HUD | The Contracting Education Academy

October 26, 2018 By AMK

USDA saved millions so far due to ‘Centers of Excellence’

Less than one year into the White House Centers of Excellence initiative, the first pilot agency is already saving money.

“So far, we’ve realized around $26 million in cost avoidance and savings and now we’re moving on to phase 2, which is the actual implementation of the plan we developed over the past six months,” said Agriculture Department Deputy Secretary Stephen Censky, speaking last week at the Imagine Nation conference in Philadelphia.

The two-phase CoE effort focuses on five areas: customer experience, cloud adoption, infrastructure optimization, contact centers and service delivery analytics.

The first phase of the program focused on developing the modernization strategy for those key areas through a collaboration between personnel from the General Services Administration, Agriculture and consulting partners brought in through contracts.

The second phase, which Agriculture will now undertake, involves carrying out the strategy and implementing the tech tools and services the department purchases.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/10/usda-saved-millions-so-far-due-centers-excellence/152063/

December 15, 2016 By AMK

GAO loses jurisdiction over task order protests valued at more than $10 million

Government contractors hoping to challenge a civilian agency’s award of a task or delivery order may be out of luck, at least temporarily.

GAO-GovernmentAccountabilityOffice-Seal Prior to September 30, 2016, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) had exclusive jurisdiction over protests of civilian task and delivery orders valued at more than $10 million under multiple-award IDIQ contracts. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2008 amended the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) to grant GAO this jurisdiction, Pub. L. No. 110-181, 122 Stat. 3, 237 (2008); the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2012 then established a sunset date for this jurisdiction of September 30, 2016 (41 U.S.C. § 4106(f)). Any such protests filed after September 30, 2016, are now outside GAO’s jurisdiction, regardless of when the underlying contract was awarded (41 U.S.C. § 4106(f)). However, contractors retain the right to protest military task and delivery orders valued over $10 million (10 U.S.C. § 2304c(e)), as well as civilian or military task and delivery orders which they allege increased the scope, period, or maximum value of the underlying contract (id. and 41 U.S.C. § 4106(f)).

The Court of Federal Claims’ jurisdiction, which is limited to civilian or military task order protests that allege increased scope, period, or maximum value of the underlying contract, is unaffected by the NDAA sunset provision (10 U.S.C. § 2304c(e); 41 U.S.C. § 4106(f)).

Ryan Consulting Group, Inc., of Indianapolis, Indiana, bore the brunt of the jurisdictional sunset in a GAO decision issued November 7, 2016 (B-414014). Ryan, one of the multiple-award contract holders, was protesting a task order award by Department of Housing and Urban Development under a multiple-award, IDIQ contract with the National Institutes of Health. The task order for enterprise architecture and information technology management support services was valued at more than $10 million. Ryan did not allege any increase in scope, period, or maximum value of the underlying contract, so GAO had no other basis for jurisdiction. GAO dismissed Ryan’s protest, filed October 14, 2016, for lack of jurisdiction, and noted that GAO has no authority to “grandfather” any protests.

Two pieces of pending legislation could reinstate GAO’s jurisdiction.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=549892

March 12, 2015 By AMK

Government spent less on contracts in 2014 than it did the previous year

Federal spending on government contracts decreased in 2014, with the Defense Department seeing the biggest overall decline, according to a March 3 report from Govini, a business consulting company for government contractors.

Govini, each year, releases a federal scorecard that tallies and analyzes data on federal contract spending and agency performance.

The scorecard, which was released to reporters, shows that overall contract spending from the federal government was down 4 percent in 2014 compared to 2013.

The DoD saw the greatest overall decrease in dollars spent, with a nearly $9 billion year-over-year decrease in both the Navy and Army.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/report-government-spent-less-contracts-2014-it-did-previous-year/2015-03-05

May 1, 2014 By AMK

7 agencies where contract spending sped up despite the sequester

Overall, the federal government’s spending on contracts was down 11 percent last year, Bloomberg reported April 22, 2014.

The sequester, other budget cuts, and the drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan took a toll on spending at 12 of 19 major agencies, with Defense Department spending down nearly 15 percent over fiscal 2012 and business with the U.S. Agency for International Development down 17 percent.

