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January 2, 2020 By cs

Top 10 government contracting news articles of 2019

Folks just like you visited The Contracting Education Academy’s web site over 70,000 times in 2019!  
Visitors took advantage of our daily news feed, learned about Georgia Tech’s support of government projects, checked-out our upcoming acquisition course offerings, and researched numerous acquisition topics.
So, what news developments interested our visitors the most?
Below is a list of the Top 10 news developments of 2019, based on our 45,500 visitors’ interests.  Each one is hyperlinked to the original news story so you can read it again — or perhaps read it for the first time!
  1. Hill AFB’s FARSite to go away on Oct. 1st – Despite the fact that the hugely popular FAR search engine operated by Hill Air Force Base was used 2.3 billion times since its launch in mid-1996, it was decommissioned in 2019 and replaced by Acquisition.gov.
  2. There’s hope that FARSite’s useful features will be incorporated into Acquisition.gov – An uproar from loyal FARSite users — concerned that useful search features and functions would no longer be available — caused Acquisition.gov’s operator, GSA, to reassure users that “… the new site [will provide] the existing capabilities as the current FARSite.”
  3. State Dept. contracting officer indicted for bribery and procurement fraud – According to a Justice Dept. indictment, a State Dept. contracting official and a Turkish construction firm engaged in a bribery and procurement fraud scheme in which the official received cash from the Turkish owner while supervising multi-million dollar construction contracts awarded to the Turkish owner’s business partners.  The contracting official allegedly made over a half million dollars in cash deposits into his personal bank accounts.
  4. What’s your acquisition approach — FAR or non-FAR?  – During 2019, contracting officials increasingly decided to not use a traditional Federal Acquisition Regulation-based acquisition model, opting instead to use Other Transaction Agreements (OTAs).
  5. Section 809 Panel issues summary report of 98 recommendations – A Congressionally-mandated study was released in February calling for reforms in four areas of government acquisition: taking greater advantage of marketplace dynamics; allocating resources more effectively; empowering the acquisition workforce; and simplifying acquisition.
  6. What you don’t know about the Pentagon’s DEOS contract – In March, while the Pentagon’s high-profile Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) procurement was first stalled by legal action, contracting officials were preparing to take bids on its other multibillion cloud procurement, the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions (DEOS) contract.
  7. FedBizOpps to merge with SAM.gov before year’s end – In August, GSA announced that FedBizOpps.gov will migrate to a new SAM.gov site as early as the first quarter of FY20.  The merger took place on Nov. 12 with noticeable delays in the new site’s responsiveness.
  8. Why contracting challenges put VA on the ‘High-Risk’ list – In March, the GAO announced it found that the Department of Veterans Affairs had not updated key purchasing regulations since 2008.
  9. DISA, DSS award second OTA to build governmentwide security clearance system – In July, DoD officials announced they awarded a $75 million ‘other transaction agreement’ (OTA) to build major components of the IT system that will eventually handle all background investigations and security clearance adjudications for federal employees and contractors.
  10. Transition to new FAC-C acquisition workforce training requirements begins Oct. 1, 2019 – New training requirements for the civilian portion of the federal acquisition workforce — aligning the requirements with those developed to support the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) contracting certification program — are explained in our article.
Why not make a New Year’s Resolution to visit our website every weekday in 2020?  You’ll benefit by learning about the very latest developments in government acquisition!

 

Filed Under: Academy News Tagged With: acquisition workforce, Contracting Academy, contracting education, federal contracting, Georgia Tech, government contracting, web resources

January 3, 2019 By AMK

We were your source for news about government contracting in 2018

News articles on The Academy’s web site were read 79,583 times in 2018.

Compared to 2017, that represents a 37% increase in content viewed on our web site.

To you — our students, our clients, and visitors — we say Thank You!

We monitor visits to our web site to determine what interests our readers.  Some of the most popular web content was read hundreds and hundreds of times!  Just in case you missed something important last year, listed below are the top 15 most popular news stories, with each one hyper-linked to the full article.

