funding | The Contracting Education Academy

November 6, 2020 By cs

Administration adds 16 months to transition from DUNS to Unique ID

The General Services Administration will extend Dun & Bradstreet’s services while agencies get more time to patch and test systems.

GSA pushed the deadline for adopting a new identifier for non-governmental organizations receiving funds from the government, giving federal agencies and contractors another 16 months to patch and test their systems.

The government is shifting from the DUNS number — the unique identifier for every organization doing business with the government since 1962 — to the Unique Entity Identifier. Agencies were originally expected to make the switch by December 2020 but have been given an extension to April 2022.

However, federal officials tell Nextgov the deadline extension will only help if agencies and organizations are able to use DUNS and UEI numbers at the same time during a testing period, which might be possible under the revised timeline.

Procurement, grants and financial reporting executives across the government were scrambling to meet the December 2020 deadline to turn off an almost 60-year standard for identifying organizations doing business with the government and switch to a brand new system introduced last year.

“This is a pretty unique business problem,” an agency official working through the transition told Nextgov. “This is not just large-scale system modernization. This is the most interdependent thing about doing business between the federal government and a non-federal entity—it’s at the heart of it.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/analytics-data/2020/10/administration-adds-16-months-transition-duns-unique-id/169636/

July 2, 2019 By AMK

Thornberry unveils potential punishments for DoD’s slow implementation of acquisition reforms

After spearheading the passage of dozens of reforms to the defense acquisition system over the last five years, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) is proposing some measures to speed up the Defense Department’s implementation of those changes.

In a draft bill, which may be folded into the committee’s version of the 2020 defense authorization legislation, Thornberry is proposing a handful of measures to quicken DoD’s execution of its new powers and hasten efficiencies mandated by Congress in previous laws.

“The Pentagon’s record of implementing important reforms is mixed. This year, Thornberry’s bill is focused on compelling DoD to implement those reforms Congress has already passed into law,” a factsheet from Thornberry’s office states.

One of the more dramatic provisions in the bill prods DoD into reforming its fourth estate — the agencies that do not fall under military services. The 2019 defense authorization act mandated the Pentagon come up with a plan to reduce the fourth estate by 25%. DoD’s report to Congress was late and Thornberry felt it was inadequate and failed to identify mandatory savings.

Keep reading article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2019/05/thornberry-unveils-potential-punishments-for-dods-slow-implementation-of-acquisition-reforms

January 11, 2018 By AMK

Why care that Congress does not pass appropriations bills on time?

The federal government’s fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2017. As of the date of this post, that was 101 days ago. There is still no budget for the full year, just a continuing resolution (CR) that expires on Jan. 19.

So what is a CR? The Government Accountability Office (GAO) defines it as: “An appropriation act that provides budget authority for federal agencies, specific activities, or both to continue in operation when Congress and the president have not completed action on the regular appropriation acts by the beginning of the fiscal year.” In recent years, we could also define it as “business as usual.” Some folks look at that and say “no problem.” They think that government spends too much anyway, so slowing down government spending is a good thing.

That might make sense if operating the government on continuing resolutions and last-minute omnibus spending bills actually saved money for the taxpayers. Sadly, the opposite is true. Not having a funded budget on Oct. 1 means agencies have to do countless workarounds, many of which cost money. Here are just a few examples of the problems created by the lack of timely appropriations.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/commentary/2018/01/why-care-that-congress-does-not-pass-appropriations-bills-on-time/

January 4, 2018 By AMK

The 2018 NDAA in detail

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017, President Trump signed the fiscal year 2018 (FY18) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law (Pub. L. 115-91).

An annual defense policy bill, the NDAA is a critical piece of legislation for the contracting community because it provides the funding authority for programs and activities of the Department of Defense (DoD), the largest procurer of goods and services within the US government.

In addition, the NDAA is a vehicle for encouraging in some cases, and requiring in others, changes to both DoD and government-wide procurement practices. As the NDAA moved through the legislative process, Dentons and other commentators analyzed proposed provisions, some of which were adopted as written or in a revised form, and many of which were not included in the final bill.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/658624

April 13, 2017 By AMK

Pentagon needs to set clear goals to improve acquisition workforce

A Defense Department program aimed at improving the quality of the Pentagon’s acquisition workforce needs to establish concrete time frames and metrics for measuring success, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found.

Congress established the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund in 2008 to provide Pentagon officials with a dedicated funding source to recruit, train and retain skilled staff — the program managers, contracting officers, engineers, cost estimators and others who award and administer more than $250 billion in contracts annually. Steep personnel cuts in previous years had left the department heavily reliant on contractors, and lawmakers were concerned that Defense wasn’t effectively managing its programs.

But for years, the department struggled to allocate funds in a timely way, in part because the bulk of money for the fund is contributed by Defense agencies and the military services based on what those components spend on contract services. It took as long as 24 months to remit the payments through the comptroller, which resulted in considerable delays.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2017/04/pentagon-needs-set-clear-goals-improve-acquisition-workforce/136786/

The General Services Administration will extend Dun & Bradstreet’s services while agencies get more time to patch and test systems.

After spearheading the passage of dozens of reforms to the defense acquisition system over the last five years, House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) is proposing some measures to speed up the Defense Department’s implementation of those changes.

The federal government’s fiscal year began on Oct. 1, 2017. As of the date of this post, that was 101 days ago. There is still no budget for the full year, just a continuing resolution (CR) that expires on Jan. 19.

On Tuesday, December 12, 2017, President Trump signed the fiscal year 2018 (FY18) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law (Pub. L. 115-91).

A Defense Department program aimed at improving the quality of the Pentagon’s acquisition workforce needs to establish concrete time frames and metrics for measuring success, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found.

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