FAR | The Contracting Education Academy

May 15, 2020 By cs

OTAs: Best practices to enable success

Imagine this. The Defense Department had an urgent need for armored vehicles to protect warfighters from new threats during a time of war.

The Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) family of vehicles — procured through “other transaction authority” — provides protection from improvised explosive devices, rocket-propelled grenades, explosively formed penetrators, underbody mines and small arms fire threats. Photo credit: U.S. Army

By applying a unique and tailored acquisition approach with specific attention to time and similar solutions already available in the commercial marketplace, it successfully started fielding new vehicles only 18 months after identifying the warfighter need.

The program referenced here was the mine-resistant ambush protected vehicle program, which began in 2006. Was the program a success? Absolutely. Was it a risk-free or perfect solution? No. Although the MRAP program was timely in helping mitigate the threat and associated warfighter casualties, there were challenges related to operating field conditions, training, sustainment, transportation and costs. The program, however, ultimately enabled the creation of other military vehicles that are still widely used today and supports how tailored acquisition approaches can produce successful outcomes.

A popular and continuously growing phenomenon within the department is the other transaction authority, or OTA. It permits Defense Department entities to award OTA agreements for research, prototyping and production efforts critical to national security. They are not an acquisition approach or strategy; however, they are flexible options that can support an acquisition approach or strategy.

Given leadership’s priorities for the increased application of adaptive acquisition methods, it is highly likely OTAs will be a key ingredient for success.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/4/15/other-transactions-best-practices-to-enable-success

May 12, 2020 By cs

Cyber and other transaction agreements

Rapid acquisitions for prototypes and experimental technology will be subject to the Defense Department’s unified cybersecurity standard, according to Katie Arrington, DoD’s chief information security officer for acquisition.

Arrington said DoD’s upcoming implementation of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification will apply to other transaction agreements — a rapid contract mechanism frequently used to help develop and field prototypes.

“In an OTA, in the technical specs, they can actually call it out and say what they want,” said Arrington during an April 29 NextGov webinar on CMMC.

OTAs are meant to speed the government buying process and allow DoD to buy new capabilities faster by allowing officials to sidestep competitive bidding in certain cases. But there’s ample worry of potential overuse, which could invite congressional scrutiny.

Arrington’s comments come as DoD has begun pushing for the use of OTAs to find and execute on solutions that can help treat or prevent the spread of coronavirus. Ellen Lord, DoD’s acquisition chief, issued a memo in early April to ease the OTA process by delegating contracting authorities to heads of agencies and combatant commanders during the pandemic.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2020/04/30/cmmc-ota-cyber-williams.aspx

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/

May 5, 2020 By cs

Navy hoping to keep some acquisition momentum during COVID-19

The Navy says the way it is procuring goods and services during the COVID-19 outbreak may help quicken acquisitions later on during the crisis and keep programs on target for whenever it ends.

Speaking at the recent virtual Sea Air Space Conference, Navy acquisition chief James Geurts said the service is injecting money into the acquisition system to keep companies liquid with cash so they can stay afloat. The Navy is also speeding up contract awards.

“We are going to apply all the things we’ve learned during this to accelerate during the recovery phase because ships still need to come out on time,” Geurts said. “We’ve got to do the maintenance, we’ve got to continue to supply lethal capabilities to our sailors and marines and we can’t afford to lag the recovery.”

Geurts said he does not foresee the crisis affecting the Navy’s priorities after things return to normal. The Navy still wants at least 350 ships and it wants to field its Columbia-class submarine. The trick is keeping everything on schedule or close to it through the coronavirus outbreak.

“What’s important is that we don’t let the delay and disruption carry any further than it has to into the execution of our programs,” Geurts said. “There will be delay and disruption. The program teams have looked hard into where we were prior to this crisis so we can separate issues we had going in from issues caused by the crisis.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/navy/2020/04/navy-hoping-to-keep-some-acquisition-momentum-during-covid-19/

May 1, 2020 By cs

DoD expects three month acquisition delays, billions in payouts to contractors

The Defense Department will suffer serious setbacks on developing weapons and pay companies billions of dollars in relief funds as a result of COVID-19.

The Pentagon expects a three-month delay across the board for major acquisition programs, putting a kink in systems like the Ford Class Aircraft Carrier, the Columbia Class Ballistics Missile Submarine and the Next Generation Operational Control System.

“Particularly, we see a slowdown in the shipyards,” Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters Monday at the Pentagon. “Aviation is the most highly impacted sector that we have. Right now there isn’t any specific COVID penalty that we see for a specific program; however, we do anticipate a three-month slowdown in terms of execution.”

Lord said DoD is now starting to look at key procurement milestones that may be impacted by the delays.

Meanwhile, DoD is just beginning to take into account the amount of money in relief funds it will have to pay out to companies unable to do government work because of the coronavirus.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/04/dod-expects-three-month-acquisition-delays-billions-in-payouts-to-contractors/

April 29, 2020 By cs

Emergency acquisitions group at center of GSA’s coronavirus response

For the General Services Administration, the surge in contracting to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and now the fourth stimulus bill is business as usual.

Even with the activation of its emergency acquisitions group and new authorities, the Federal Acquisition Service is striking the balance between helping the Department of Health and Human Services, FEMA and other agencies, and pushing forward with key modernization initiatives.

Julie Dunne, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service at GSA, said that contracting officers and other acquisition employees are meeting all the demands coming from multiple directions.

“I’ve heard from customers and other folks that GSA has not missed a beat in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. A lot of that is due to our telework capability and, in large part, the GSA IT shop has just been phenomenal,” Dunne said in an exclusive interview with Federal News Network. “Things we are seeing a lot of demand for, you won’t be surprised to hear, medical equipment, hand sanitizer and masks. We also are doing a lot in the IT world in terms of trying to support other agencies with telework capacity.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/acquisition/2020/04/emergency-acquisitions-group-at-center-of-gsas-coronavirus-response/

Imagine this. The Defense Department had an urgent need for armored vehicles to protect warfighters from new threats during a time of war.

Rapid acquisitions for prototypes and experimental technology will be subject to the Defense Department’s unified cybersecurity standard, according to Katie Arrington, DoD’s chief information security officer for acquisition.

The Navy says the way it is procuring goods and services during the COVID-19 outbreak may help quicken acquisitions later on during the crisis and keep programs on target for whenever it ends.

The Defense Department will suffer serious setbacks on developing weapons and pay companies billions of dollars in relief funds as a result of COVID-19.

For the General Services Administration, the surge in contracting to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and now the fourth stimulus bill is business as usual.

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