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July 6, 2020 By cs

GAO: Oversight of contractor compliance with subcontracting plans needs improvement

Half of the contracts recently examined by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) didn’t contain evidence of compliance with small business subcontracting requirements.

The subcontracting report submission system is web-based. *Photo credit: GAO file photo*

Federal agencies are supposed to notify Small Business Administration (SBA) representatives about proposed contracts that contain small business subcontracting plans for possible review. But for about half of the 26 contracts we examined, agencies couldn’t show whether that happened.

Agencies also didn’t ensure that contractors submitted subcontracting reports, or that the reports were accurate.

Certain federal contracts that go to large businesses must have small business subcontracting plans. Under these plans, contractors have to make a good-faith effort to offer subcontracting opportunities to small businesses.

GAO Report Details

GAO, in its report publicly released on June 29, 2020, found that selected agencies did not consistently follow all required procedures for oversight of small business subcontracting plans, both before and after contracts were awarded. GAO reviewed 26 contracts with a subcontracting plan at four agencies — Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), General Services Administration (GSA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of the Navy (Navy).

For about half of the 26 contracts, agencies could not demonstrate that procedures for Procurement Center Representative (PCR) reviews were followed. These SBA representatives may review small business subcontracting plans and provide recommendations for improving small business participation. When an agency is awarding a contract that includes a subcontracting plan, contracting officers are required to notify these representatives of the opportunity to review the proposed contract. Without taking steps to ensure these opportunities are provided, agencies may not receive and benefit from suggestions for increasing small business participation.

For 14 of the 26 contracts, contracting officers did not ensure contractors submitted required subcontracting reports. After a contract is awarded, contracting officers must review reports contractors submit that describe their progress towards meeting approved small business subcontracting goals. In some cases, contracting officers accepted reports with subcontracting goals different from those in the approved subcontracting plans, with no documentation explaining the difference. Without complete and accurate information about a contractor’s subcontracting goals, an agency cannot adequately assess a contractor’s performance in meeting its subcontracting plan responsibilities.

The SBA encourages agency compliance with small business subcontracting plan requirements by providing training to contracting officers and contractors, and by conducting reviews. For instance, SBA Commercial Market Representatives conduct compliance reviews to evaluate a large prime contractor’s compliance with subcontracting program procedures and goal achievement. However, SBA could not provide documentation or information on almost all compliance reviews conducted in fiscal years 2016–2018. SBA has developed new procedures for conducting compliance reviews, but as of mid-March 2020, had yet to fully implement them. SBA has conducted fiscal year 2019 compliance reviews that reflect a first phase of their new procedures. SBA has draft guidance on the new compliance review process, including some specific information regarding what Commercial Market Representatives are to record as part of the compliance review. SBA has begun to conduct compliance reviews in accordance with the guidance, but does not have clearly documented and maintained records for the first phase of these reviews. Without consistent, clear documentation and records that will be maintained going forward, SBA’s ability to track contractor compliance and agency oversight efforts will be limited.

Why GAO Did the Review

Certain federal contracts must have a small business subcontracting plan if subcontracting opportunities exist. But recent Department of Defense Inspector General reports raised concerns about agency oversight of subcontracting requirements. GAO was asked to review oversight of subcontracting plans. Among its objectives, GAO’s report discusses: 1) the extent to which selected agencies (DLA, GSA, NASA, and Navy) oversee small business subcontracting plans, and 2) how SBA encourages agency compliance with subcontracting plan requirements.

GAO reviewed data and documentation for a non-generalizable sample of 32 federal contracts (including 26 contracts with a subcontracting plan) at four agencies, selected to include contracts over $1.5 million at both civilian and military agencies awarded in fiscal years 2016–2018. GAO also reviewed the Federal Acquisition Regulation, SBA and selected agency documentation, and interviewed agency officials.

What GAO Recommends

GAO made 10 recommendations to strengthen oversight of these plans. GAO’s recommendations address ensuring that procedures for PCR reviews are followed, contractor subcontracting reports are monitored and reviewed for accuracy, and SBA compliance reviews are clearly documented and maintained. DLA, GSA, NASA, and Navy concurred with all of GAO’s recommendations. SBA partially concurred with the recommendation pertaining to that agency’s operation, although GAO maintains that its recommendation is warranted.

View GAO’s full report at: https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/707231.pdf.

