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December 14, 2020 By cs

IRS moves to speed up contracting through new procurement research partnership

The Internal Revenue Service recently set sights on introducing new technology-driven capabilities and applying innovative data science techniques to improve and elevate its procurement operations.

And last week, the agency launched a research partnership valued at almost $1 million that marks a deliberate move in that direction.

Through the newly unveiled collaboration, agency officials, university professors and students equipped with procurement and machine learning experience, and members of Virginia-based small business Data and Analytic Solutions will form a multidisciplinary team intended to accelerate the IRS’ contracting and award processes.  It emerges as federal buying largely remains notoriously slow.

“When it comes to contracting, everyone seems to want it faster, cheaper, and better,” IRS Chief Procurement Officer Shanna Webbers told Nextgov over email Tuesday.  “We recognized that we cannot continue to do business as usual and expect a different result.”

With that view top of mind, Webbers’ office earlier this year embarked on what she called “a game-changing transformation” that drew from feedback shared by procurement employees within the agency, as well as its customers and industry partners.  Building on that, the organization is bringing forth new tools and techniques — like data analysis, visualization, and machine learning, among others — to advance how work is performed.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2020/12/irs-moves-speed-contracting-through-new-procurement-research-partnership/170431/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, category management, data analytics, IRS, lead time, machine learning, modernization, PALT, procurement reform, research, streamlined acquisition process, visualization

September 11, 2019 By cs

The aging federal workforce needs ‘new blood,’ experts say

It’s a trend no healthy organization wants to see — a workforce that grows progressively older every year, with diminishing appeal for talented young people.
OPM data. ATLAS graphic via Government Executive.

That’s the position the federal government is in today. The number of workers over 60 is almost double the population under 30.

It’s a problem, said University of Texas Professor Donald Kettl, because it’s not just about replacing the older workers, but replacing them with, “a different kind of workforce for the future” — one prepared to manage in the age of social media and data analytics.

According to the most recent federal workforce data from the Office of Personnel Management, as of June 2018, 14% of the federal workforce is over 60, while just 7.8% is under 30 (out of a population of 2,099,149). Twenty years ago, the over-60 population represented 5.7% of the workforce, while 7.5% of the workforce was under 30.

The chart below illustrates the problem (Government Executive did not include data for workers under 20).

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2019/08/aging-federal-workforce-needs-new-blood-experts-say/159585/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition workforce, baby boomers, data analytics, retirements, social media, workforce

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