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June 28, 2016 By AMK

Outcomes matter more than ever in services contracting

The second habit of Steven Covey’s influential and long-lived book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is “begin with the end in mind.”  

This is the fundamental tenet of outcome-oriented acquisition and its associated methodology, “The Seven Steps to Performance-Based Acquisition.”

7 Steps to Performance Based Acquisition

Performance-based acquisition is central to defense and civilian agency initiatives to improve the outcomes of the 63 percent of federal procurement spending that goes to acquire services, some $283 billion of the $447 billion in procurement in fiscal 2014.

For example, the Seven Steps are the foundation of the new Defense Department instruction for services contracting, which accounted for 53 percent of fiscal 2015 defense procurement. Similarly, the new governmentwide category management effort is building performance-based acquisition into the operating instructions for the Professional Services category.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2016/06/outcomes-matter-more-ever-services-contracting/129012

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition workforce, DoD, LPTA, PBA, performance based acquisition, professional services

June 1, 2016 By AMK

State government’s use of 4-tiered RFP procurement method called a model

In 2013, with a renewed emphasis on bolstering the state’s tourism industry, Tennessee leaders began a procurement process to secure new advertising services. The innovative process serves as a model of modern procurement, and can be easily replicated by other states.

Tennessee's 4-Tiered Procurement ProcessAs a result of the services provided by the new vendor, as well as other activities, Tennessee generated an estimated $1 billion in increased tourism spending from 2013 to 2014. And, one of the ad campaigns that resulted from the procurement received the advertising industry’s prestigious Cannes Lion award. Tennessee is the first state to ever receive this award.

The primary objective was to procure best-in-class marketing and advertising services for the Tennessee. The firm would be charged with modernizing the state’s marketing and advertising campaigns by utilizing current technology, such as social media, to drive interest and tourism from around the world.

The second objective was to use a procurement method that would ensure that the awarded contractor was highly qualified, while still allowing cost to be a factor in determining the award. This was the first time the state had altered its request for proposals process and incorporated a four-tiered approach to determine the successful vendor.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.routefifty.com/2016/05/tennessee-procurement-marketing-advertising/128326

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition reform, acquisition strategy, acquisition workforce, competition, evaluation criteria, procurement reform, professional services, proposal evaluation, RFP, selection criteria, source selection, state & local government

September 9, 2014 By AMK

Changes announced to GSA Schedules in professional services categories

The General Services Administration has announced a series of changes to its professional services Schedule offerings in order to reduce the number of contracts vendors manage and consolidate contract vehicles.

GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service removed the special item number of non-professional service from the current consolidated schedule, expect for information technology and human resources, the agency said last week.

Tiffany Hixson, professional services category executive for FAS, described the agency’s approach to contract consolidation last week ahead of this announcement (click here to read previous coverage).

GSA said it made the move to “eliminate the need to submit separate offers for professional services; firms would have the ability to submit a modification request instead – this equates to a substantial decrease in time required to add new services.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.executivegov.com/2014/09/gsa-details-professional-services-schedule-changes/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition strategy, FAS, GSA, GSA Schedule, GSA Schedules, professional services

June 9, 2014 By AMK

Another contractor protests GSA’s professional services contract

More companies are piling on bid protests against the General Services Administration’s OASIS contract, according to documents filed with the Government Accountability Office.

IT service contractor Phacil Inc., is the latest of five companies to protest the award. Smartronix, Inc., VSE Corporation, American Systems Corporation, the Logistics Management Institute and Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Company all filed protests May 27. Aljucar, Anvil-Incus & Company also filed bid protests during the pre-award phase of the contract, which were denied.

GSA awarded its 10-year, multibillion dollar OASIS contract to 74 companies on May 19. OASIS is governmentwide acquisition contract that offers professional services, such as financial management and engineering, scientific and logistics services. OASIS also features separate contracts for small businesses and larger firms and is valued at around $6 billion a year in agency business.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20140604/ACQ01/306040017/Another-contractor-protests-GSA-OASIS-contract

Also see earlier article on initial protests to OASIS contract award: http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20140529/ACQ01/305290008/First-protests-filed-GSA-s-OASIS

Also see earlier article on the award of the OASIS contract: http://www.federaltimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014305190012

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: bid protest, GAO, GSA, OASIS, professional services, protest

July 10, 2013 By AMK

Acquiring services: How the feds can get it right

For the fifth consecutive year, the federal government has spent more on the purchase of services than any other type of contract spending. And yet, the Department of Defense has made little progress in improving how they buy services, and civilian agencies have yet to even spell out a strategy.

It was appropriate that the department’s April 2013 release of its Better Buying Power (BBP) 2.0 memo included a major component titled “Improving Tradecraft in Acquisition of Services,” with six specific actions required to be taken. But while BBP 2.0 carried forward several of the initiatives for services that were included in the original BBP memo issued in September 2010, there has been little progress made by the department in reaching those original objectives.

Still, at least DOD has a plan. While the Office of Management and Budget has issued some government-wide directives requiring reductions in spending on services, the civilian agencies, which annually commit a greater percentage of their contract spending on services than does DOD, have not spelled out any comprehensive acquisition strategy focused on services.

The first step on the path to improving the tradecraft in services is to recognize that there are wide variations in the types of services government buys, and that each type requires some specialized market research and skills to acquire them. For example, there is a considerable difference between how the Department Homeland Security acquires information technology services from how the Department of Energy acquires environmental remediation and management services. Thus, at the Professional Services Council, we have been strong advocates for reexamining the taxonomy of services and focusing on the key differences in these acquisitions.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/blog/fedbiz_daily/2013/06/acquiring-services-how-feds-can-get.html?page=all

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: acquisition strategy, Better Buying Power, budget cuts, contract management services, DoD, GAO, management support services, market research, OMB, professional services, service contracts, spending, support services

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