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February 2, 2012 By AMK

USDA backs off controversial labor rule targeting contractors

In a win for federal contractors and contracting officers alike, Agriculture Department officials decided on Jan. 30 to withdraw a new final rule requiring companies to keep their subcontractors and suppliers in line with federal labor laws, a department spokesman told Washington Technology on Jan. 31.

Under USDA’s rule, companies contracting with the department would have to certify that they comply with labor laws and that their subcontractors of any tier and their suppliers also comply. It would have included reporting requirements for violations and the threat of tough action by the department if there were violations.

Officials took a unique approach to rule-making and added it as a direct final rule to the Agriculture Acquisition Regulation on Dec. 1. It was set to take effect Feb. 29. However, they said if the rule garnered any adverse comments, they would withdraw the rule in part or in whole.

The Council of Defense and Space Industry Associations, a group of six industry groups, objected to the rule in a letter to the USDA last week. The council said the rule overlapped more than 180 federal labor laws and regulations to implement the laws. The rule would also add additional work to both the prime contractors, which would have to monitor their subcontractors and suppliers, and the contracting officers who would review reports on compliance. Further, USDA could possibly bump heads with the Labor Department in the case of a labor law violation.

The council’s letter pushed USDA to withdraw the whole rule.

“Yesterday, USDA withdrew the Dec. 1, 2011, direct final rule adding a new clause to the Agriculture Acquisition Regulation,” the USDA spokesman said.

Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel for the Professional Services Council, a member of the overarching-industry group objecting the rule, said the USDA did well to withdraw its rule after receiving the letter from the council about the rule’s ambiguities and overlap with other standing laws.

“I’m pleased USDA acted promptly in light of well-reasoned comments from the council,” he said.

About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Federal Computer Week. This article appeared on Jan. 31, 2012 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/01/31/usda-withdraws-labor-law-rule.aspx?s=wtdaily_010212.

January 5, 2012 By AMK

USAID pushes for more competition, less onerous regulations

The U.S. Agency for International Development is seeking to increase competition for its contracts and make its programs more accessible to small and disadvantaged businesses as part of a larger agency-wide reform effort.

Concerned that a reduction in contracting staff has led to an increased reliance on a fairly small group of contractors and nongovernmental organizations, USAID has made changes to its procurement program a key part of its reform.

In its plan for change, the agency says it is “falling short” in accessing the full range of talent in both U.S. businesses and organizations and those in developing countries.

USAID has started by promoting more competition within its programs, particularly focusing on setting aside more awards for small and disadvantaged businesses.

The agency has established a review board that looks at ways to make large contracts more accessible to small businesses, such as by splitting them into smaller pieces, said Aman S. Djahanbani, USAID’s chief acquisition officer.

“Broadening our partner base … just makes good business sense, and it furthers sustainable development,” Djahanbani said.

At the same time, the agency is trying to work with more of the organizations and companies that are local to a given country. Littleton Tazewell, senior adviser to USAID’s general counsel for implementation and procurement reform, said the agency often relies on intermediaries — such as U.S.-based contractors or international nongovernmental organizations — to work with local bodies.

“The idea here is to increase our direct engagement with local organizations,” said Tazewell, who said a deeper understanding of local organizations will help USAID craft better solicitations.

The agency also is seeking to make its regulations and rules less burdensome to encourage more companies and organizations to compete for contracts and grants.

USAID acknowledged that some larger contractors or NGOs may see reduced work as a result of its procurement reform moves.

“Our partners need to realize that there is more competition,” said Djahanbani. “However, they definitely have a role to play — maybe a different role.”

For instance, he said, in some cases a local organization could serve as the prime contractor while an international or U.S.-based organization could function as a subcontractor.

Tazewell said USAID has engaged the companies and organizations it frequently uses as it reforms in an effort to identify their particular problems.

Still, USAID is only about 18 months into what it expects to be a five-year process, Tazewell said.

“We’re going to trip and make some mistakes along the way, but our expectation is at the end of that five-year process we’ll be a much better organization,” he said. “We will have a structure [and a] regulatory framework that allows for a broadened partner base that’s both local- and small business-oriented.”

— by Marjorie Censer – The Washington Post – published December 25, 2011 at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/usaid-pushes-for-more-competition-less-onerous-regulations/2011/11/28/gIQA1chUHP_story.html.

October 17, 2011 By AMK

SBA proposals could make small-biz credit easier to get

The Small Business Administration is considering changes to its rules that would allow an agency spending its money through a task or delivery order to chalk up the awards to its own subcontracting plans, according to a Oct. 5 Federal Register notice.

Agencies could start to get credit toward their annual small-business subcontracting goals for their orders placed against multiple-agency contracts, a perk for agencies as procurement policy officials push strategic sourcing.

Each agency has to set its own annual goal to make sure that various types of small businesses have an opportunity to participate in its contracts.

Currently though, when purchases come through an inter-agency contract, the agency that holds the contract gets the credit. That applies to the General Services Administration Schedules contracts too.

For example, consider an agency that places an order against a governmentwide acquisition contract. Say a large company gets the award and subcontracts some of the work to a small business subcontractor. The agency that hosts the GWAC gets the credit for hiring a small business, not the agency placing the order.

Prime contracts work differently. If an agency awards an order placed on a GWAC directly to a small business, the purchasing agency gets the points.

Agency officials have told SBA they would like to get the small-business subcontracting credit when they’re spending the money. SBA is also considering giving discretion to the contracting officer from the agency that’s placing the order to establish the subcontracting goals related to the individual orders.