2018’s Top Stories
  1. Higher limits on micropurchase, simplified acquisition thresholds okayed by CAAC
  2. Common feedback to unsuccessful bidders
  3. A practical program manager’s guide to requests for equitable adjustment
  4. SAM hacked: New vendor registrations require paper documentation
  5. When competitors see bid info, the public loses
  6. New rule allows other direct costs and order level materials on GSA Schedule task orders
  7. GAO sustains protest of $771 million Defense Intelligence Agency contract
  8. OTA contracts are the new cool thing in DoD acquisition
  9. How to cut costs and improve performance
  10. GAO sustains Oracle’s ‘other transaction authority’ protest
  11. GAO looks at NAICS code assignments, SBA clarifications, and industry views
  12. Bribes and kickbacks at Joint Base Charleston lead to sentencing
  13. Former COR and a contractor at Eglin Air Force Base plead guilty to conspiracy and bribery
  14. FAR rule implements higher dollar threshold for GAO’s protest jurisdiction over DoD, NASA, Coast Guard task orders
  15. Veterans Affairs wasted close to $2 billion on failed IT projects
The 15 Hottest Topics

What were the most popular topics viewed on The Academy’s web site during 2018?  They are listed below, each hyper-linked to corresponding resources:

  1. Negotiating Rules (10 basic bargaining rules followed by win/win negotiators)
  2. Simplified Acquisition (an explanation of what it is)
  3. Authority for Modifying a Contract (the rules for contract mods)
  4. Interagency Acquisition and GWACs (an explanation, with resources)
  5. Other Transaction Authority (a contract vehicle, growing in popularity, used to help federal agencies rapidly incorporate new technologies)
  6. Buy American Act (news of recent developments in the federal preference for the purchase of domestic supplies and the incorporation of domestic materials into construction projects)
  7. Bribery, Kickbacks and Fraud (news of corruption in government contracting)
  8. Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (trends in LPTA contracting)
  9. Rule of Two (what to do when the CO reasonably expects that at least two eligible small businesses will submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair and reasonable price)
  10. Fat Leonard (developing news about the contract corruption case involving more than 60 admirals and hundreds of other U.S. Navy officers)
  11. Fair and Reasonable Pricing (an explanation of this government standard)
  12. Acquisition Reform (news of the latest developments designed to streamline the federal acquisition Process)
  13. Acquisition Training (the need, the requirements, and the resources)
  14. Micropurchasing (news involving micropurchases)
  15. Acquisition Workforce (developments impacting the government’s acquisition workforce)
Worldwide Interest in the Contracting Academy

While 80 percent of visitors to The Academy’s web site come from all 50 of the United States and the District of Columbia, our analysis shows that personnel on U.S. military bases around the world — as well as contracting officials from federal agencies such as USAID, CDC and the State Department — are among the many international visitors to our site.

The Contracting Education Academy’s web site is popular worldwide. Last year (2018), 50,184 visitors consulted the Academy’s site 60,281 times — viewing our site’s content 79,583 times. Compared to the previous year (2017), these numbers represent a 49% increase in visitors, a 44% increase in visits, and a 37% increase in the content viewed. Our visitors came from all 50 states and 182 countries.
A Pair of New Year’s Resolutions

What do we recommend to you for the New Year?  Two things:

  1. Keep visiting The Academy’s web site for the very latest news and information on government contracting — there is new content posted every business day!  Bookmark this site: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/category/government-contracting-news
  2. Stay in touch with our latest training and educational offerings by regularly visiting our course and workshop listing here: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/training

Happy New Year!

Filed Under: Academy News Tagged With: Contracting Academy, contracting education, Georgia Tech, government contracting, web resources

January 1, 2018 By AMK

Here’s what interested you in 2017

News items on The Academy’s web site were read more than 57,800 times last year.  

PrintThat’s 15% growth compared to 2016!

To you — our students, our clients, and visitors — we say thank you!

We monitor visits to our web site to determine what interests our readers.  Some of the most popular web content was read hundreds and hundreds of times!  Just in case you missed something important last year, listed below are the top 15 most popular news stories, with each one hyper-linked to the full article.

