract-writing-system-next-year/133188

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: buying power, cloud, contract formation, contract planning, contract writing system, COTS, GSA, shared services

November 11, 2016 By cs

Applying photonics to electronic warfare challenges

Photonics, the technology that helps drive today’s telecommunications systems, offers major advances in the area of signal transmission.

gtri-signGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) researchers are adapting optical techniques from the photonics telecom arena to enhance U.S. electronic warfare (EW) capabilities.

Optical approaches provide greatly increased frequency coverage and long distance low-loss transfer of analog signals when compared to traditional Radio Frequency (RF) systems, resulting in substantial performance improvements. Chip-scale integrated photonics also allows for the potential of extensive reductions in size, weight and power (SWaP) needs.

“U.S. warfighters may soon face adversary systems that use signals outside the traditional EW spectrum, which creates a need for broadband frequency responses beyond the capabilities of conventional RF and digital equipment,” said Chris Ward, a senior research engineer who leads GTRI’s EW photonics development program.  “Photonic advances originating in the telecom world have given us the ability to provide EW, radar and other military systems with unique and advanced performance capabilities.”

Photonics technology uses photons – particles of light – to carry wideband signals used in communications, radar and other applications over optical fiber efficiently over large distances. Photonics-based systems transmit data with far less signal loss than conventional metallic conductors, and encounter little or no electromagnetic interference while propagating through fiber.

Moreover, optical technology can be described as “frequency agnostic” – meaning a fiber-optic cable can carry signals of virtually any RF frequency, given the constraints of the electrical-to-optical and optical-to-electrical conversion process. Electric, current-carrying cables of conventional RF and digital systems can only function within narrow bandwidths on the order of gigahertz (GHz). Most optical components operate with more than 1,000 times the bandwidth, on the order of terahertz (THz).

For example, Ward explained, a user needing to process signals over 100 gigahertz (GHz) of bandwidth can easily find an optical carrier that functions at a center frequency of 193 THz, meaning that only 0.05 percent of total system bandwidth is used. By contrast, RF components using metal conductors typically consume 10 percent to 20 percent of available bandwidth per signal.

“There is an enormous benefit to operating in the optical domain.” he said. “It is typically very difficult for digital and RF electronics to cover a large spectrum instantaneously – they have to switch between multiple components in order to cover a variety of bandwidths. The engineering challenges involved in extending these traditional approaches are becoming increasingly difficult in terms of costs, schedules and SWaP.  In contrast, the ability for a single optical component to perform its function over a large spectrum decreases system complexity and enables modular architectures that can be used to address future requirements.”

Today, Ward explained, sophisticated commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) photonic components, capable of cutting-edge data/signal transport, are widely available. GTRI researchers are using these devices in the development of novel EW architectures that have strong performance advantages.

Ward and his team have produced optical transceivers that can interface readily with existing digital or RF EW equipment. Employing novel photonic integrated circuits (PICs), researchers are building increased performance and flexibility into EW components. The team is currently focused on packaging PICs for integration into existing EW systems.

“There are several challenges in adapting photonics technology for highly specialized EW needs,” Ward said. “But the benefits in terms of the ability to effectively counter future threats, along with substantial cost reduction and greatly improved SWaP factors, make optical approaches highly promising for these applications.”

Source: https://gtri.gatech.edu/casestudy/applying-photonics-electronic-warfare-challenges

Filed Under: Georgia Tech News Tagged With: commercial off-the-shelf, COTS, digital services, DoD, electronic warfare, Georgia Tech, GTRI, photonics, telecommunications

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