LPTA | The Contracting Education Academy

December 5, 2013 By AMK

DoD official pushes back against contracting ‘myths’

Pentagon procurement official Shay Assad sought to dispel what he said were myths that the Defense Department’s contracting workforce is untrained and unprepared.

“Our workforce today is healthier and stronger than it has been in the last 10 years or so,” said Assad, who oversees pricing for the department.

Some of the myths he addressed included:

■ Reports the contracting workforce is shrinking. Assad said it has grown by nearly 24,000 people over the last five years through a combination of additional hiring by the services and through in-sourcing.

■ Reports DoD is not hiring enough experienced contracting officers. He said that DoD has focused on having 35 percent of its contracting workforce have industry and business experience — that number is about 34 percent today.

■ Rumors the Defense Department is moving toward lowest-price, technically acceptable contracts. Assad said that only one major program falls under that category and that LPTA is less than 2 percent of DoD purchasing and that he is not pushing to increase that number.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20131118/DEPARTMENTS01/311180004/DoD-official-pushes-back-against-contracting-myths-

November 25, 2013 By AMK

House panel targets DoD acquisition reform, but will that be enough?

The House Armed Services Committee is taking another crack at defense acquisition reform.

Committee chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) recently tasked Vice Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) to head up a new panel looking at ways to reform the defense acquisition process.

“While this Committee has led successful efforts to improve the way the Department acquires items and services, there are still significant challenges facing the defense acquisition system,” McKeon said in a release. “We cannot afford a costly and ineffective acquisition system, particularly when faced with devastating impacts of repeated budget cuts and sequestration.”

The announcement came as experts on defense acquisition gave the committee some guidance on how to proceed. One of the witnesses was Dov Zakheim, former undersecretary of Defense (comptroller) and now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He says a new approach to defense acquisition reform has the potential for new results and the old approach won’t work this time around either.

“The way that we’ve been trying to do it, which is essentially focusing on specific issues with legislation, addressing them or process improvements is just not the way to go,” Zakheim told In Depth with Francis Rose. “It clearly hasn’t worked.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/473/3499160/House-panel-targets-DoD-acquisition-reform-but-will-that-be-enough

November 6, 2013 By AMK

LPTA contracts gaining favor among agencies, but give vendors less incentive to innovate, study says

Lowest price technically acceptable procurements have been gaining favor among agencies, but that gives vendors less incentive to be innovative if the approach costs more, an Oct. 24 Market Connections and Centurion Research study says.

Under LPTA, agencies focus more on price than on past performance as long as the vendor meets minimal job requirements. So if a vendor comes to an agency with a unique solution that costs more than a competitor who comes with a more basic solution, the agency is more likely to choose the cheaper solution as long as it meets the minimum requirements.

The practice has been utilized by the Defense Department through its Better Buying Initiative, the study says, but has proliferated through other agencies as well.

The study showed that of the $27 billion in procurements it analyzed, the Veterans Affairs Department was the biggest user of LPTA outside of the DoD.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.fiercegovernment.com/story/lpta-contracts-gaining-favor-among-agencies-give-vendors-less-incentive-inn/2013-10-28

May 29, 2013 By AMK

Pentagon: Acquisition reform key to strategic choices review

Improving the acquisition of weapons systems and platforms through cost-conscious strategies and more effective prototyping is a key part of the Defense Department’s ongoing Strategic Choices Review, Pentagon leaders told an audience May 23 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, D.C.

“Secretary Hagel asked me, working with Chairman Dempsey, to conduct a strategic choices and management review, to examine the choices that underlie our defense strategy, posture and investments, including all past assumptions and systems,” Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the audience. “Everything’s on the table: roles and missions, war planning, business practices, force structure, personnel and compensation, acquisition and modernization investment, how we operate, how we measure and maintain readiness.”

Carter mentioned the ongoing review, designed to assess Pentagon strategy in light of recent developments within the Pentagon’s Better Buying Power program — an acquisition-focused effort unveiled in 2010 to save money, improve efficiency, incentivize industry, increase competition, and maximize productivity.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.dodbuzz.com/2013/05/24/pentagon-acquisition-reform-key-to-strategic-choices-review/

Search this Website