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May 19, 2020 By cs

Project management and COVID-19 recovery: Lessons from previous disasters

The rapid outbreak of COVID-19 has prompted an unprecedented response from all levels of government, across the country and around the world. As part of this response, local, state, and federal agencies sprang into action to help protect citizens from this potentially catastrophic biological threat while continuing to deliver services in communities nationwide.

As the initial public health threat hopefully subsides in the days and weeks ahead, many federal projects and programs will be launched to support longer-term COVID-19 economic recovery. These recovery efforts will affect people whose housing, utilities, and other life necessities are at risk, as well as entire industries whose existence has been disrupted by the COVID-19 threat.

While these efforts may be unparalleled in many ways, there are some lessons learned from previous disaster recovery efforts that can inform policy makers, federal project and program managers, and their executive sponsors in their work to help the nation recover from the effects of this extraordinary event.

The Project Management Institute’s 2020 Pulse of the Profession® research reveals that 11.4% of each dollar invested on projects is wasted due to poor performance — that’s $114 million for every $1 billion. There is a great deal at stake to ensure that pandemic response projects and programs are delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2020/05/project-management-and-covid-19-recovery/165298/

The Contracting Education Academy at Georgia Tech has established a webpage where all contract-related developments related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) are summarized. Find the page at: https://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/coronavirus-information-for-contracting-officers-and-contractors/

May 13, 2020 By cs

DoD to deliver $3 billion in accelerated contractor payments over coming weeks

Just over a month ago, the Pentagon told its contracting officers and contract administrators to boost the amount of money it pays vendors in the form of progress payments as one way to increase their cash flow amidst a sagging economy. And the dollars have indeed started flowing.

As of last week, DoD had made $1.2 billion in additional progress payments because of the higher rates — which rose from 80% to 90% of the total contract value for large companies, and from 90% to 95% in the case of small firms. Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of Defense for acquisition and sustainment told reporters she expected the figure to rise to $3 billion in “the next week or two.”

For context, the department’s outlays for contracts are about $25 billion in total during an average month, making the $3 billion in accelerated payments a not-insubstantial sum. Lord said the added progress payments happened across 1,400 separate contracts, mostly because of a mass-modification the Defense Contract Management Agency processed to boost payment rates.

However, one open question — in the case of large contracts — is how quickly bigger firms are passing the advance payments down through their supply chains. Those figures, Lord said, are more difficult to track.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/dod-reporters-notebook-jared-serbu/2020/05/dod-to-deliver-3b-in-accelerated-contractor-payments-over-coming-weeks/

May 7, 2020 By cs

Navy contract spending jumps 30% in April amid coronavirus pandemic

The federal contracting community has gotten used to seeing major upticks in contract outlays in the last couple months of the fiscal year.

But for the Department of the Navy, April’s numbers rivaled those figures: Contract obligations this month are already up 30% compared to the same period a year ago, and almost double the figures from April 2018.

To be sure, the coronavirus pandemic was a big factor in the increase in dollars-on-contract. Like most other parts of the government, the Navy and Marine Corps are spending a lot to respond to the pandemic itself and to keep vulnerable parts of their supply chains afloat.

But that’s not the whole story, said James Geurts, the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. The Navy Department’s ability to get cash out the door more quickly is also the result of reform efforts that have been underway for the last two-and-a-half years and emergency planning that predated the COVID crisis.

“I’m seeing some remarkable efficiencies,” he told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. “I think a lot of that is getting rid of layers of bureaucracy that weren’t needed. Some of it is also creating better partnerships with industry so that we can leverage cost and pricing data we already have, and we don’t have to send out an RFP and get a proposal back just to confirm that data. And some of it is just a continued sense of urgency and mission focus.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/04/navy-contract-spending-jumps-30-in-april-amid-covid-pandemic/

May 5, 2020 By cs

Navy hoping to keep some acquisition momentum during COVID-19

The Navy says the way it is procuring goods and services during the COVID-19 outbreak may help quicken acquisitions later on during the crisis and keep programs on target for whenever it ends.

Speaking at the recent virtual Sea Air Space Conference, Navy acquisition chief James Geurts said the service is injecting money into the acquisition system to keep companies liquid with cash so they can stay afloat. The Navy is also speeding up contract awards.

“We are going to apply all the things we’ve learned during this to accelerate during the recovery phase because ships still need to come out on time,” Geurts said. “We’ve got to do the maintenance, we’ve got to continue to supply lethal capabilities to our sailors and marines and we can’t afford to lag the recovery.”

Geurts said he does not foresee the crisis affecting the Navy’s priorities after things return to normal. The Navy still wants at least 350 ships and it wants to field its Columbia-class submarine. The trick is keeping everything on schedule or close to it through the coronavirus outbreak.

“What’s important is that we don’t let the delay and disruption carry any further than it has to into the execution of our programs,” Geurts said. “There will be delay and disruption. The program teams have looked hard into where we were prior to this crisis so we can separate issues we had going in from issues caused by the crisis.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/navy/2020/04/navy-hoping-to-keep-some-acquisition-momentum-during-covid-19/

May 1, 2020 By cs

DoD expects three month acquisition delays, billions in payouts to contractors

The Defense Department will suffer serious setbacks on developing weapons and pay companies billions of dollars in relief funds as a result of COVID-19.

The Pentagon expects a three-month delay across the board for major acquisition programs, putting a kink in systems like the Ford Class Aircraft Carrier, the Columbia Class Ballistics Missile Submarine and the Next Generation Operational Control System.

“Particularly, we see a slowdown in the shipyards,” Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters Monday at the Pentagon. “Aviation is the most highly impacted sector that we have. Right now there isn’t any specific COVID penalty that we see for a specific program; however, we do anticipate a three-month slowdown in terms of execution.”

Lord said DoD is now starting to look at key procurement milestones that may be impacted by the delays.

Meanwhile, DoD is just beginning to take into account the amount of money in relief funds it will have to pay out to companies unable to do government work because of the coronavirus.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2020/04/dod-expects-three-month-acquisition-delays-billions-in-payouts-to-contractors/

Just over a month ago, the Pentagon told its contracting officers and contract administrators to boost the amount of money it pays vendors in the form of progress payments as one way to increase their cash flow amidst a sagging economy. And the dollars have indeed started flowing.

The federal contracting community has gotten used to seeing major upticks in contract outlays in the last couple months of the fiscal year.

The Navy says the way it is procuring goods and services during the COVID-19 outbreak may help quicken acquisitions later on during the crisis and keep programs on target for whenever it ends.

The Defense Department will suffer serious setbacks on developing weapons and pay companies billions of dollars in relief funds as a result of COVID-19.

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