2017’s Top Stories
  1. Micro-purchase and simplified acquisition thresholds raised for Hurricane Harvey response
  2. DoD raises micro-purchase threshold to $5,000
  3. Changes coming to SAM.gov
  4. How to cut costs and improve performance
  5. A practical program manager’s guide to requests for equitable adjustment
  6. 2017 NDAA restricts DoD’s use of LPTA procedures
  7. Navy officer sentenced in ongoing ‘Fat Leonard’ contract fraud and bribery investigation
  8. Senate passes $700 billion 2018 NDAA, including procurement reforms
  9. Common feedback to unsuccessful bidders
  10. Federal agencies sometimes struggle with creating postings on FedBizOpps
  11. More ‘Fat Leonard’ fallout: Admiral and 8 other officers indicted in fraud and bribery scheme
  12. Alternate FAR search engine is available
  13. CDC contracting official indicted by federal grand jury
  14. IT firm agrees to pay $45 million to settle alleged false claims on GSA contract
  15. DoD contractor agrees to $4.5 million settlement for alleged False Claim Act violations
The 15 Hotest Topics

What were the most popular topics viewed on The Academy’s web site during 2017?  They are listed below, each hyper-linked to corresponding resources:

  1. Negotiating Rules (10 basic bargaining rules followed by win/win negotiators)
  2. Simplified Acquisition (an explanation of what it is)
  3. Authority for Modifying a Contract (the rules for contract mods)
  4. Interagency Acquisition and GWACs (an explanation, with resources)
  5. Bribery, Kickbacks (news of corruption in government contracting)
  6. Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (trends in LPTA contracting)
  7. Fair and Reasonable Pricing (an explanation of this government standard)
  8. Rule of Two (what to do when the CO reasonably expects that at least two eligible small businesses will submit offers and that the award can be made at a fair and reasonable price)
  9. Fat Leonard (developing news about the contract corruption case involving more than 60 admirals and hundreds of other U.S. Navy officers)
  10. Micropurchasing (news involving micropurchases)
  11. Acquisition Training (the need, the requirements, and the resources)
  12. Contracting Officer Representatives (news about and resources for CORs)
  13. Acquisition Workforce (developments impacting the government’s acquisition workforce)
  14. Acquisition Training (the need, the requirements, and the resources)
  15. Government Contracting News (a link to all the latest developments)
Worldwide Interest in the Contracting Academy

While 86 percent of visitors to The Academy’s web site are based in all 50 of the United States, our analysis shows that personnel on U.S. military bases around the world — as well as contracting officials from federal agencies such as USAID, CDC and the State Department — are among the many international visitors to our site.

The Contracting Education Academy’s web site is popular worldwide. During calendar year 2017, 33,726 visitors consulted the Academy’s site 41,901 times — viewing our site’s content 57,901 times. Our visitors came from all 50 states and 163 countries.
A Pair of New Year’s Resolutions

What do we recommend to you for the New Year?  Two things:

  1. Keep visiting The Academy’s web site for the very latest news and information on government contracting — there is new content posted every business day!  Bookmark this site: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/category/government-contracting-news
  2. Stay in touch with our latest training and educational offerings by regularly visiting our course and workshop listing here: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/training

Happy New Year!

Filed Under: Academy News Tagged With: Contracting Academy, contracting education, Georgia Tech, government contracting, web resources

January 4, 2017 By AMK

Here are the most popular government contracting topics of 2016

News items on The Academy’s web site were read more than 48,500 times last year.  

PrintThat’s very gratifying to us because we work hard each day to post information items that we hope will be beneficial to you in your everyday work.  To you — our students, our clients, and visitors — we say thank you!

We monitor visits to our web site to determine what interests you.  Just in case you missed something important last year, listed below are the top 15 most popular news stories, with each one hyper-linked to the full article.

