DFAR | The Contracting Education Academy

November 12, 2019 By cs

FBO no mo’

Today, beta.SAM.gov became the official source for federal business opportunities, replacing FBO.gov.

**This is the message visitors now see at FBO.gov.**

FBO, which stood for Federal Business Opportunities (or the shortened term FedBizOpps), contained a list of virtually every federal contract valued at more than $25,000. These contracts can now be found in the “Contract Opportunities” section of beta.SAM.gov.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is in charge of beta.SAM.gov. GSA’s vision for the merged databases is “a ‘family tree’ that organizes federal government users and establishes relationships between each department/independent agency’s sub-tiers and its offices.”

Visitors who attempt to go to FBO.gov are automatically rerouted to fbohome.sam.gov which provides notice that FBO has moved.

In visiting the new site today, we encountered long delays in connecting to beta.SAM.gov as well as to its Contract Opportunities page at beta.sam.gov/help/contract-opportunities. Users encountered similar delays when GSA last month moved the FARSite operated since 1996 by Hill Air Force Base to GSA-managed Acquisition.gov. Because of high traffic, GSA had to delay the transition from Oct. 1 to Oct. 21.

Links on beta.SAM.gov appear to be working, but users will experience delays in moving from one page to another and in downloading documents. Notably, we had to make multiple attempts to open the “FBO Transition Guide for Federal Administrators.” The Guide provides instructions to federal officials on how to post contract opportunities and related information to beta.SAM.gov. We encountered similar delays when trying to open various “Quick Start” guides.

The shift of FBO.gov to beta.SAM.gov is part of a larger merger of many legacy systems into one database. Previously, “Wage Determinations Online” and the “Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance” were shifted into beta.SAM.gov.

October 14, 2019 By cs

DAU reports on shutdown of Hill AFB’s FARSite

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) has issued a status report on the migration of FAR search features from Hill Air Force Base’s FARSite to GSA’s Acquisition.gov site.

According to DAU, here is the latest summary of recent and planned activities to shut down the FARSite on Oct. 28, 2019:

Oct. 1 – The General Services Administration (GSA) deployed the new Acquisition.gov site. The new site adds all agency FAR supplements. The added content and user load caused the site to become unresponsive, so the plan to redirect FARSite traffic to the GSA site was put on hold.
Oct. 2-3 – GSA’s IT organization added computing resources to the Acquisition.gov site to better handle the increased traffic. The site proved to be responsive but still would not support the FARSite’s user base.
Oct. 10-11 – GSA made plans to put the Acquisition.gov site under the management of Akamai Technologies, an Internet content publishing service, to better handle the increased traffic. (The Defense Information Systems Agency contracts with Akamai to host public DoD web sites. FARSite currently uses Akamai, and 83% of FARSite’s current traffic is handled by Akamai.)
Oct. 17 – A go/no go decision will likely be made at the weekly FARSite transition meeting. (Representatives from GSA, DAU, and the Air Force’s offices of Acquisition, Materiel Command, and Life Cycle Management/Business Systems Sustainment attend these meetings.)
Oct. 18 – With a go decision, Akamai will receive a request to redirect FARSite traffic to Acquisition.gov. Redirect rules will send users to the specific FAR part on the Acquisition.gov site which they were trying to access on FARSite.
Oct. 21 – The redirect will prevent access to FARSite so that it may be turned off and decommissioned.
Oct. 28 – Hill AFB is expected to turn off FARSite in support of an upcoming Command Cyber Readiness Inspection.

The Defense Pricing and Contracting office has advised against inserting DoD Class Deviation links within the relevant FAR sections at the Acquisition.gov site. An alternate plan to link to Class Deviations from the GSA site is being considered.

September 27, 2011 By AMK

Contractors ordered to post DOD fraud hotline info

Make room on the bulletin board near contractor coffee makers and break rooms.

The Defense Department now requires its defense contractors to post the DOD inspector general’s fraud hotline posters in common work areas. The rule took affect Sept. 16, according to a notice in the Federal Register the same day.

The DOD IG didn’t think the old rules went far enough because the Federal Acquisition Regulation allowed a contractor to not post any other agency’s hotline numbers other than those of the Homeland Security Department if the company had its own business ethics program with a means of reporting fraud or waste.

However, the DOD IG believes the FAR might be limiting the use of its own hotline. Without a poster, an employee wouldn’t know the IG’s phone number.

“According to the DOD IG, some contractors’ posters may not be as effective as the DOD poster in advertising the hotline number, which is integral to the fraud program,” the notice explained. The DOD IG is also revising its poster to tell employees of federal whistleblower protections.

The rule amends the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement, or DFARS.

In response to the proposal in May, some experts were concerned that the new hotline posters could replace the contractor as the first line of defense against waste and fraud. It would also get the IG involved in what often turns out to be human resource issues or concerns about day-to-day activities that may need immediate attention.

But the IG said its staff knows the difference between an urgent matter about a defense contract and a routine personnel issue.

The rule applies to contracts and subcontracts that exceed $5 million. It does not apply to purchases of commercial items or for work that will be performed entirely outside the United States if the contract exceeds $5 million.

About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement at Washington Technology. This article appeared on Sept. 19, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/09/19/dod-ig-required-fraud-hotline-posters.aspx?s=wtdaily_200911.

Today, beta.SAM.gov became the official source for federal business opportunities, replacing FBO.gov.

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) has issued a status report on the migration of FAR search features from Hill Air Force Base’s FARSite to GSA’s Acquisition.gov site.

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