OFPP | The Contracting Education Academy

February 15, 2019 By cs

Trump to finally nominate OFPP administrator

After more than 25 months and at least two misfires, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy is a step closer to having a full-time, Senate-confirmed administrator.

President Donald Trump today announced his intent to nominate Michael Wooten, the senior advisor for acquisitions at the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office.

If confirmed by the Senate, Wooten would replace Anne Rung, who resigned as OFPP administrator in October 2016.

Since the start of the Trump administration, at least two other candidates didn’t make it through the vetting process and Emily Murphy, who many thought was the perfect candidate to be OFPP administrator, ended up coming in as the administrator of the General Services Administration.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/people/2019/02/trump-to-finally-nominate-ofpp-administrator/

September 7, 2018 By cs

Does innovation exist in federal procurement? OFPP is on the look out

Innovation has become one of those words that has lost its meaning, particularly in the federal market.

Think about what is considered “innovative” these days. Reverse industry days? Vendors and agencies are supposed to talk.

Other transaction authority? The Defense Department, NASA and other agencies have had access to OTAs for 25-plus years.

Cloud computing? Ever heard of managed services or alternative service provider (ASP), these were the cloud before “the cloud.”

So does that mean innovation in the federal sector is unattainable? Is it just, in the words of Mark Forman, the former administrator of e-government and IT at the Office of Management and Budget under the President George W. Bush administration, “putting lipstick on the pig?”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2018/08/does-innovation-exist-in-federal-procurement-ofpp-is-on-the-look-out/

August 21, 2018 By cs

CAS Board clarifies commercial item exemption, but raises potential audit issue

After publishing a proposed rule more than five and a half years ago, the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board on July 17, 2018 issued a final rule revising the CAS exemption for contracts or subcontracts for the acquisition of commercial items.

The final rule clarifies that the current CAS exemption for commercial items extends to all contract types listed in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 12.207. However, in doing so, it also creates a potential audit issue arising out of the conditions levied by FAR 12.207 on certain contract types.

FAR lists contract types the government may use to acquire commercial items, including firm-fixed-price (FFP) contracts in conjunction with award fee incentives or performance/delivery incentives, known as fixed-price incentive (FPI) contracts. The relevant CAS commercial item exemption states that certain types of contracts for the acquisition of commercial items are exempt from all CAS. CAS 9903.201-1(b)(6) lists various contract types, including FFP, fixed-priced with economic price adjustment, time-and-materials (T&M) and labor-hour (LH), but makes no mention of FPI contracts. This inconsistency is the result of various amendments over time by the FAR Council to FAR 12.207. The final rule amends the language in CAS 9903.201-1(b)(6) to exempt commercial item contracts and subcontracts authorized in FAR 12.207 from all CAS requirements. Look for this change to CAS 9903.201-1(b)(6) when the final rule becomes effective on August 16, 2018.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=726522

August 20, 2018 By cs

Federal acquisition workers rate themselves highly on most skills

The government’s civilian acquisition workforce, long under pressure to improve hiring and modernize its skill sets, is feeling more satisfied with its own effectiveness, according to the latest biennial Acquisition Workforce Competency Survey released last week.

***Click on image above to see report.***

Considered the most comprehensive version of the survey yet (an 83 percent increase in response rates across agencies), it showed that the buyers rated themselves highest for issuing contract order changes and modifications, awarding contracts and competition. Also rated highly were inspection and acceptance and business acumen, said the results analyzed by a partnership between the White House Office of Federal Procurement Policy and the Federal Acquisition Institute.

Areas rated the lowest in proficiency included negotiating forward pricing rates agreements and contracting in contingent or combat environments.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2018/08/federal-acquisition-workers-rate-themselves-highly-most-skills/150611

August 16, 2018 By cs

Changes are coming to professional services thanks to contract management

Changes are coming in the way the General Services Administration purchases services.

In April, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy released a new strategy to use category management to reduce multiple award contracts, and contractors will begin seeing the results soon.

“Services are procured very differently than commodities. What I’m focused on, and what senior leaders across government are focused on, in particular senior procurement executives, are we really need to move how we’re buying services to a performance-based environment,” said Tiffany Hixson, assistant commissioner of the Office of Professional and Human Capital Services within the Federal Acquisition Services at GSA. “We’ve been on this journey for many years. It really needs to be rebooted, and we’re going to continue to push in terms of how we buy services to being performance based. Buying engineers by the pound is not an effective way to deliver mission capabilities.”

During Deltek’s Spending Spree event July 19, Hixson said procurement officials need to focus on the outcome they want from a particular contract action, not necessarily the price. While there are some subcategories of professional services where price can be a driver, more often than not, officials should be looking at the value of the capability delivered.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition/2018/07/changes-are-coming-to-professional-services-thanks-to-contract-management/

After more than 25 months and at least two misfires, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy is a step closer to having a full-time, Senate-confirmed administrator.

Innovation has become one of those words that has lost its meaning, particularly in the federal market.

After publishing a proposed rule more than five and a half years ago, the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) Board on July 17, 2018 issued a final rule revising the CAS exemption for contracts or subcontracts for the acquisition of commercial items.

The government’s civilian acquisition workforce, long under pressure to improve hiring and modernize its skill sets, is feeling more satisfied with its own effectiveness, according to the latest biennial Acquisition Workforce Competency Survey released last week.

Changes are coming in the way the General Services Administration purchases services.

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