Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act | The Contracting Education Academy

June 5, 2019 By AMK

A Pentagon contractor’s 9,400% profit on a half-inch metal pin is challenged

As the Pentagon weighs whether to recommend legislation to require more disclosure by contractors, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform will review the audit and TransDigm’s pricing policies in a hearing on Wednesday.

The inspector general’s report “exposes how a company entrusted with supporting our military men and women took advantage of American taxpayers by overcharging the government more than $16 million” in parts sales sold between 2015 and 2017, Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings said in a statement. The hearing will “investigate whether these pricing issues are more widespread, and demand answers,” he said.

From 2013 through 2015, according to the audit, the contractor increased the price of a valve that opens and closes to change the pressure of fuel moving through an engine to $9,801 from $543. In those years, TransDigm also charged $1,443 each for a “non-vehicular clutch disk” that cost $32 to make.

Planes, Copters

The Pentagon’s inspector general first raised pricing concerns over TransDigm in a 2006 report, followed by the one this year that was released in redacted form in February.

TransDigm manufactures spare parts for airplanes and helicopters including the AH-64 Apache, C-17 Globemaster III, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the CH-47 Chinook. From April 2012 through January 2017, DOD issued 4,942 contracts valued at $471 million to TransDigm.

Liza Sabol, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland-based company, said in an email “that we are not providing comments on specific questions related to the IG report.”

Keep reading article at: http://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2019/05/14/transdigm-pentagon-costs

October 29, 2018 By AMK

Federal Circuit charts new terrain in ‘commercial item’ contracting

Last month, the Federal Circuit weighed in on a largely-overlooked provision in the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) that requires federal agencies, to the maximum extent practicable, to procure commercially available goods and services to meet their needs.

In the case — Palantir USG v. United States — the court affirmed the decision by the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) enjoining the Army from proceeding with its Distributed Common Ground System – Army Increment 2 (DCGS-A2) procurement until it complies with the FASA provision.

This bid protest decision has potentially significant implications for commercial item contractors.

DCGS-A2 is not your average solicitation for an IT system. It is phase two of the Army’s flagship system for processing multi-sensor intelligence — a program that the Army has spent nearly two decades and billions of dollars trying to develop. For several years prior to the release of the DCGS-A2 solicitation, Palantir — the protester — informed the Army that the company already had a commercial item that Palantir believed fit the Army’s requirements. Despite Palantir’s communications regarding the capabilities of its product, the Army issued a single-source indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity solicitation focused on developing a new intelligence data management system — essentially from scratch. Palantir protested the solicitation and argued that it violated FASA’s mandate regarding the use of commercial items.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2018/10/federal-circuit-charts-new-terrain-commercial-item-contracting/

September 24, 2018 By AMK

Federal circuit court confirms agencies’ obligations to prioritize commercial solutions

Palantir USG v. United States may prove to be one of the most significant procurement precedents of the decade.

Affirming the Court of Federal Claims, the Federal Circuit breathed new life into the government’s obligations under the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) to prioritize, to the maximum extent practicable, the acquisition of commercial and nondevelopmental solutions.

Weaning agencies off their historic preference for developmental solutions is critical now more than ever, as it is readily apparent that maintaining the United States’ technological and battlefield superiority depends on its ability to harness technologies from the commercial sector and become a more commercial-friendly business partner.

The decision will have the practical impact of requiring agencies to more carefully document their market research. Palantir will also provide useful leverage for companies seeking to eliminate (whether by negotiation or protest) solicitation provisions that are not accommodating to commercial vendors.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=737610

August 9, 2017 By AMK

Panel urges acquisition system reform

The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) established the Section 809 Panel to address fundamental problems with how the Defense Department acquires goods and services to support its warfighters.

**Starting in 2008, whenever new legislation or regulation debuted that affected government contracting, it was written on a band-aid and stuck to a golf ball. It’s 10 times bigger now.**

It recently released an interim report and supplement advocating in broad strokes for a host of improvements to the acquisition system to better streamline the process and increase industry offerings to the government.

In meeting with over 200 government and industry representatives, the interim report found that the acquisition system creates obstacles that make it unattractive for small and large businesses alike to offer their goods and services to the government. It explained that “the United States’ ability to maintain technological, military and economic superiority is being challenged,” as our adversaries are recognizing vulnerabilities in our forces and the ability to respond through modernization.

Thus, the Pentagon’s acquisition procedures must be improved to achieve “a degree of agility that DoD is not currently able to deliver,” it said.

To achieve this agility, the interim report recommended several improvements.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2017/7/25/panel-urges-acquisition-system-reform

June 9, 2017 By AMK

Congress sending mixed messages on Defense procurement

Think Bold. That’s the slogan of the so-called “Section 809 Panel,” a special commission created by Congress to review the full spate of federal (and defense-unique) acquisition laws, rules and practices.

The goal is to provide lawmakers with a set of recommendations for legislative or administrative redress that will help improve the speed and performance of the defense acquisition system and open its aperture to the full array of available capabilities.

At a recent but little noticed hearing before the House Armed Services Committee, panel chair Deirdre Lee and several of her fellow panelists made eminently clear the need for substantial change, stating outright that the current acquisition system is simply incapable of getting the job done. The pace and scope of technological developments, the changing nature of the requisite workforce, the dramatic shift in technology ownership and leadership, and the numerous regulatory and policy requirements that too often wall the government off from needed solutions were among the reasons the panelists were so unanimous in their belief that truly bold action is required. And that’s exactly what they promised their final report would deliver.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2017/05/congress-sending-mixed-messages-defense-procurement/138203/