GAO | The Contracting Education Academy

November 12, 2020 By cs

DoD’s $7.2 billion moving contract included ‘pervasive’ violations of procurement rules

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) overturned the Defense Department’s $7.2 billion contract to move service members’ household goods around the world because of what the independent bid arbiter called “pervasive” errors in the contracting process that prejudiced two losing bidders, according to two newly-released legal decisions.

GAO found U.S. Transportation Command, the agency responsible for the new Global Household Goods contract (GHC), ran afoul of federal contracting rules in no less than five key areas, beginning with serious questions about whether TRANSCOM’s chosen bidder, American Roll-On Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC), was eligible to win the contract in the first place.

The redacted decisions shed new light on the office’s rationale for telling TRANSCOM it should reevaluate bids in the GHC procurement. GAO first announced its verdict in two protests that challenged the GHC award on Oct. 21.

Both of the losing bidders who protested the contract award — HomeSafe Alliance and Connected Global Solutions — alleged that ARC wasn’t eligible for the contract because its parent company had a recent history of criminal and civil misconduct that it failed to disclose.

GAO didn’t explicitly agree with that position, but did find that TRANSCOM hadn’t done nearly enough of an investigation to credibly come to the conclusion that ARC was a responsible contractor.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-news/2020/11/dods-7-2b-moving-contract-included-pervasive-violations-of-procurement-rules/

October 30, 2020 By cs

GAO: DHS chief acquisition officer must improve vetting of components’ procurement executives

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report stating that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) chief acquisition officer needs to improve the assessment of DHS units’ component acquisition executives (CAE).

In its report, GAO says that the DHS chief acquisition officer selects CAEs that handle DHS components’ acquisition-related policies, workforce, data collection and reporting functions.

Components such as the U.S. Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have implemented CAE vetting procedures, according to GAO.

However, the watchdog said that four out of five CAEs in the DHS Management Directorate, including three acting CAEs, “have not been subjected to this process.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.executivegov.com/2020/10/gao-dhs-chief-acquisition-officer-must-improve-vetting-of-components-procurement-executives/

October 29, 2020 By cs

Pentagon loses 2 bid protests that challenged $7 billion moving contract

The Pentagon will likely need to redo its award of a $7.2 billion contract intended to transform the military’s household goods moving system after two losing bidders won their cases before an independent arbiter on last week.

The Government Accountability Office agreed with numerous challenges two losing bidders brought after U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) awarded the contract to American Roll-On-Roll-Off Carrier Group (ARC), pulled the contract back for corrective action, changed its mind on the need for corrective action and then re-awarded the contract to the same firm.

GAO hasn’t yet released the full text of its decisions in the bid protests, saying they need to be scrubbed of procurement-sensitive information before they’re made public. But a statement the office issued Wednesday indicated the protest arbiter agreed with nearly all of the legal issues the protesters raised — a highly unusual circumstance in a government bid protest.

Both protestors — HomeSafe Alliance, LLC and Connected Global Solutions, LLC (CGSL) — had argued that ARC should have been ineligible for the award because of prior misconduct by its parent company. GAO appeared to agree with that position, or at least concluded that TRANSCOM didn’t do enough to verify that ARC was a responsible bidder, according to its statement.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/10/pentagon-loses-two-bid-protests-that-challenged-7-billion-moving-contract/

October 27, 2020 By cs

Federal contractors argue cyber insurance isn’t a safe bet for better security

The idea that a vibrant insurance market could be an industry-friendly cybersecurity solution may be based on a flawed assumption.

**Click on image above to download a copy of PSC’s letter.**

A broad range of federal contractors fear a watchdog report on the government’s role facilitating coverage of cybersecurity risks — included in the House-passed National Defense Authorization Act — will lead to a mandate that their companies hold related insurance policies.

In a recent letter to leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, the Professional Services Council (PSC) opposed a provision in the House bill calling for the Government Accountability Office to produce recommendations after studying the state of the insurance industry and the extent to which it’s tied to minimum standards for cybersecurity.

The provision — Sec. 1710A — doesn’t require federal contractors to have cyber insurance policies, but it is grouped together in the letter with a number of other proposals around cyber threat hunting and intelligence sharing that are based on recommendations of the public-private, nonpartisan, congressionally established Cyberspace Solarium Commission.

The commission’s lawmakers — who represent the political spectrum — are trying to get as many of its recommendations as possible to survive conference negotiations and make it into the final annual defense authorization bill.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2020/10/federal-contractors-argue-cyber-insurance-isnt-safe-bet-better-security/169231/

October 1, 2020 By cs

GAO issues definitive list of most important federal IT acquisitions

The Government Accountability Office scored more than 100 federal IT projects and offered detailed breakdowns of the most “essential mission-critical IT acquisitions.”

**Click on image above to download GAO report.**

With technology now at the center of every aspect of American life, the Government Accountability Office took a look at the state of federal IT acquisitions and came up with a list of the 16 most important technology buys going on right now.

Every federal agency and program office has at least one major IT project in the works, with many juggling several simultaneously. But a report released on Sept. 8 puts a spotlight on major ongoing IT acquisitions that will have the biggest impact on some of the most critical government services like paying taxes, managing biometrics databases, making sure planes don’t crash and maintaining the health of soldiers and veterans.

“Our specific objective was to identify essential mission-critical IT acquisitions across the federal government and determine their key attributes,” GAO auditors wrote.

To find the most important IT acquisitions in government, GAO began by issuing a questionnaire to the 24 agencies covered under the CFO Act. All but one agency — the Defense Department — responded with their five most critical programs, giving auditors a starting list of 98 acquisitions.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/09/gao-reviews-16-most-critical-it-programs-government/168347/

The Pentagon will likely need to redo its award of a $7.2 billion contract intended to transform the military’s household goods moving system after two losing bidders won their cases before an independent arbiter on last week.

The idea that a vibrant insurance market could be an industry-friendly cybersecurity solution may be based on a flawed assumption.

The Government Accountability Office scored more than 100 federal IT projects and offered detailed breakdowns of the most “essential mission-critical IT acquisitions.”

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