2016’s Top Stories
  1. Federal acquisition thresholds to change Oct. 1, 2015
  2. SBA’s advocacy office objects to impact of DoD’s cybersecurity rules on small businesses
  3. Does ‘Kingdomware’ apply to non-VA FSS orders?
  4. Former GSA official and husband indicted in $1.3 million government contracting scheme
  5. Defense authorization bill addresses DCAA audit backlog
  6. Congress appears poised to gut government contracts for small business
  7. DoD acquisition workforce ordered to take ethics training annually
  8. GSA launches contract database for small businesses
  9. DoD now awarding more than half its contract spending without competitive bids
  10. President-elect Trump and federal procurement: Who woulda thunk it?
  11. ‘Fat Leonard’ case takes down former DoD supervisory contracting officer
  12. Owner of sham veteran-owned company sentenced for $100 million fraud
  13. Consulting firm found guilty in DBE fraud case
  14. Opportunity knocks: Getting vendors in the door
  15. State Department employee indicted in $2 million contract conspiracy
The 15 Hotest Topics

What were the most popular topics viewed on The Academy’s web site during 2016?  They are listed below, each hyper-linked to corresponding resources:

  1. Negotiating Rules (10 basic bargaining rules followed by win/win negotiators)
  2. Simplified Acquisition (an explanation of what it is)
  3. Bribery, Kickbacks (news of corruption in government contracting)
  4. Authority for Modifying a Contract (the rules for contract mods)
  5. DFARS (news related to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement)
  6. Government Contracting News (a link to all the latest developments)
  7. Fair and Reasonable Pricing (an explanation of this government standard)
  8. Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (trends in LPTA contracting)
  9. GSA Schedule Workshop (consulting services to obtain a GSA Schedule contract)
  10. Micropurchasing (news involving micropurchases)
  11. Bridge Contracts (news of risks associated with bridge contracts)
  12. Better Buying Power (developments involving this DoD initiative)
  13. Acquisition Training (the need, the requirements, and the resources)
  14. Acquisition Workforce (developments impacting the government’s acquisition workforce)
  15. Interagency Acquisition and GWACs (an explanation, with resources)
Worldwide Interest in the Contracting Academy

While 80 percent of visitors to The Academy’s web site are based in all 50 of the United States, our analysis shows that personnel on U.S. military bases around the world — as well as contracting officials from federal agencies such as USAID, CDC and the State Department — are among the many international visitors to our site.

The Contracting Education Academy’s web site is popular worldwide. During 2016, more than 25,058 visitors consulted the Academy’s site 32,952 times — viewing 48,768 pages. Our visitors came from all 50 states and 155 countries.
The Contracting Education Academy’s web site is popular worldwide. During 2016, more than 25,058 visitors consulted the Academy’s site 32,952 times — viewing 48,768 pages. Our visitors came from all 50 states and 155 countries.
A Pair of New Year’s Resolutions

What do we recommend to you for the New Year?  Two things:

  1. Keep visiting The Academy’s web site for the very latest news and information on government contracting — there is new content posted every business day!
  2. Stay in touch with our latest training and educational offerings by regularly visiting our course and workshop listing here: http://contractingacademy.gatech.edu/training

Happy New Year!

Filed Under: Academy News Tagged With: Contracting Academy, Georgia Tech, government contracting, web resources

March 4, 2016 By AMK

‘Hack the Pentagon’: Will DoD’s bug bounty program attract top talent?

Challenged by hackers and staffing shortages, the Pentagon is inviting plainclothes techies to a competition where they can poke around military code for security bugs.

The idea is to find and fix vulnerabilities unknowingly inserted in software before the bad guys do.

pentagon-sealThe contest draws inspiration from “bug bounty” programs in the private sector open to hobbyists and professional penetration testers. Microsoft, for instance, offers a reward of up to $100,000 for attacking its software. General Motors earlier this year launched a car-hacking program that seeks glitch reports but doesn’t yet pay for them.

The military’s new “Hack the Pentagon” program, unveiled Wednesday, potentially could offer cash prizes, according to a Defense Department announcement. Perhaps some of those bucks could come from the nearly $7 billion Pentagon Secretary Ash Carter expects to spend on cybersecurity in 2017.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2016/03/pentagon-launches-open-contest-hack-military-websites/126383/

Filed Under: Government Contracting News Tagged With: contract award, crowdsourcing, cyber, cybersecurity, DoD, hack, hackers, incentive, Pentagon, prize competition, vulnerability, web resources

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