performance | The Contracting Education Academy

October 8, 2019 By cs

R.I.P. PPIRS

First things first: sorry about the title of this article.

**How contractor past performance information used to flow from CPARS through PPIRS and into FAPIIS.**

The longer, alternate title would have been “Rest In Peace – the Past Performance Information Retrieval System Sleeps with the Fishes.” But that doesn’t have the same kind of obscure, punchy, epitaph-type quality that I’m aiming for. So instead, we give you get a garbled mess of an acronym to remind us that the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS) – the system once used by the U.S. Government to house the final performance assessments for government contractors – is no more. As far as epitaphs go, most of us would agree that “R.I.P.” is just about what an acronym deserves.

There are various “past performance” reporting and accountability systems for contractors, including the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) (dating back to around 2007), PPIRS (first introduced around 2009), and the Federal Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS) (finalized in early-2010). There is a neat little picture to help demonstrate how data flowed through the various governmental systems.

These systems continue to evolve, and PPIRS is officially no more – formally rolling into CPARS. And, in time, CPARS will be no more, eventually rolling into the multi-functional, highly integrated, federal System for Award Management (SAM), available at SAM.gov (and currently available in a semi-upgraded fashion at beta.SAM.gov).

Keep reading this article at: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/rip-ppirs

December 13, 2018 By AMK

How to build high performing teams

The growing role of teamwork in the modern world raises a question: What factors contribute to team performance?

A new study investigating the dynamics of teamwork suggests a major factor that predicts performance is connectedness.

Several studies have explored this issue, often focusing on individual personality traits that promote team performance. But team members’ proficiencies only establish the potential for their output. They constrain, rather than define, the actual performance.

Researchers decided to delve further into the dynamics of a successful team. What’s more, they’ve developed theories about how team managers might be able to leverage these factors to improve productivity and overall experience. Their findings appear in the journal PLOS ONE.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/excellence/management-matters/2018/12/how-build-high-performing-teams/153113

August 24, 2018 By AMK

GAO: National Nuclear Security Administration needs better contract oversight

Some of the field offices of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) aren’t using a key Energy Department IT system to track important management and operations contracts, an oversight the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns could potentially cost NNSA millions.

The NNSA, the semi-autonomous agency within the Energy Department, should officially advise its field offices to use a DOE’s Strategic Integrated Procurement Enterprise System (STRIPES) system to manage billions in management and operating (M&O) contracts, GAO said.

Those field offices, said the report, are using the web-based STRIPES for contract writing and modification, but not tapping its document management capabilities.

For the audit, GAO monitored contracts from NNSA’s Office of Acquisition and Project Management (OAPM), which is in charge of managing the M&O contracts for field offices. NNSA spent $11 billion through such contracts in fiscal 2016, GAO noted.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2018/08/06/gao-nnsa-rockwell.aspx

May 30, 2018 By AMK

OMB wants to strengthen a learning culture in government

Amazon, Apple and Google are examples of Fortune 500 companies that are known as learning organizations. They relentlessly pursue knowledge creation and transfer, leading to improvements in products and practices. By actively managing their institutional learning, they serve their customers’ needs — and their bottom lines.

In government, on the other hand, deliberative strategic planning around learning happens far too rarely. Even though the 1993 Government Performance and Results Act requires agencies to develop strategic plans, its implementation has never met the original expectations. There are good reasons why learning approaches differ between the public and private sectors, but every organization can learn and apply that knowledge to improve results.

A few federal agencies are showing that it can be done. The Labor Department, for example, requires its operating agencies to develop learning agendas that identify high-priority research studies that those agencies would like to have done. The U.S. Agency for International Development launched a learning office with agencywide policies that encourage grantees to develop learning plans. And in just the last two years, the Small Business Administration has made notable progress, launching an evaluation office and creating an agency-wide learning agenda.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2018/05/omb-wants-strengthen-learning-culture-government/148350/

August 7, 2017 By AMK

Federal acquisition shops shouldn’t wait for direction

The next few years may bring significant challenges for federal acquisition organizations. While most agencies will complete the fiscal year 2017 contracting cycle without facing major upheavals, fiscal year 2018 may bring the beginning of a sea change for acquisition and federal agencies at large.

As signaled by the Office of Management and Budget Memo 17-22, “Comprehensive Plan for Reforming the Federal Government and Reducing the Federal Civilian Workforce,” OMB is calling for agencies to take a wholesale look at their performance, cut costs and prioritize programs. As agencies strive to minimize the impact to their mission, support functions will be under the microscope, especially acquisition.

Acquisition organizations will necessarily be on the front line of supporting this efficiency push. Lower budgets and shifting policy goals will mean mission delivery will be even more reliant on acquisition professionals’ abilities to get flexible and high-quality goods and services at the best cost. OMB M-17-22 specifically calls on agencies to consider governmentwide contracts for common goods and services and to avoid redundant contracting actions. Additionally, the memo calls on agencies to investigate external providers or outsource when the total cost would be lower.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2017/07/28/comment-acquisition.aspx

First things first: sorry about the title of this article.

The growing role of teamwork in the modern world raises a question: What factors contribute to team performance?

Some of the field offices of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) aren’t using a key Energy Department IT system to track important management and operations contracts, an oversight the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warns could potentially cost NNSA millions.

The next few years may bring significant challenges for federal acquisition organizations. While most agencies will complete the fiscal year 2017 contracting cycle without facing major upheavals, fiscal year 2018 may bring the beginning of a sea change for acquisition and federal agencies at large.

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