Streamlined Acquisition Process | The Contracting Education Academy

August 14, 2019 By AMK

New HHS contract writing system testing more than an innovative technology approach

In early fiscal 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services will pilot its new contracting writing system called Accelerate.

HHS will work with a small group of contracting officers and industry to prove that using the cloud and blockchain technology is not only possible, but real.

Jose Arrieta, who is currently the chief information officer and was the acting deputy assistant secretary for grants, acquisition policy and accountability at HHS, said the agency has made a lot of progress since December when the Accelerate platform received the authority to operate.

The grants, acquisition policy and accountability office has been testing the ability of the system to take in actual data from the five contract writing systems HHS uses as well as the analytics for prices paid and terms and conditions and refining the microservices that they built to better communicate with program managers.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/ask-the-cio/2019/07/hhs-new-contract-writing-system-testing-more-than-an-innovative-technology-approach/

February 22, 2019 By AMK

Bots could be climbing another rung on the workforce ladder

Bots have been making some headway in the government workforce, performing the kinds of mundane, clerical, routine tasks that make the people who do them feel less than human.

But robotic systems may soon take it up a notch, gaining new responsibilities with basic but essential procurement duties.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently issued a request for information looking for robotics and intelligent process automation applications in the commercial sector. The robots would need to perform tasks such as evaluating proposals, automating market research, performing cost and price analyses, carrying out modification actions, and issuing price negotiation memoranda. The Pentagon’s top research arm isn’t proposing that robots run the show or take people’s jobs, but it is talking about the kind of jobs that might move robots up a theoretical pay grade from what they’ve been doing.

DARPA said it wants to look into the possibility of using the “operational efficiency and functional capabilities” of such systems to perform “routine administrative tasks and document generation in the government procurement process.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.governmentciomedia.com/bots-could-be-climbing-another-rung-workforce-ladder

January 30, 2019 By AMK

The new ‘other transactions authority’ guide — Helpful, but not enough

The Department of Defense recently published a new guide to Other Transactions Authority (OTA) contracts.

The guide attempts to answer a number of questions associated with the policies and practices surrounding OTAs. It partially succeeds, but it also falls short of providing the details both contracting officers in government and industry representatives need to use OTAs with confidence and alacrity.

Two helpful things the guidance makes clear are that OTAs are in fact contracts and that they are still likely to be very complicated contracts.

There is a perception in some quarters that OTAs are a magic wand that can eliminate the difficulties of doing business with the government. The guide implicitly refutes that premise as it correctly catalogues the many details anyone contemplating an OTA vehicle has to consider.

OTAs have real virtues, but they basically just substitute the world of commercial contracting for the world of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) contracting. Anyone who has ever attempted to read a commercial contract for say a real estate sale or for cellphone service has some idea of how complex a commercial contract can be.

OTAs can simplify doing business with the government substantially, but a good contract is a good contract and a bad contract is a bad contract, independent of whether it is FAR based or an OTA.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/frankkendall/2019/01/03/the-new-other-transactions-authority-guide-helpful-but-not-enough

January 7, 2019 By AMK

How OTA collaborations are streamlining government acquisitions

Other Transaction Authorities (OTAs) have garnered significant attention recently because they help our government acquire innovative technologies much faster than typical Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)-based acquisitions, which can take years to complete.

Some have called OTAs the “cool new thing” in acquisition — words you wouldn’t normally hear when talking about federal contracting.

So, what are OTAs? And more importantly, why should agencies make these agreements part of their procurement process?

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/commentary/2018/12/how-ota-collaborations-are-streamlining-government-acquisitions/

November 5, 2018 By AMK

FAS, IRS procure modern systems to streamline contracting processes

The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are looking into modernizing their technical assets to modify and streamline their contracting processes, Federal News Network reported last week.

General Services Administration The administrator of the General Services Administration Emily Murphy noted at the 2018 ImagineNation ELC conference that she aims for FAS to rethink procurement operations as it simplifies its schedules program.

She added that technologies such as robotics process automation, machine learning and business process re-engineering will help contracting officers focus on procuring systems according to specific data and business needs.

FAS Commissioner Alan Thomas also disclosed at the conference that the service will leverage GSA’s CIO Application Maintenance, Enhancements, and Operations recompete effort to modernize contracting systems.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.executivegov.com/2018/10/fas-irs-procure-modern-systems-to-streamline-contracting-processes/