Supply Chain | The Contracting Education Academy

December 12, 2017 By cs

Changes to supply chain management and commercial item contracting in FY 2018 NDAA

For Department of Defense (DoD) acquisitions, the Conference Report for Fiscal Year 2018 NDAA includes provisions that simplify and others that complicate contractor responsibilities.

On November 8, 2017, the U.S. Senate and House Armed Services Committees announced that they had reached agreement to reconcile the different versions of the National Defense and Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2018 passed by the Senate and House earlier in the year.

The Senate unanimously approved the compromise legislation on November 16, sending it to President Trump to sign into law. The 2018 National Defense and Authorization Act Conference Report sent to the President includes proposed changes to supply chain management, to the definition of a “subcontractor” and to commercial item contracting that may impact your business.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=238f078d-5398-4cba-ba7b-8fdb3e308575

October 4, 2017 By cs

Industrial base war-gaming: Pentagon wants companies to find supply-chain weaknesses

The Pentagon is hoping industry will volunteer information on weak spots in their industrial supply chains, as part of a broader review and war-gaming effort to discover potential failure points for America’s defense industrial base.

John McGinn, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for defense, manufacturing and industrial base policy, laid out Wednesday how his team is hoping to prepare the department for an industrial base crisis in a time of conflict.

McGinn compared the new effort to the scenario planning that goes on throughout the Pentagon on a regular basis. But where that planning may focus on options for North Korea or a Russian invasion, this one will look at how various scenarios would impact the Pentagon’s ability to arm itself.

“We’re looking for industrial base risks, and those risks include foreign dependency, sole source, single source, fragile suppliers, suppliers that may not be looking to stay in the market,” McGinn said. He added that there are specific concerns about mining companies that DoD fails to “move the needle on” but which are vital to maintaining a technological edge.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defensenews.com/smr/equipping-the-warfighter/2017/09/28/industrial-base-wargaming-pentagon-wants-companies-to-find-supply-chain-weaknesses/

October 11, 2016 By cs

Contract consolidation effort saves $2 billion and counting

Two years after the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) embraced the consolidation-of-contracts strategy known as category management, the White House recently announced that the effort to “transform the federal marketplace” has delivered $2 billion in savings.

OFPP Chief Acquisition Officer Anne Rung, in a blog post, said the Obama administration’s effort to modernize government and incorporate private-sector best practices through bulk purchasing is “on track” to save $3.5 billion by the end of next year. “We’ve seen prices drop by as much as 50 percent of personal computers since the release of the workstation policy,” Rung said. “By the end of 2016, 45 percent of the $1.1 billion spent in annual purchases for desktops and laptops will be consolidated into three governmentwide contracts.”

Small business goals were exceeded, Rung said, and 700 duplicative contracts were eliminated.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2016/10/contract-consolidation-effort-saves-2-billion-and-counting/132059

category-management-savings-as-of-oct-2016

More details on Anne Rung’s blog post entitled “Transforming the Federal Marketplace, Two Years In” at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/09/30/transforming-federal-marketplace-two-years

April 27, 2016 By cs

Implementing contracting best practices: The challenge ahead

As the current administration heads to the finish line, political appointees are focusing on leaving a legacy in concrete accomplishments from their agendas.

But what can the acquisition community expect for the remainder of this presidential term?

We know that acquisition change will semi-repeat through authority transfers between users and membership due to legislative mandates under the National Defense Authorization Act, the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, and individual agency authorizations. The administration’s acquisition legacy will likely include initiatives in workforce professionalism, such as wider use of the Federal Acquisition Regulation’s entire tool kit and longstanding supply-chain practices, such as strategic sourcing and category management. It will also include the partial restoration of restrictive common-sense communications between government and industry, and a “nuts and bolts,” back-to-basics education policy that redevelops fundamental skills in analysis and judgment with the ultimate elusive goal to ensure “critical-thinking skills” throughout the process.

However, finding measurable improvements in significant acquisition program performance indicators or long-lasting cultural progress is difficult for sure. The acquisition workforce faces the continued reality of a risk-averse culture encouraged by multiple levels of post-game quarterbacking; a political climate fixated on punishment; lack of or challenging hiring processes; the incredibly dispersed and uncertain nature of government budgets, oversight, and management execution; and several new Executive Orders affecting socioeconomic goals.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/acquisition/blog/2016/04/21/implementing-contracting-best-practices-challenge-ahead/83333606/

January 22, 2016 By cs

Subcontracting and supply chain: What government learns from other sectors

Government contracting is as old as government itself. For most of its history, federal contracting was the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, where the golden rule was “He who has the gold, rules.”

Of course as budgets and the role of government (particularly federal) in affecting business or commerce declines, the impact of government acquisition needs and initiatives on the larger economy has declined as well. All contracting professionals are taught the importance of a healthy “industrial base,” which tends to be defined as a healthy and competitive group of prime contractors to meet present and future needs. It has historically been used as the rationale for avoiding overly burdensome or onerous acquisition regulations, lest contractors decide to move out of the business and no longer be a supplier.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/story/government/acquisition/blog/2016/01/07/subcontracting-and-supply-chain-what-government-learns-other-sectors/78416168/

For Department of Defense (DoD) acquisitions, the Conference Report for Fiscal Year 2018 NDAA includes provisions that simplify and others that complicate contractor responsibilities.

The Pentagon is hoping industry will volunteer information on weak spots in their industrial supply chains, as part of a broader review and war-gaming effort to discover potential failure points for America’s defense industrial base.

Two years after the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) embraced the consolidation-of-contracts strategy known as category management, the White House recently announced that the effort to “transform the federal marketplace” has delivered $2 billion in savings.

As the current administration heads to the finish line, political appointees are focusing on leaving a legacy in concrete accomplishments from their agendas.

Government contracting is as old as government itself. For most of its history, federal contracting was the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, where the golden rule was “He who has the gold, rules.”

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