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Industry executive: Defense Production Act small launch contracts should have been competed

The Defense Department caused an uproar when it announced on June 18 it had selected six small launch companies to receive contracts funded under the Defense Production Act, the head of a space industry group said July 22.

“I know there were a lot of complaints on Capitol Hill and within agencies,” said Chuck Beames, executive chairman of York Space Systems and chairman of the SmallSat Alliance, an industry group that represents space companies including several small launch providers.

“Many companies thought it was unfair, why them and why not us?” Beames said during an online event hosted by the Mitchell Institute.

For the small launch contracts, DoD had set aside $116 million appropriated for Defense Production Act Title 3 investments in key sectors of the defense industry financially impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Keep reading this article at: https://spacenews.com/industry-executive-defense-production-act-small-launch-contracts-should-have-been-competed/

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GSA scraps $15 billion Alliant 2 small business contract

The General Service Administration (GSA) has canceled the solicitation of its $15 billion Alliant 2 Small Business governmentwide IT contract after it was plagued with protests.

That agency announced late Thursday it is “planning a new approach” for small business IT governmentwide acquisition contracts (GWACs) after “the federal government’s requirements have evolved and GSA recognizes the opportunity to strengthen, innovate, and better respond to changing technology needs and security threats,” it vaguely said in a release.

GSA had originally awarded the 10-year contract to 81 small businesses in 2018.  But just over a year later, the agency rescinded those awards after one company’s successful bid protest — there were dozens of protests of the contract in total — and went back to evaluating bids.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/gsa-scraps-15b-alliant-2-small-business-contract/

Also see Experts Break Down GSA’s Abrupt Cancellation of $15B Small Business IT GWAC at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/07/experts-break-down-gsas-abrupt-cancellation-15b-small-business-it-gwac/166701/

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CMMC regulations on the way despite pandemic

The Defense Department’s new high-profile cybersecurity regulations are on schedule for implementation this year despite potential setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Katie Arrington, chief information security officer at the office of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said the Pentagon will begin rolling out the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification version 1.0 rules this year.

The requirements are part of the Defense Department’s push to protect industrial base networks and controlled unclassified information from cyber­attacks. The CMMC rules will require contractors to be certified by third-party auditors, which will ensure that companies are adhering to certain standards. Organizations will be required to meet different levels of security requirements depending on the type of work they are doing, with level 1 being the lightest and level 5 the most stringent.

Acquisition officials unveiled their roadmap for implementation in January, before the COVID-19 pandemic roiled U.S. society and industry. The plans included releasing solicitations with CMMC requirements baked in for pathfinder programs this year.

“We are on track to do that,” Arrington said during a Project Spectrum webinar in May. “We’re still on target to release some initial [requests for information] in June. … Stay tuned, but the work hasn’t stopped and we’re still doing our absolute best to stay on track.”  Project Spectrum is intended to help small businesses improve their cybersecurity and is supported by the Defense Department’s Office of Small Business Programs.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/6/22/cmmc-regulations-on-the-way-despite-pandemic

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What should vendors expect from Q4 2020?

The fourth quarter sprint to the finish line of the 2020 fiscal year starts in about a week.  So what can federal contractors expect?

According to Cameron Leuthy, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Government, professional services will be big, the coronavirus pandemic will present both complications and opportunities, and small businesses should already be getting ready.

To project what’s coming, analysts usually look to the previous year as a template. In 2019, Q4 included 30% of all obligations for the entire fiscal year. The Defense Department alone spent just shy of $120 billion. The departments of Housing and Urban Development, Interior and State each had more than 50% of their total obligations for 2019 in the fourth quarter. September was particularly lucrative, with $94.3B spent that month alone, 66% of which came from DoD.

There are a number of reasons for that, Leuthy said. Sometimes those reasons include policy, or maximizing potential leverage with foreign governments, in the case of the State Department. Sometimes funds are just deliberately held back from obligations, though there can be legal ramifications for that.

“Civilian agencies did hold back in some cases, because of the difference between the amount the administration asked for and the amount that Congress eventually ended up appropriating,” Leuthy said. “There’s also an incentive, and a prudent one, to hold back obligations during CRs and not get ahead of yourself.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/contracting/2020/06/what-should-vendors-expect-from-q4-2020/

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Small business contractors experience diverse results under Coronavirus

Some firms suffer amid COVID-19, while others benefit from prescient agencies.

The COVID-19 coronavirus has been a mixed bag for small business contractors working with the federal government. Some are facing unique challenges as they try to fulfill their contractual obligations amid site shutdowns, while others are able to meet their obligations relatively seamlessly under contracts designed for telework.

Small business problems range from workers’ compensation details to meeting contractual specifications when not allowed to work on government sites. These problems may be the tip of the iceberg as the government moves forward in the post-COVID-19 era, experts say.

Yet some contracting bodies lessened the impact by awarding contracts that allowed, or even encouraged, telework and other alternate workplace requirements. Ultimately, structuring future contracts along these lines, where applicable, may hold the key to prevent challenges if similar situations unfold.

Uncertainty is the overriding concern of federal small business contractors, says Forrest Burke, CEO of Connected Logistics.  He relates that the federal government has shown flexibility in the move toward telework, and that flexibility has helped the transition become more seamless. But the top priority for many small businesses is to maintain their staff, and that often requires out-of-pocket outlays to keep people on payroll.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.afcea.org/content/small-business-contractors-experience-diverse-results-under-coronavirus

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/

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