Technology Development | The Contracting Education Academy

November 7, 2018 By AMK

DoD says ‘OTA,’ industry says ‘Oy’

Just because apocryphal books live outside the Bible doesn’t mean you should never read them. And just because certain buying authorities live outside the Federal Acquisition Regulation doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them.

The FAR covers a lot, but not everything, including, say Other Transaction Authority (OTA). OTA spending by the Defense Department is growing by triple digit rates, although it’s still a relatively small number. But it worries contractors. It came up repeatedly at this week’s Professional Services Council Vision 2018 conference. Kevin Fahey, the assistant secretary of Defense for acquisition, reassured the mostly vendor audience that “OTA use is not a get-out-acquisition-free pass.”

OTA has a little sister spawned by Section 804 of the 2016 Defense authorization bill. It gives DoD temporary authority to buy rapid prototyping and rapid fielding technologies — rapid, in the latter case, means within five years. The authority expires next September.

So for certain acquisitions, DoD has a lot of leeway to not use the FAR. Not total leeway, though — the government can’t just buy anything using the perceived convenience of OTA. The instrument is intended for prototype technologies and capabilities from non-traditional companies. For sure, those definitions leave a lot of leeway.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/tom-temin-commentary/2018/10/dod-says-ota-industry-says-oy/

June 6, 2018 By AMK

Section 508 to roll out new tools, refresh website to assist acquisition officials

Officials from the Section 508 Accessibility Program say that too few agencies are including the proper requirements in their new IT solicitations, so the office — which ensures that federal technology is accessible to people with disabilities — is working on new tools that will help ensure procurement requests are specific enough.

John Sullivan, program director for the General Services Administration (GSA) office, said this week that his team has been scanning procurement requests appearing on FedBizOpps to see if agencies are providing enough detail about what they need in the IT products they are buying. In many cases, there isn’t any such language at all.

“We have a tool that has been going out and looking at [whether] the requirements are being specified in the contract — not even asking are the right ones specified, but are there any requirements,” he said Tuesday during a webinar hosted by the Americans with Disabilities Act National Network. “Across the federal government, the rate is low, very low. So that is why we are here today, to say that across the board we have got to get these requirements into solicitations, and we need to see what the roadblocks are and the hurdles to doing so.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/section-508-roll-new-tools-website-refresh-assist-acquisition-officials/

May 31, 2018 By AMK

USDS to certify new acquisition specialty

The U.S. Digital Service is adding a digital services contracting certification to create a cadre of “technology acquisition mavericks.”

After two pilot efforts , USDS, along with the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, is launching a new certification program for digital services contracting for civilian agencies with an eye to reducing the cost and time it takes to procure digital services in government.

The idea for new program stemmed from a Challenge.gov winning submission, proposed by ICF International and ASI Government.

Government “didn’t teach how to buy digital services,” said Joanie Newhart, Associate Administrator for Acquisition Workforce Programs, Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

Keep reading this article at: https://fcw.com/articles/2018/05/23/usds-new-specialty.aspx

See the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s memorandum May 18, 2018 on this subject at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/fac_c_digital_services_05_12_18.pdf

December 27, 2017 By AMK

Pentagon’s ambitious goal: Launch a weapons program in just 12 months

It’s time to make defense acquisition faster, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer recently told lawmakers.

How fast? Request proposals, evaluate the options, and award a contract in 12 months or less, said Ellen Lord, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.

“Now that’s a first step, I would like to be on record to say,” Lord told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Dec. 8th.

There are various ways to measure how slowly the defense acquisition process moves, but whichever one you pick, Lord’s goal is ambitious. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., noted that it can take the Pentagon long enough to acquire new technology that it can be out-of-date by the time the contract is signed. Rounds pegged the process at about two and a half years. Any project with software in it — be it a cellphone or high-end military capability — is likely going to evolve into its next iteration in that time, let alone before troops get their hands on it.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/defense/2017/12/pentagons-ambitious-goal-launch-weapons-program-just-12-months/144408

December 1, 2017 By AMK

Four-in-ten Americans credit technology with improving life most in the past 50 years

When Americans are asked what has brought the biggest improvement to their lives in the past five decades, they name technology more than any other advancement.

And as Americans think about the next 50 years, they expect that technology, along with medical advances, will continue to have a major impact, according to a recently-published Pew Research Center survey conducted May to June of this year.

The past 50 years have seen major changes in the U.S., from rapid social change ushered in by the civil and equal rights movements of the late 1960s, to biomedical innovations leading to increased success with human and artificial organ transplantation, to the emergence of the information age.

In an open-ended question, respondents were asked, “What would you say was the biggest improvement to life in America over the past 50 years or so?” Technology was cited most (42%), while far fewer respondents mentioned medicine and health (14%), civil and equal rights (10%) or other advancements. Technology was identified as the biggest improvement by whites (47%) and Hispanics (35%), while blacks were about as likely to name technology (26%) as they were civil and equal rights (21%).

Keep reading this article at: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/10/12/four-in-ten-americans-credit-technology-with-improving-life-most-in-the-past-50-years/

Just because apocryphal books live outside the Bible doesn’t mean you should never read them. And just because certain buying authorities live outside the Federal Acquisition Regulation doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use them.

The U.S. Digital Service is adding a digital services contracting certification to create a cadre of “technology acquisition mavericks.”

It’s time to make defense acquisition faster, the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer recently told lawmakers.

When Americans are asked what has brought the biggest improvement to their lives in the past five decades, they name technology more than any other advancement.

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