pandemic | The Contracting Education Academy

October 7, 2020 By cs

10 tantalizing topics testing procurement in the new fiscal year

Change is in the air.

The leaves are beginning to fall to the ground, the morning air is turning crisp, the days are getting shorter — all signaling that we are approaching the end of the government fiscal year.

The beginning of a new fiscal year provides an opportunity for reflection, during which, we can look ahead at the issues and questions that likely will shape procurement over the coming year.

With that in mind, here are 10 topics that surely will be of interest across the procurement stakeholder community.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2020/09/10-tantalizing-topics-testing-procurement-in-the-new-fiscal-year/

October 2, 2020 By cs

DoD explains how contractors will get reimbursed for COVID expenses — if Congress cuts a check

With lawmakers and the White House unable to come to an agreement on a new coronavirus stimulus package, it’s unlikely that money requested to reimburse defense contractors for pandemic-related expenses will reach these companies until at least the second quarter of 2021, according to the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer.

Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, laid out the reimbursement process. She said it would take the Pentagon five to six months to distribute those funds after they are approved by Congress.

“Then we want to look at all of the proposals at once,” Lord said at a recent Defense News Conference. “It isn’t going to be a first in, first out, and we have to rationalize using the rules we’ve put in place what would be reimbursable and what’s not.”

Lord estimated that the tab for defense contractors’ pandemic expenses from March 15 to Sept. 15 would come to “between $10 and $20 billion.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/09/dod-explains-how-contractors-will-get-reimbursed-covid-expenses-if-congress-cuts-check/168344/

September 18, 2020 By cs

Pentagon’s central AI office wants to standardize its acquisition process

The Pentagon’s top artificial intelligence office released a request for information Aug. 28 outlining interest in establishing a new acquisition approach for standardizing the development and procurement process for AI tools.

According to the solicitation, the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is “considering” starting a competition for a 501(c) nonprofit manager or managers of its prototype “Artificial Intelligence Acquisition Business Model” that looks to use other transaction authorities to more quickly purchase AI products.

The JAIC’s prototype business model could deliver “AI capabilities through meaningful market research/front-end collaboration and optimal teaming arrangements of both traditional and non-traditional companies for AI product procurement,” the RFI said. If the plan moves forward, the JAIC would also “explore the possibilities of using the model to enable agile AI acquisition processes to the DoD at scale.”

The JAIC is the Defense Department’s main hub for artificial intelligence and is responsible for increasing adoption of AI across the department. It works with the services and combatant commands to develop AI tools that have practical use.

To meet the military’s needs, the JAIC uses the traditional government contracting process, known as Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracts, and works with the General Services Administration, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Innovation Unit. The traditional acquisition strategy currently being used is unlikely sufficient enough to help the JAIC carry out its mission, the RFI stated.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2020/09/01/pentagons-central-ai-office-wants-to-standardize-its-acquisition-process/

September 14, 2020 By cs

DoD’s AI center setting itself up to be a more agile buyer, use of OTAs

The Pentagon’s entity for injecting artificial intelligence into the military is considering adopting a new acquisition model that has been championed by the Defense Department for its speed over the past few years, but also concerns government watchdogs for its lack of accountability.

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) may use a consortium of companies and academic institutions to procure technologies and services needed to make AI a ubiquitous force within the military. The model pays a consortium manager to oversee a group of companies that pay a small fee to be part of the club.

The advantage of the consortium is it allows JAIC to exercise other transaction authority (OTA), a contracting method that has gained considerable steam since Congress expanded its use for the military. OTAs let DoD skip federal acquisition regulations to research, tests, prototype and even produce weapons at a faster speed. OTAs also put an emphasis on partnering with companies that DoD does not usually do business with.

“Up to now, JAIC has primarily worked through traditional defense contractors and traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation-based contracts,” Chris Cornillie, federal market analyst at Bloomberg Government, told Federal News Network. “Given some of the challenges that it’s facing with COVID, and the need to start to scale its production to the Pentagon’s requirements, it’s considering a change in its business model.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/09/dods-ai-center-setting-itself-up-to-be-a-more-agile-buyer-use-of-otas/

September 4, 2020 By cs

VA awards sole source contract to upgrade, automate its COVID-19 visualization tool

Contracting officials justified the $1.5 million award by citing a $6 million price tag to fully replace the tool.

The Veterans Affairs Department is using a specific data visualization tool in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and recently awarded a $1.5 million sole source contract to upgrade and automate the software.

VA awarded a contract to Four Points Technology through NASA’s governmentwide acquisition contract Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement, or SEWP, to acquire, integrate and maintain the latest version of Edge Technologies’ visualization tools.

While VA already uses Edge Technologies’ software to visualize patient data, the current tools rely on outdated Adobe Flash players with security holes, among other issues. Under the new contract, VA will be upgrading to the EdgeCore tool, which is based on HTML5 and comes with a host of other improvements.

“This acquisition will provide additional visualization and integration capabilities, eliminate security vulnerabilities related to Adobe Flash used in the current version, enhance 508 Disability Compliance, and provide new robotic process automation features,” according to the award announcement.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/analytics-data/2020/08/va-awards-sole-source-contract-upgrade-automate-its-covid-19-visualization-tool/167965/

Change is in the air.

The Pentagon’s top artificial intelligence office released a request for information Aug. 28 outlining interest in establishing a new acquisition approach for standardizing the development and procurement process for AI tools.

The Pentagon’s entity for injecting artificial intelligence into the military is considering adopting a new acquisition model that has been championed by the Defense Department for its speed over the past few years, but also concerns government watchdogs for its lack of accountability.

Contracting officials justified the $1.5 million award by citing a $6 million price tag to fully replace the tool.

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