Procurement | The Contracting Education Academy

July 24, 2019 By AMK

Procurement chiefs are watching the spread of RPA

Robotics process automation use across government “is exploding,” Joanie Newhart, associate administrator of acquisition workforce programs in the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said at the Shared Services Leadership Coalition RPA conference.

Newhart said OFPP is closely watching how RPA is being leveraged by agencies such as Health and Human Services for acquisitions and the General Services Administration, which is using it to smooth out some of its internal processes such as sifting through data to find unpaid invoices.

The Department of Treasury, she said, is using RPA to do background reviews of contractor performance to help its contracting officers with their due diligence in awarding contracts.

Those kinds of RPA applications could transform federal acquisition in only a few years, as they take over repetitive internal tasks, according to Newhart. OFPP, she said, is planning to share some of its observations on RPA with agencies soon.

Keep reading article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2019/05/29/rpa-ofpp-rockwell.aspx

June 18, 2019 By AMK

RPA takes hold in agency procurement

Robotics process automation “is exploding” across government, according to Joanie Newhart, associate administrator of acquisition workforce programs in the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

Cybersecurity experts have a new tool in the fight against hackers – a decoy robot. Researchers at Georgia Tech built the “HoneyBot” to lure hackers into thinking they had taken control of a robot, but instead the robot gathers valuable information about the bad actors, helping businesses better protect themselves from future attacks.

Speaking at the Shared Services Leadership Coalition RPA conference, Newhart said OFPP is monitoring how agencies are using RPA, especially when it comes to procurement. The Department of Health and Human Services is piloting RPA for the closeout phase of acquisitions, and the General Services Administration is using it to smooth out some of its internal processes such as sifting through data to find unpaid invoices. At the Department of Treasury, RPA is facilitating background reviews of contractor performance to help its contracting officers with their due diligence in awarding contracts, she said.

Those kinds of RPA applications could transform federal acquisition in only a few years, as they take over repetitive internal tasks, according to Newhart. OFPP, she said, plans share some of its observations on RPA with agencies soon.

Keep reading article at: https://gcn.com/articles/2019/05/30/rpa-procurement.aspx

June 13, 2019 By AMK

Federal online shopping platform coming soon – GSA to issue prototype RFP within the year

In the latest step towards delivering on the long-promised “Procurement Through Commercial e-Commerce Portals” program, the General Services Administration has announced plans to build a proof-of-concept for federal online shopping, aiming to issue an RFP by the end of the year for web-based acquisition platforms.

According to GSA’s notice, the platforms will be based on an “e-marketplace” model — one that connects federal customers to a range of competing vendors, similar to online shopping websites in the private sector. These “e-commerce portals” will carry “routine commercial items found on today’s commercial e-commerce platforms (with office supplies and industrial products being amongst the most common)[.]” Purchases will be limited to the micro-purchase level, which is currently set at $10,000.

The agency expects to award multiple prototype contracts, and it indicated that further proof-of-concept contracts may be needed to test other online purchasing models. These other purchasing models include an “e-commerce model,” under which each portal provider would serve as the seller of goods, and an “e-procurement model,” under which the acquiring agency would manage the platform using software supplied by a contractor to facilitate sales through multiple vendors. On this point, GSA explained that “the one model that best fits GSA’s priorities for an initial proof of concept is the e-marketplace model.”

Keep reading article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2019/05/federal-online-shopping-platform-coming-soon-gsa-to-issue-prototype-rfp-within-the-year/

May 29, 2019 By AMK

The Pentagon’s software buying has been outdated since 1987

The Defense Innovation Board warned that the Defense Department’s age-old approach to software procurement and development could dull the military’s technological edge.

“A large amount of DOD’s software takes too long, costs too much, and is too brittle to be competitive in the long run,” the board said in the study’s executive summary of its Software Acquisition and Practices report. “If DOD does not take steps to modernize its software acquisition and development practices, we will no longer have the best military in the world, no matter how much we invest or how talented and dedicated our armed forces may be.”

The SWAP study was mandated by the National Defense Authorization Act in fiscal 2018. It examines how the agency procures and advances software and offers recommendations on how it could do so more efficiently.

“This particular assessment, from over 30 years ago, referenced over 30 previous studies and is largely aligned with the assessments of more recent studies, including this one.”

Keep reading article at: https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2019/05/pentagons-software-buying-has-been-outdated-1987/156782/

March 18, 2019 By AMK

VA procurement and security clearance processing land on GAO’s high-risk list

The Veterans Affairs Department suffers from “fundamental management weaknesses and is one of the most challenged in the federal government,” Comptroller General Gene Dodaro told a Senate panel recently.

Leadership instability, high-level vacancies and a lack of accountability are all problems at the sprawling, decentralized VA, which appears three times on the newly released biennial list of high-risk programs compiled by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie “has a plan but there’s not a lot of detail” for implementing GAO recommendations in such areas as the department’s outdated procurement system that relies too heavily on expensive emergency procurements, Dodaro said.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/03/va-procurement-and-security-clearance-processing-land-gaos-high-risk-list/155354

Robotics process automation use across government “is exploding,” Joanie Newhart, associate administrator of acquisition workforce programs in the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said at the Shared Services Leadership Coalition RPA conference.

Robotics process automation “is exploding” across government, according to Joanie Newhart, associate administrator of acquisition workforce programs in the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

The Defense Innovation Board warned that the Defense Department’s age-old approach to software procurement and development could dull the military’s technological edge.

The Veterans Affairs Department suffers from “fundamental management weaknesses and is one of the most challenged in the federal government,” Comptroller General Gene Dodaro told a Senate panel recently.

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