Education Dept. | The Contracting Education Academy

February 15, 2019 By AMK

Trump to finally nominate OFPP administrator

After more than 25 months and at least two misfires, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy is a step closer to having a full-time, Senate-confirmed administrator.

President Donald Trump today announced his intent to nominate Michael Wooten, the senior advisor for acquisitions at the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office.

If confirmed by the Senate, Wooten would replace Anne Rung, who resigned as OFPP administrator in October 2016.

Since the start of the Trump administration, at least two other candidates didn’t make it through the vetting process and Emily Murphy, who many thought was the perfect candidate to be OFPP administrator, ended up coming in as the administrator of the General Services Administration.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2019/02/trump-to-finally-nominate-ofpp-administrator/

May 1, 2014 By AMK

7 agencies where contract spending sped up despite the sequester

Overall, the federal government’s spending on contracts was down 11 percent last year, Bloomberg reported April 22, 2014.

The sequester, other budget cuts, and the drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan took a toll on spending at 12 of 19 major agencies, with Defense Department spending down nearly 15 percent over fiscal 2012 and business with the U.S. Agency for International Development down 17 percent.

But seven departments managed to buck the general downward trend. They are:

1) Homeland Security (2.1 percent increase over fiscal 2012)

2) Health and Human Services (4.6 percent increase)

3) Veterans Affairs (5.3 percent increase)

4) Justice (7 percent increase)

5) Housing and Urban Development (9.5 percent increase)

6) Treasury (16.4 percent increase)

7) Education (27 percent increase)

This article may be found at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2014/04/7-agencies-where-contract-spending-sped-despite-sequester/82987

September 6, 2012 By AMK

Sequestration would cost civilian agencies $39 billion, contractor group says

Nondefense agencies would be hit with $39 billion in top-line budget cuts if the current law’s threat of sequestration kicks in on Jan. 2, 2013, according to new calculations by the Professional Services Council, a contractors trade group.

Though Congress and the White House could still reach a budget deal and head off the 2011 Budget Control Act’s requirement of across-the-board reductions, industry groups have been sounding the alarm about the short- and long-term harm the indiscriminate cuts would impose — particularly in defense.

In a pivot to the civilian agency side, the council recently analyzed sequestration’s likely impact on 16 nondefense agencies for fiscal 2013. It assumed that Congress will pass a six-month continuing resolution, as expected, and that fiscal 2012 enacted levels form the basis for applying the cuts.

Keep eading this article at http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/08/sequestration-would-cost-civilian-agencies-39-billion-contractor-group-says/57816/?oref=management_agenda_nl

August 23, 2010 By AMK

Education Department revamps obsolete acquisition regulations

Education Department officials are reviewing their purchasing regulations, which have not been updated in 23 years, according to a new notice.

A number of provisions in the Education Department Acquisition Regulation are outdated or obsolete because of changes in the law and rules since 1987. The department’s regulations are old enough that they don’t deal with governmentwide rules on buying information technology, according to a notice in today’s Federal Register.

Officials are accepting comments on the changes through Sept. 22.

Officials are proposing language to require all solicitations for IT hardware and software be capable of working in an IPv6 environment and to ensure that any system on which software is developed and operated complies with the Federal Desktop Core Configuration, according to the notice. The configuration is a governmentwide standard for computer security settings to protect agencies’ information.

These proposed changes are intended to apply the IT initiatives and standards developed in the past several years by the IT industry and the government, including the Office of Management and Budget, the notice states.

Among numerous other proposed changes, contracting officers would be required to send out more information to the public when considering a sole-source award. The changes also would clarify terminology and describe procedures for how Education officials would suspend or debar contractors, according to the notice.

— by Matthew Weigelt – Aug. 23, 2010 – Federal Computer Week

After more than 25 months and at least two misfires, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy is a step closer to having a full-time, Senate-confirmed administrator.

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