March 18, 2020 By cs

Acquisition contracts key to agencies opening telework options in face of coronavirus

There’s good news and bad news for agencies looking to ramp up telework in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to federal contracting experts.

According to the CDC, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China in 2019. It is formally named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The good news is federal acquisition contracts are set up for quick acquisition of essential telework equipment, such as laptops or tablets, said acquisition experts FCW spoke with.

The bad news could be that online scammers are watching the expanding tele-workforce with great interest.

The emphasis on agency telework is growing, and although most agency employees are already assigned computers, there may be some hardware gaps to fill as workforces move to remote locations.

Federal governmentwide acquisition contracts, such as NASA’s Services for Enterprise-Wide Procurement, the General Services Administration’s ordering schedule and the National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) are set up to help quickly fill laptops, tablets and other IT commodity orders, they said.

Keep reading this article at: https://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2020/03/11/coronavirus-telework-procurement-hardware.aspx

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech has established a webpage where all contract-related developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are summarized. Find the page at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/coronavirus-information-for-contracting-officers-and-contractors/

August 30, 2019 By cs

NOAA, NASA launched next-gen satellite with known issues, scrubbed performance metrics from contract

The main instrument of the GOES-R next-generation satellite constellation wasn’t working before launch but officials sent it into space anyway.

Persistent problems with the premier sensors of the GOES-R series satellites — designed to provide the next generation of weather observation for North America — were identified before launch and not properly tested or resolved, according to a new inspector general report.

Further, the Commerce Department IG found evidence that program managers changed the evaluation criteria for the contractor after the issues were identified—metrics that would have led to a 40-75% reduction in payment had they remained.

The $11 billion GOES-R series of satellites includes GOES-16—launched November 2016—and GOES-17—launched March 2018—as well as the pending GOES-T and GOES-U still in production. The satellite constellation is equipped with a set of next-generation sensors to better predict weather patterns, including the Advanced Baseline Imager, or ABI, the “most essential instrument for mission success of the GOES-R satellites,” according to the IG.

However, shortly after GOES-17 entered orbit, the cooling system for the ABI instrument malfunctioned, “severely degrading” the amount of data the satellite could collect, NOAA officials said at the time.

“This is a serious problem,” Steve Volz, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, or NESDIS, said during a May 2018 briefing with reporters. “This is the premier Earth-pointing instrument on the GOES platform and the 16 channels … are important elements of our observing requirements.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/08/ig-noaa-nasa-launched-next-gen-satellite-known-issues-scrubbed-performance-metrics-contract/159276/

August 22, 2019 By cs

A ban on Chinese tech is on the books — are feds ready?

Federal agencies have less than a week to update their upcoming and in-process contracts to include provisions that prohibit telecommunications equipment or services — or components of equipment or services — that are produced by Huawei Technologies Company, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company or Dahua Technology Company.

The interim rule added to the Federal Acquisition Regulation Aug. 7 by the Department of Defense, General Services Administration and NASA notified agencies that they have until Aug. 13 to update their acquisitions to reflect the prohibition of products that are produced by companies with suspected links to the Chinese government.

The rule change is not unexpected, as the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act initially codified the prohibition on such acquisitions, but the new rule formally implements such requirements for federal agencies.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/acquisition/2019/08/08/a-ban-on-chinese-tech-is-on-the-books-are-feds-ready

August 14, 2019 By AMK

New rule bans government purchase of Chinese telecom gear

Three departments in charge of federal purchasing policy have unveiled an interim rule amending Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to ban agencies from purchasing telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from five Chinese firms, including Huawei.

The interim rule from the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense and NASA took effect Aug. 13 and stems from a provision in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibiting federal agencies from purchasing telecommunications and video surveillance equipment, along with any “substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system” from the Chinese tech firms or their affiliates. The regulation language will apply to all new contracts and procurements as well as existing indefinite delivery contracts, as well as options picked up for existing contracts.

While the NDAA does allow for the issuance of individual, one-time waivers to agencies, the rule requires contractors to identify as part of their offer any telecommunications equipment or services that will be provided to the government, including those provided by subcontractors. Acknowledging that such a rule could result in a heavy “information collection burden” on federal agencies, the three departments are updating the System for Award Management to allow contractors to disclose these parts and components on an annual basis.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2019/08/07/china-telecom-regulation-johnson.aspx?m=1