PALT | The Contracting Education Academy

March 19, 2021 By cs

OFPP issues memo addressing procurement administrative lead time (PALT)

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) recently issued guidance on the subject of measuring the timeliness of federal procurements.

**This graphic illustrates a typical agency’s PALT goals.**

In government acquisition circles, this measurement is typically referred to as PALT or procurement administrative lead time.

Simply put, PALT is the time between the date on which an initial solicitation for a contract or order is issued by a federal department or agency and the date of the award of the contract or order.

Now, OFPP has issued a guidance memorandum that provides:

a common definition of PALT, and
the steps agencies can take to incorporate modern business practices that shorten the time between identification and delivery and reduce PALT in acquisition activities.

Acquisition officials can view the OFPP memo on the Acquisition Gateway at: https://hallways.cap.gsa.gov. The memo is also viewable at in the Federal Register at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/21/2020-00783/procurement-administrative-lead-time-palt.

January 29, 2021 By cs

OFPP Administrator gives ‘frictionless acquisition’ a boost on his way out the door

When it came to federal acquisition policy, the four years of the Trump administration could be considered a time of Laissez-faire.

There were only four acquisition memos signed off by the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that didn’t deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in the past 48 months. Sure acquisition was part of many, if not all, of the technology memos and the data strategy memos, but those that addressed federal procurement and only federal procurement, were few and far between.

Along with those four OMB memos, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) issued five other memos, including three in the last month, which directed agencies to take specific steps to improve federal procurement.

In all, that’s nine memos in four years or 2.33 memos a year, which equals not a lot of oversight or changes to the federal acquisition process from a governmentwide and OMB level.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2021/01/ofpp-administrator-wooten-gives-frictionless-acquisition-a-boost-on-his-way-out-the-door/

December 14, 2020 By cs

IRS moves to speed up contracting through new procurement research partnership

The Internal Revenue Service recently set sights on introducing new technology-driven capabilities and applying innovative data science techniques to improve and elevate its procurement operations.

And last week, the agency launched a research partnership valued at almost $1 million that marks a deliberate move in that direction.

Through the newly unveiled collaboration, agency officials, university professors and students equipped with procurement and machine learning experience, and members of Virginia-based small business Data and Analytic Solutions will form a multidisciplinary team intended to accelerate the IRS’ contracting and award processes. It emerges as federal buying largely remains notoriously slow.

“When it comes to contracting, everyone seems to want it faster, cheaper, and better,” IRS Chief Procurement Officer Shanna Webbers told Nextgov over email Tuesday. “We recognized that we cannot continue to do business as usual and expect a different result.”

With that view top of mind, Webbers’ office earlier this year embarked on what she called “a game-changing transformation” that drew from feedback shared by procurement employees within the agency, as well as its customers and industry partners. Building on that, the organization is bringing forth new tools and techniques — like data analysis, visualization, and machine learning, among others — to advance how work is performed.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2020/12/irs-moves-speed-contracting-through-new-procurement-research-partnership/170431/

December 9, 2020 By cs

Combat simulators should also improve acquisition, DoD leader says

Members of the defense industry working on modeling and simulation should focus on building tools that can be used across multiple different functions in order to not only improve training, but accelerate acquisition and fielding timelines, according to a Defense Department official.

“Think about software that will allow us to support acquisition development, training of troops, and test all simultaneously,” Alan Shaffer, deputy defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, said Dec. 1st.

Modeling and simulation is used to train warfighters on virtual battlefields. Advancement in modeling and simulation technologies powered by digitization and open systems should enhance training from individual warfighters all the way up to the force level as well as revolutionize design, acquisition, sustainment and test, Shaffer said during the National Training and Simulation Association’s annual Interservice, Industry, Training, Simulation, and Education Conference.

“We are now seeing the evolution from single platform simulators and single purpose simulations to advanced multi-platform virtual systems,” Shaffer said. “But beyond that, there is also a strong convergence in modeling and simulation capabilities being driven by the technological revolution, and the digitization of the world, and the promise of open systems.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2020/12/dod-needs-simulations-shorten-acquisition-timelines-official-says/170380/

October 28, 2020 By cs

IRS, Army using automation to cut hours out of the acquisition process

Just about a year ago, Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Dr. Michael Wooten unveiled what likely will be his signature priority — removing friction from the acquisition process.

While many in industry privately mock and question what that concept or phrase really means, it’s clear that frictionless acquisition will lean heavily on robotics process automation (RPA) and other initiatives to lessen the burden on contracting officers.

That became abundantly clear during the ACT-IAC Acquisition Excellence conference a couple weeks ago.

Not only did Wooten continue to message this now governmentwide goal, he also offered some real life examples of what the future could look like.

One of those efforts focuses on reducing procurement administrative lead time (PALT).

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2020/10/irs-army-using-automation-to-cut-hours-out-of-the-acquisition-process/

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) recently issued guidance on the subject of measuring the timeliness of federal procurements.

When it came to federal acquisition policy, the four years of the Trump administration could be considered a time of Laissez-faire.

The Internal Revenue Service recently set sights on introducing new technology-driven capabilities and applying innovative data science techniques to improve and elevate its procurement operations.

Members of the defense industry working on modeling and simulation should focus on building tools that can be used across multiple different functions in order to not only improve training, but accelerate acquisition and fielding timelines, according to a Defense Department official.

Just about a year ago, Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Dr. Michael Wooten unveiled what likely will be his signature priority — removing friction from the acquisition process.

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