Performance | The Contracting Education Academy

August 24, 2018 By cs

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 cs

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 cs

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

April 11, 2017 By cs

DHA achieves an acquisition first for the agency

The Homeland Security Department’s acquisition struggles have been in Congress’ crosshairs for years and were again highlighted in the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk list this February.

A new GAO audit, however, suggests progress addressing those issues.

Released this week, the audit states all 26 acquisition programs GAO reviewed met department-approved cost, schedule and performance baselines to measure progress “for the first time since GAO began its annual assessments” three years ago, with more than half the programs on track to meet initial cost goals.

The audit covers DHS acquisitions over fiscal 2016, which total approximately $7 billion spent on ships, surveillance technology at the border, screening equipment at airports and other equipment.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/04/dhs-achieves-acquisition-first-agency/136849

March 2, 2017 By cs

Evaluation of subcontractor past performance not required for FSS procurements

For Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) procurements, agencies are not required to evaluate past performance references of subcontractors, unless the solicitation provides otherwise.

As one offeror recently discovered in Atlantic Systems Group, Inc., B-413901 (Jan. 9, 2017), unlike negotiated procurements, where agencies “should” evaluate the past performance of subcontractors that will perform major or critical aspects of the contract, offerors bidding under FSS solicitations should not assume that a subcontractor’s past performance will be considered.

Atlantic Systems involved a solicitation for technical, engineering, management, operation, logistical, and administrative support for the Department of Education’s cybersecurity risk management program. The solicitation was set aside for SDVOSB concerns that held Schedule 70 contracts.

Pursuant to the solicitation, offerors were to be evaluated for both corporate experience and past performance. In order to enable the agency to conduct the past performance/experience evaluation, each “offeror” was to provide evidence of the experience “of the organization” with similar projects or contracts.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/evaluation-of-subcontractor-past-performance-not-required-for-fss-procurements/

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.

The Homeland Security Department’s acquisition struggles have been in Congress’ crosshairs for years and were again highlighted in the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk list this February.

For Federal Supply Schedule (FSS) procurements, agencies are not required to evaluate past performance references of subcontractors, unless the solicitation provides otherwise.

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