EPA | The Contracting Education Academy

July 4, 2019 By AMK

Shoddy contracting practices lead to overbilling at EPA

The Environmental Protection Agency is overpaying contractors due to poor contract management controls, according to an audit released Monday by the agency’s office of inspector general.

The audit—conducted from March 2018 to February 2019—examined 11 of 64 total invoices made through a single task order on a $100 million IT contract awarded in 2011 to SRA International following a response to an anonymous hotline complaint about invoices and payments. According to the audit’s “limited review,” all 11 invoices EPA IG tested within the task order “did not comply with contract requirements,” leading to an overbilling of more than $5,100 paid to the contractor.

“Our limited review noted $5,158.29 for an unallowable fixed fee billed and paid by the EPA,” the audit states. “However, without adequate review of all invoices submitted under [the task order], the EPA does not know whether there are further unallowable costs that it has paid for under the task order.”

The IG cites various reasons issues occurred, including staffing problems, high turnover, poor contract file management disorganization and inadequate oversight.

Keep reading article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/05/shoddy-contracting-practices-lead-overbilling-epa/157143/

October 9, 2018 By AMK

Increased security risks may constitute a cardinal change to a contract

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once explained that there are the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Some greeted that gnomic pronouncement with bemused smiles.

**Army Expeditionary Contracting Command**

But contractors operating in a contingency environment know exactly what he was talking about.

No mere mortal can accurately predict, much less price, all of the risks involved in supporting and accompanying the military in various hot spots around the world. Planate Management Group, LLC v. United States, a case currently before the Court of Federal Claims (COFC), is a good example.

In Planate, a contractor providing support services in Afghanistan has asserted claims for the cost of arming its in-theater personnel when the security situation changed dramatically for the worse.

In light of deteriorating security conditions in Afghanistan, including a fatal insider attack, the military issued a new security directive. To comply with that directive, the contractor purchased weapons to arm its in-theater personnel. The contractor submitted a claim to recover the costs of arming its personnel. The government denied the contractor’s claim, and the contractor filed suit at the COFC, alleging (among other things) that the changed security conditions amounted to a cardinal change. The COFC denied the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the contractor had properly presented its claim for a cardinal change to the contracting officer (CO).

Claims for cardinal changes to the contract are rarely successful. Although the court considered only whether it had jurisdiction to hear Planate’s allegations and has not yet addressed the merits of Planate’s cardinal change theory, the case offers an interesting and potentially promising approach for contractors to recover when they experience major changes to the circumstances under which they are performing.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=740122

August 30, 2016 By AMK

Why agile is still so hard for the government

Getting more of the federal government to buy agile technology services will be anything but quick, analysts say.

Transition to Agile In the past couple years, pockets of the federal government have tried to promote agile software development, a process in which customers and coders work closely on small chunks of larger tech projects, rapidly spinning out and testing prototypes.

One example is the General Services Administration’s tech consultancy team, 18F, which debuted a pre-approved list of vendors who specialize in this methodology; other groups, including the Homeland Security Department, are following suit. Many private-sector tech recruits, including members of 18F, have made it their mission to eliminate the waterfall approach, in which a product’s requirements are decided upfront and then revisited, often years later, after launch.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2016/08/government-has-way-go-agile/131034

September 17, 2014 By AMK

GAO says federal agencies need better oversight of contractor-operated systems

Congressional investigators found that several federal agencies are not consistently overseeing security and privacy measures for information systems operated by contractors.

In reviewing six selected agencies, the Government Accountability Office said the agencies generally established security and privacy requirements and had plans to assess the effectiveness of contractor-operated systems. But five of the agencies were inconsistent in such reviews.

For example, the GAO report released Sept. 9, 2014 said Transportation Department officials responsible for system testing didn’t evaluate whether seven contractor employees had the required background investigation.

“When they did so in response to our audit, they found that three of them did not,” GAO investigators said. “Officials stated that they subsequently removed system access rights for the three contractor employees until their background investigations had been completed.”

Besides DOT, GAO also reviewed the Energy, Homeland Security, and State departments as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and Office of Personnel Management.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernmentit.com/story/gao-says-federal-agencies-need-better-oversight-contractor-operated-systems/2014-09-10

April 4, 2014 By AMK

Scam targets GSA schedule holders using spoofed federal email addresses

The General Services Administration’s schedules program has been victimized by spear phishing attacks costing vendors more than $1.5 million, and law enforcement officials say, is increasing.

GSA alerted Schedule 70 and 75 vendors Wednesday that since July 2012 the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency and GSA inspectors general have been investigating a series of fraudulent orders placed online to GSA vendors from criminals posing as federal contracting officials, according to an email to Schedule-70 and 75 vendors, which Federal News Radio obtained.

The hackers ordered HP printer toner cartridges using official federal employee email credentials but fake phone telephone numbers and stolen credit cards.

Law enforcement officials now say scammers are targeting orders for laptop computers, though it’s unclear if these two cases are related. But GSA said “there are some significant similarities and we’re following up on investigative leads to make further determinations.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/490/3595717/Scam-targets-GSA-schedule-holders-using-spoofed-federal-email-addresses

The Environmental Protection Agency is overpaying contractors due to poor contract management controls, according to an audit released Monday by the agency’s office of inspector general.

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once explained that there are the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns. Some greeted that gnomic pronouncement with bemused smiles.

Getting more of the federal government to buy agile technology services will be anything but quick, analysts say.

Search this Website