USDS | The Contracting Education Academy

May 31, 2018 By cs

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

September 20, 2017 By cs

U.S. Digital Service taps 8(a) to help agencies ‘fail fast’

With end-of-the-year spending upon us, agencies wanting to experiment with digital solutions can look to a new vehicle from the U.S. Digital Service.

Leveraging sole source contracts from the Small Business Association’s 8(a) program, USDS has created a contract exemption program that allows agencies looking to procure services, build a minimum viable product or learn about skills like agile development.

Traci Walker, lead contracting officer at USDS, said the exemption gives agencies the ability to experiment with possible digital solutions, providing the ability to “fail fast,” innovate and move on without the heavy lift of a large project.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.fedscoop.com/usds-taps-8a-help-agencies-fail-fast/

February 12, 2016 By cs

Most government employees don’t know about USDS or 18F

New digitally-focused federal agencies may need awareness campaigns, a new survey shows.

About 54 percent of federal employees don’t know about organizations such as 18F, the General Services Administration’s tech fix-it team, or the U.S. Digital Service, a White House IT consultancy now being replicated in other departments, according to a survey conducted by social network GovLoop and cloud platform vendor Acquia.

The survey, which polled about 120 civilian, defense, state and local public sector employees about digital services, found that 54 percent didn’t know what those groups were, and 18 percent felt they had little or no impact on their organizations.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2016/01/survey-most-Government-employees-dont-know-about-usds-18f/125537

September 9, 2015 By cs

Getting smarter about IT acquisition

It’s been 15 months since Joanie Newhart, an associate administrator at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and Tony Grayson, acquisition program executive at the Federal Acquisition Institute, announced big plans for updating the certification for federal procurement professionals.

At the 2014 FOSE conference, Newhart talked about how FAI would revamp the Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C), which hadn’t been updated since 2008, to include specialized training for IT procurement, among other improvements.

The week before, Lesley Field, who was OFPP’s acting administrator at the time, had issued a memo citing the importance of better aligning FAC-C with the Defense Department’s contracting certification curriculum to strengthen the development of civilian agencies’ acquisition professionals.

The new curriculum has been in place for more than a year, and efforts to improve acquisition continue to evolve.

Keep reading this article at: http://fcw.com/articles/2015/08/27/feature-it-acquisition.aspx

August 26, 2014 By cs

Buying what works: Case studies in innovative contracting

Last week, the White House announced the launch of the U.S. Digital Service (USDS), a new team of America’s best digital experts dedicated to improving and simplifying the digital experience that people and businesses have with their government. The USDS team has already begun to make progress by releasing the TechFAR Handbook, a guide that helps explain how Federal agencies can take advantage of existing procurement authorities to execute key plays in the Digital Services Playbook.

The Federal Government has long used its buying power as one of the world’s largest customers to accelerate well-known innovations, from the first microchips to the Global Positioning System (GPS). Today, Federal agencies continue to leverage innovative procurement practices that spur the private sector to develop advanced technologies to better serve the American people – and to pay only for successful results, not just best efforts.

Today, the Office of Science Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget are pleased to release the first version of Innovative Contracting Case Studies, an iterative, evolving document that describes a number of ways Federal agencies are getting more innovation per taxpayer dollar – all under existing laws and regulations. For example, NASA has used milestone-based payments to promote private sector competition for the next generation of astronaut transportation services and moon exploration robots. The Department of Veterans Affairs issued an invitation for short concept papers that lowered barriers for non-traditional government contractors, which led to the discovery of powerful new technologies in mobile health and trauma care. The Department of Defense has used head-to-head competitions in realistic environments to identify new robot and vehicle designs that will protect soldiers on the battlefield.

We encourage both private sector stakeholders and public servants to engage in a sustained public discussion, identifying new case studies and improving this document’s usefulness in future iterations. At the same time, Federal government employees can join a community of practice around innovative contracting by signing up for the new “Buyers Club” email group (open to all .gov and .mil email addresses). This “Buyers Club” group should provide a useful forum for troubleshooting and sharing best practices across the Federal government, serving everyone from contracting officers with deep expertise in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to program managers looking for new ways to achieve their agencies’ missions.

All of these innovative contracting efforts are aligned with President Obama’s management agenda to deliver a 21st century government that is more effective, efficient, and supportive of economic growth, including specific cross-agency initiatives on Smarter IT delivery, strategic sourcing, and shared services. We encourage readers to join the public discussion of Innovative Contracting Case Studies, or sign up for the Feds-only “Buyers Club” email group. We look forward to raising awareness about the many ways that the Federal Government can use the power of the purse to deliver powerful and cost-effective technology solutions for the American people.

Tom Kalil is Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Lesley Field is the Deputy Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

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

With end-of-the-year spending upon us, agencies wanting to experiment with digital solutions can look to a new vehicle from the U.S. Digital Service.

New digitally-focused federal agencies may need awareness campaigns, a new survey shows.

It’s been 15 months since Joanie Newhart, an associate administrator at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and Tony Grayson, acquisition program executive at the Federal Acquisition Institute, announced big plans for updating the certification for federal procurement professionals.

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