Officials also want real-time insight into subcontracting on interagency contracts. Contractor may have to report their subcontracts with small businesses to the host agency’s contracting officer for each order.

Currently, contractors are reporting to the agency twice a year at the most.

“Reporting on an order-by-order basis will allow the funding agency to receive credit towards its small-business subcontracting goals,” SBA writes in its proposal.

SBA is taking input on the proposal through Dec. 5.

In light of SBA’s changes, Dan Gordon, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, has pushed agencies to think beyond their own purchasing and, instead, buy with the government in mind.

Strategic sourcing gives the government leverage over the contractor in setting prices. A greater quantity of potential orders encourages contractors to lower prices.

Office of Management and Budget officials believe agencies want to use more interagency contracts in order to squeeze the most out of their funds and lessen their employees’ workload.

“Particularly in this tight budgetary environment, agencies have told us they are eager for tools that can help them stretch a dollar further and do more with less,” an OMB spokeswoman said Oct. 5.

SBA’s proposed change may make subcontracting goals slightly easier to meet, especially if agencies are turning more toward the interagency contracts, said Ken Dodds, senior attorney at SBA.

He said agencies would find it more difficult to meet subcontracting goals if they didn’t credit.

About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Washington Technology. This article appeared Oct. 12, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/10/12/sba-subcontracting-credit-multiple-agency-contracts.aspx?s=wtdaily_141011.

January 3, 2011 By AMK

Feds offer peeks at companies’ subcontract relationships

The federal government is the newest occupant in the peep-show district of the business world.

It has moved in with its business partners peep show, a place where anyone — no matter their age — can get a glimpse of what’s happening between government contractors and their partners.

The place where everything’s transparent — the USAspending.gov website — is giving intimate peeks into business relationships with its new subcontracting award information, which went online in December.

To grab people’s attention, the government can advertise that it’s the only place where people have an opportunity to watch company relationships grow closer and then apart as business changes.

The government’s massive website of contracting data posted its first subcontracting award information in December, wrote Jacob Lew, director of the Office of Management and Budget, on the OMB Blog last month. It’s another step toward the ultimate goal of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. For the first time, the public can track a government agency’s payments to a contractor and the contractor’s payments to its subcontractors.

Until now, two companies’ relationship was for the two companies alone. Government officials had regarded the details of relationships between contractors and subcontractors as something they shouldn’t release, said Kevin Plexico, senior vice president for research and analysis services at Input.

That has changed now, though, as officials pull back the curtain on companies’ partnerships.

In early December, Lew wrote that USAspending.gov had roughly 930 subcontracting awards posted, accounting to about $750 million in federal funding.

“We expect this number to increase significantly over time, but it represents a critical milestone in our efforts [to provide] the public with unprecedented transparency into how and where tax dollars are spent,” he wrote.

The show will include some veterans who are used to having their spending figures available for all to see. As prime contractors, they’ve had to do it for years. It comes with being a federal contractor. However, there will be some companies who’ve never shown that much information before.

The transparency requirements “may be uncomfortable for the subcontractors, who, by the way, are not typically exposed to this kind of reporting,” Plexico said.

Nevertheless, the data might be good. The peeks at companies could impress other businesses interested in potential partnerships.

As the amount of subcontractor data increases, “it should be a useful tool for companies and agencies to gain insight into partner relationships and patterns,” Plexico said. The data could also help companies find qualified subcontractors and give more insight into their past performance.

– by Matthew Weigelt – Jan. 03, 2011 – Federal Computer Week

December 16, 2010 By AMK

New Congress could put the brakes on insourcing

The 112th Congress is unlikely to let the Obama administration move full-speed ahead on its initiative to bring contractor jobs back in-house, a consultant and a Republican Senate staff member said on Thursday.

Jonathan Etherton, president and owner of the consultancy Etherton and Associates Inc. and a former Senate Armed Services Committee staffer, told an audience of contractors at a Coalition for Government Procurement breakfast he has heard at least three congressional panels plan to look at whether insourcing is being implemented strategically and whether agencies are focusing on critical positions.

Bill Wright, Republican staff director for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, noted insourcing is on the radar of ranking member Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass. Brown is concerned the initiative is moving forward too quickly and without enough consideration of its effect on small businesses, Wright said during the breakfast discussion.

More generally, Brown is looking for ways to improve efficiency during times of mounting national debt, Wright said. The senator is developing an acquisition savings plan that could include expanding strategic sourcing, an approach in which agencies analyze purchasing trends and buy common commodities and services in bulk; rewarding high-performing acquisition teams; and promoting a more specialized acquisition workforce by requiring officials to obtain certifications in certain areas of expertise.

New Congress could put the brakes on insourcing Much of the subcommittee’s oversight work to date has been bipartisan, Wright added, and Brown is working with the administration on the efficiency initiatives.

Etherton noted, however, that Congress’ overall relationship with the executive branch is likely to grow more adversarial in 2011 with Republicans in control of the House and lawmakers aggressively scheduling oversight hearings.

In addition to insourcing, Etherton said, the next Congress is likely to examine implementation of the 2009 Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act; the relationship between the Defense Contract Audit Agency and the Defense Contract Management Agency; the definition of inherently governmental work; how to best ensure adequate contractor controls against waste, fraud and abuse; and how Defense Department savings initiatives will affect the industrial base.

Wright predicted lawmakers also would focus on transparency surrounding contractor profit incentives and subcontractor performance; tracking contract-related earmarks; and enhancing competition and limiting risk through fixed-price arrangements.

– by Amelia Gruber – Government Executive – December 16, 2010

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