But seven departments managed to buck the general downward trend. They are:

1) Homeland Security (2.1 percent increase over fiscal 2012)

2) Health and Human Services (4.6 percent increase)

3) Veterans Affairs (5.3 percent increase)

4) Justice (7 percent increase)

5) Housing and Urban Development (9.5 percent increase)

6) Treasury (16.4 percent increase)

7) Education (27 percent increase)

This article may be found at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2014/04/7-agencies-where-contract-spending-sped-despite-sequester/82987

March 18, 2014 By AMK

Strategic sourcing’s impact on small biz needs measurement and monitoring, GAO says

“Strategic sourcing” is a method used by the federal government to improve procurement efficiency by moving away from numerous individual procurements toward a broader aggregate approach. Since 2005, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has encouraged federal agencies to use strategic sourcing.

Now, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a report on how strategic sourcing affects small businesses, including small disadvantaged businesses. The report discusses: (1) how OMB, GSA, and selected agencies have considered small businesses in their strategic sourcing efforts, and (2) the extent to which data and performance measures are available on the inclusion of small businesses in strategic sourcing initiatives.

In its review, GAO found that OMB and the General Services Administration (GSA) have developed guidance on strategic sourcing that stresses the importance of including small businesses. GAO’s review of documentation for three ongoing government-wide strategic sourcing initiatives showed that GSA considered the inclusion of small businesses in the strategic sourcing process. For example, when developing strategic sourcing initiatives for office supplies and print management, GSA identified the current market share of small businesses with these products and also set aside specific contracts for various categories of small businesses, such as service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. In addition, GAO’s review of agency-wide strategic sourcing initiatives at each of five agencies — Departments of Defense (DOD), specifically Army and the Defense Logistics Agency; Homeland Security (DHS); Housing and Urban Development (HUD); and the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) — showed that the agencies generally considered the inclusion of small businesses.

However, data and performance measures that would provide a more precise understanding of the inclusion of small and disadvantaged businesses in strategic sourcing initiatives are limited. GAO’s specific findings include:

Although GSA has collected baseline data on proposed government-wide initiatives, it has not developed a performance measure to determine changes in small business participation going forward.
DHS has collected some data on contracts awarded to small businesses under strategic sourcing initiatives, but it and the other agencies in GAO’s review generally did not have baseline data and performance measures to determine how small businesses were affected by strategic sourcing. OMB guidance requires agencies to establish baselines for small business participation prior to implementing strategic sourcing and set goals for small business participation.
In addition, federal internal control standards state that information is needed to determine whether the agency is achieving its compliance requirements under various laws and regulations. Without baseline data and performance measures, the effect of strategic sourcing initiatives on small businesses will be difficult to determine.
Moreover, OMB has not monitored agencies’ compliance in reporting baseline data and performance measures on the inclusion of small businesses in government-wide and agency-wide strategic sourcing initiatives. OMB required agencies to submit annual reports on the implementation of strategic sourcing from fiscal years 2005 through 2007 and prepare information for acquisition status sessions from fiscal years 2010 through 2012. (No reporting was in place for fiscal years 2008 or 2009.) However, virtually none of this information included baseline data or measures of the effect of strategic sourcing on small businesses.
Federal internal control standards state that effective monitoring should assess the quality of performance over time. Without effective monitoring, it will be difficult for OMB to help ensure that agencies are tracking the impact of strategic sourcing on small businesses.

As a part of its report, GAO made recommendations to GSA, selected agencies, and OMB to improve data collection and performance measures related to the inclusion of small businesses in strategic sourcing. DOD, DHS, GSA, HUD, and OMB agreed with GAO’s recommendation. Interior partially agreed, suggesting that a more effective approach would be to work with OMB and other agencies to develop common approaches. NASA disagreed, stating it already tracks related spending for the agency. GAO believes its recommendations remain valid as discussed in the report.

To download the complete report, click here.

Less than one year into the White House Centers of Excellence initiative, the first pilot agency is already saving money.

Government contractors hoping to challenge a civilian agency’s award of a task or delivery order may be out of luck, at least temporarily.

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