DHS | The Contracting Education Academy

August 11, 2020 By cs

DHS seeks permanent flexible acquisition authorities

Temporary acquisition authorities that aid the Department of Homeland Security in getting innovative commercial technologies and goods in response to the COVID-19 crisis should be lasting tools in the department’s acquisition toolbox, the agency’s top acquisition official told a Senate panel.

The DHS other transaction authority (OTA) that allows the agency to conduct pilot projects outside of the traditional competitive bidding regulations expires at the end of each fiscal year.

Soraya Correa, the agency’s chief procurement officer, told lawmakers at a recent hearing of the Senate Finance Committee that she’d like permanent authorization for OTAs.

Similarly, the Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program (CSOP) expires at the end of 2022. Correa would like to see that become a permanent fixture of agency acquisition.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2020/07/29/rockwell-covid-acquisition-dhs.aspx

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 17, 2020 By cs

Homeland Security will use a new procurement pilot program to fight COVID-19

The Department of Homeland Security announced April 9 that it will use a recently established pilot program to procure innovative tools to assist in its fight against the new coronavirus.

The new effort comes on the heels of an April 1 announcement from DHS chief procurement officer Soraya Correa, who said the department will set up a Procurement & Acquisition Innovation Response team to handle the influx of industry inquiries looking to help the department with its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effort will involve DHS’ Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot program, established by the fiscal 2017 defense policy law and kicked off in 2019, which allows DHS to procure new commercial technologies at a faster and more efficient rate.

The department’s needs are broad, ranging from handling the shortage of personal protective equipment to converting logistics operations to support its pandemic response.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fifthdomain.com/govcon/contracting/2020/04/10/homeland-security-will-use-a-new-procurement-pilot-program-to-fight-covid-19/

March 16, 2020 By cs

How coronavirus may effect federal contracts and contractors

In a March 5 letter to agency contractors, Soraya Correa, chief procurement officer at the Department of Homeland Security, told her contracting staff to keep advised of the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines.

According to the CDC, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. It is formally named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Correa told contractors that “if contract performance is affected due to the COVID-19 situation, such as the need for alternate work locations, or travel or schedule changes, the contracting officer is the authority to discuss this with your company.”

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in the nation’s capital within the past week, federal agencies have begun preparations for possible restrictions that could be implemented in response to the epidemic.

“If your employees must travel to affected areas, please have them contact you prior to their return to discuss possible telework or leave options,” she advised. She added that managers have their employees contact them if they’ve been in close contact with a person “known to have COVID-19” or if airport screeners told them to self-quarantine after returning from travel overseas.

The predicted contracting adjustments will continue to change government contracting regulations as COVID-19 remains a prevalent threat. For example, for federal meetings, officials urged contractor attendees to have an alternate representative ready to send, if the primary contractor falls ill.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govconwire.com/2020/03/how-coronavirus-may-effect-federal-contracts-and-contractors-soraya-correa-quoted/

February 28, 2020 By cs

DHS waives contracting rules for border wall

The Department of Homeland Security will waive traditional contracting rules to expedite construction of a wall along sections of the four states on the southern border.

According to a Federal Register notice published Feb. 20, DHS is looking to accelerate the tempo of construction projects in targeted sections of the planned border wall through a broad waiver or requirements of the use of open competition, pricing data, wage determination and other aspects of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

In a Feb. 18 appearance on Fox and Friends, Chad Wolf said a section of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, gives DHS the authority to waive the rules to expedite contracting for the wall. Wolf said the agency has used the same authority to waive environmental rules.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2020/02/18/dhs-waives-border-wall-wolf.aspx

Temporary acquisition authorities that aid the Department of Homeland Security in getting innovative commercial technologies and goods in response to the COVID-19 crisis should be lasting tools in the department’s acquisition toolbox, the agency’s top acquisition official told a Senate panel.

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.

The Department of Homeland Security announced April 9 that it will use a recently established pilot program to procure innovative tools to assist in its fight against the new coronavirus.

The Department of Homeland Security will waive traditional contracting rules to expedite construction of a wall along sections of the four states on the southern border.

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