wartime contracting | The Contracting Education Academy

October 4, 2017 By AMK

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/

December 12, 2012 By AMK

Senate approves wartime contracting reform bill

The Senate on Thursday added broad overseas contracting reform to its version of the Defense authorization bill, handing Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a victory in her six-year effort to crack down on procurement waste in war zones.

The Comprehensive Contingency Contracting Reform Act was introduced in February after a report issued by the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting told Congress that federal contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan had wasted an estimated $60 billion.

If accepted in a House-Senate conference, the bill would seek to reduce waste in overseas military operations and occupations by elevating oversight responsibility, improving management structures, expanding planning requirements and reforming contracting practices. It would prohibit excessive pass-through contracts and charges to the government and add new oversight responsibilities for inspectors general for contingency operations, according to McCaskill’s staff. And it would remake the contracting process to provide greater transparency, competition, professional education and accountability.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2012/11/senate-approves-wartime-contracting-reform-bill/59874/?oref=national_defense_nl.

October 6, 2011 By AMK

Experts: Workforce investment today saves dollars tomorrow

Agency officials must invest in their workforce, even in these times of shriveling budgets, to ultimately save money down the road, said several federal procurement experts at a Congressional committee hearing.

An organic government employee base with adequate skills is the alternative to over-reliance on contractors, and could be the key to reducing fraud and waste in contingency operations, the members of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Oct. 4. But it requires investment now, despite tight budgets.

“There has to be some spending to save money,” said Dov Zakheim, a commissioner and former Defense Department comptroller and chief financial officer.

In the same vein, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a member of the House committee, said the government could have saved the at least a portion of the money wasted because of poor contracting in the decade-old contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Government Accountability Office too blames DOD’s lack of planning for workforce shortfalls—including the number of employees at the Defense Contract Audit Agency—along with contractor accounting problems. The two problems are costing DOD money due to delayed audits of the contractors’ incurred costs.

Zakheim told the House committee that DCAA needs auditors, and without them, the government is bearing the cost of delayed audits and contracts that are not properly closed.

“If you don’t have auditors, you don’t have audits. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

However, procurement experts say officials opt to cut training and other resource investments in the workforce during tough financial times. Some agencies have already halted hiring new workers to survive these times, just as senior Obama administration officials say the acquisition workforce is in dire need of some support troops. A new policy from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy tells agencies to improve their in-house skills to do work that is suited for government workers.

“I’d like to think the acquisition workforce will be better trained and that the role of acquisition professionals will evolve to that of a business adviser, rather than a buyer,” said Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners. “We’ve been saying that, though, for at least a dozen years now.”

But the budget crisis hopefully will make federal officials think of savings further out, rather than immediately, if they allocate resources to their employees, said Katherine Schinasi, commissioner and former GAO managing director for acquisition and sourcing management.

“It’s a perfect time to make an investment,” since the dividend pays off in the end with savings, she said.

About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Federal Computer Week. Published Oct. 4, 2011 at http://fcw.com/articles/2011/10/04/workforce-investment-budget-crisis.aspx.

September 9, 2011 By AMK

Daniel Gordon: ‘Progress on Wartime Contracting’

This commentary originally appeared as a blog post on The White House’s Office of Management & Budget web site.

When the Administration took office, it was clear to us that for too long there was not adequate oversight of contractors, leading to wasted taxpayer dollars, repeated delivery delays, and unacceptable contractor performance. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in wartime contracting during the last decade. That’s why this Administration has focused on cutting waste in contracting, boosting oversight, and strengthening accountability of contractors. And more broadly, earlier this summer the White House launched the Campaign to Cut Waste, a government-wide drive to crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse.

On August 31, the Commission on Wartime Contracting released a report on these challenges. We welcome the report and commend the Commission for shining a spotlight on waste in contracting, on the need to strengthen the contracting function at agencies, on the value of increasing competition in contracting, and on the importance of holding contractors accountable for their performance.

The Administration already has made significant progress addressing each of the issues raised in the Commission’s report, in many cases reversing more than a decade of problems. Whether it is reducing improper payments to contractors and grantees, closing down redundant data centers, or cracking down on nonperforming contractors, we cannot tolerate the wasting of hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

There is a lot in the report, and I want to highlight the main issues raised in it and how the Administration is working on them.

Cutting Waste and Reducing Overreliance on Contractors:

On March 4, 2009, the President issued the Memorandum on Government Contracting, which called attention to the rapid growth in contracting spending, and raised concerns about contracts awarded without adequate competition. The memorandum also addressed issues with contractors performing functions that should be performed by public-sector employees. Agency efforts to reduce waste and demonstrate fiscal discipline are producing results. We cut contracting spending for the first time in 13 years in fiscal year 2010; agencies spent nearly $80 billion less than they would have if contract spending continued to grow at the same rate it had under the prior Administration.

Expanding Competition and Strengthening Contract Management and Oversight:

Over the past two years, significant progress has been made in reducing the use of high-risk contracting methods – including cutting $5 billion in spending on so-called “no bid contracts” last year. Consistent with the Commission’s recommendations, the Administration is strengthening the acquisition workforce by increasing training and certification requirements for those with a key role in oversight of contractors, including those working in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense has made improving the defense acquisition system a top priority, and is tracking metrics on cost overruns, schedule delays, competition, the acquisition workforce, and acquisition employee training certifications.

Strengthening the Suspension and Debarment Process for Bad Actors and Improving Contractor Accountability:

Where there are bad actors in the contracting community, agencies have increased their use of suspension and debarment and other tools to deal with irresponsible contractors, consistent with the Commission’s recommendations. For example, in the last 18 months alone, USAID has taken more than 40 suspension or debarment actions – almost double the number of actions taken in the prior seven years combined. OMB has worked closely with the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) to review current agency suspension and debarment practices and to identify opportunities where these practices can be strengthened.

The Commission’s report recommends improving the recording and use of contractor performance data, so that contracting officers have ready access to useful information about vendors’ past performance, and can take this information into account in decisions to award contracts. This Administration has made unprecedented progress in improving the collection of contractor performance data and in making this information publicly available, as part of our commitment to transparency.

For the first time, contractor performance data is posted online to help ensure that the government does business with reputable companies. Data is now available on suspensions and debarments, terminations, and criminal activities of contractors. Data on where contractor dollars are being spent is now posted on http://www.usaspending.gov/ – including down to the sub contract or sub award level for the first time this year. Finally, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued guidance to agencies to enter meaningful assessments of contractor performance into a central database to ensure that the government awards to vendors that can perform.

Our agreement with the broad contours of the Commission’s report and with many of the specific recommendations does not, of course, mean that we agree with all details of the Commission’s recommendations, but we welcome the focus the report brings to the need to continue improving contracting. We simply cannot afford to continue to tolerate the waste of taxpayer dollars that we saw in the past. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress and all concerned citizens in addressing the Commission’s legislative recommendations, as we continue to make strides toward boosting accountability and cutting waste in contracting.

Daniel Gordon is Administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

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.

Search this Website