Innovation | The Contracting Education Academy

July 6, 2018 By cs

18F names acting executive director

The in-house government innovation team 18F has new leadership, as former Director of Strategy Angela Colter has taken over as acting executive director.

Colter announced the promotion on Twitter last Friday, adding that Victor Udoewa would succeed her as director of strategy. Previously, Udoewa served as a senior strategist and deputy director.

An 18F spokeswoman confirmed the staff changes but declined to comment further on personnel issues.

18F was created in 2014 under the General Services Administration to act as an internal consultancy to federal agencies trying to implement new technologies and ideas.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/07/18f-looks-within-next-executive-director/149435/

July 5, 2018 By cs

DoD seeks streamlined procurements of innovative technologies: OTAs and commercial solutions pilot program

The Department of Defense (DoD) has once again emphasized its willingness to engage with commercial companies and other non-traditional contractors to try to expedite and simplify its procurement of innovative technologies.

In particular, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) indicated that it plans to enter directly into Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements, and DoD issued a class deviation for a commercial solutions opening (CSO) pilot program.

These developments, in connection with the continued promotion of OTA agreements by DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit Experimental organization (DIUx), provide commercial companies with additional incentives to enter into creative collaborations with the U.S. Government.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2018/07/dod-seeks-streamlined-procurements-of-innovative-technologies-other-transaction-agreements-and-the-commercial-solutions-opening-pilot-program/

June 29, 2018 By cs

Here’s how not to screw up a $50 billion networking contract

The clock is ticking toward a 2020 deadline for agencies to switch over to the General Services Administration’s massive new contract vehicle for network and telecom services, and federal IT leaders are worried agencies might blow it.

Last year, GSA rolled out the Enterprise Infrastructure Services contract, a $50 billion blanket award that covers governmentwide procurement of traditional networking and telecommunications equipment, as well as a mix of emerging technologies. All agencies are required to transition to EIS by 2020, and the contract could last up to 15 years.

EIS has the potential to streamline innovative tech purchases, boost federal cloud usage and strengthen cybersecurity across the government, top IT officials said at a forum hosted by ACT-IAC, a government and industry organization.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/06/officials-heres-how-not-screw-50-billion-networking-contract/149137/

See GSA’s Enterprise Infrastructure Services fact sheet here: EIS_Fact_Sheet

June 13, 2018 By cs

How SOCOM acquisitions try to be as agile as its warfighters

It’s not easy riding the bleeding edge of warfighter technology and capabilities.

But that’s what U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) does consistently. And it does so by fostering an acquisition team that’s as specialized, disruptive and agile as the operators themselves.

“We are paying very close attention to any developments, because in the cycle of warfare, there is always new technologies and new counter-technologies that occur,” Lt. Gen. Marshall B. “Brad” Webb, commander of U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, said on Agency in Focus: SOCOM.

But paying close attention is not always enough. SOCOM is not looking to be competitive on the battlefield, they are looking for an advantage. Traditional defense acquisition is essentially a process of throwing money at a capability until it performs better than the adversary’s version, or the previous incarnation.

But lighter body armor and guns that shoot farther aren’t the solutions to the kinds of problems SOCOM faces.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/socom/2018/06/how-socom-acquisitions-try-to-be-as-agile-as-its-warfighters/

June 1, 2018 By cs

Agencies need to take more risks in acquisition

The recently released president’s management agenda states that efforts to transform government through major acquisitions are hamstrung by processes that “remain captive to a risk-averse culture that rewards compliance over creativity.”

No wonder. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) contains a mind-numbing 1,917 pages of policies and procedures that government acquisition officials must follow when buying goods and services. Navigating these rules can be daunting for contracting officers, who often live in fear of something going wrong.

But even within the constraints, there is room for flexibility—approaches that deviate from the norm but hold potential to achieve better quality and innovative outcomes while preserving competition, transparency and accountability.

Following a path toward innovation requires overcoming the fear of failure and the willingness to take risks within reasonable bounds.

For example, improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, have been a major cause of injury and death in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq since the United States put its personnel on the ground. Enemy combatants can remotely detonate IEDs using cell phones or other electronic devices.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2018/05/agencies-need-take-more-risks-acquisition/148433/

The in-house government innovation team 18F has new leadership, as former Director of Strategy Angela Colter has taken over as acting executive director.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has once again emphasized its willingness to engage with commercial companies and other non-traditional contractors to try to expedite and simplify its procurement of innovative technologies.

The clock is ticking toward a 2020 deadline for agencies to switch over to the General Services Administration’s massive new contract vehicle for network and telecom services, and federal IT leaders are worried agencies might blow it.

It’s not easy riding the bleeding edge of warfighter technology and capabilities.

The recently released president’s management agenda states that efforts to transform government through major acquisitions are hamstrung by processes that “remain captive to a risk-averse culture that rewards compliance over creativity.”

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