By Mike Ipsaro, PMP, CCE/A In this time of tight budgets and mandates to do more or the same with less, the need for innovation is greater than ever. This is the case wherever you add value to your organization, including acquisition. Frans Johansson, author of The Medici Effect, talks about intersections as “the placeRead… Read more »
By John Rumbaugh, Program Manager and former Military Officer I retired in March after 30 years as a US Naval Officer. It was the end of a rewarding career that included travel, challenging work and camaraderie, but I knew that it was also the beginning of a new post-military chapter. While I was excited aboutRead… Read more »
By Patricia Miller, Senior Acquisition Analyst Recently I wrote an article about the significant role that Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) play in the acquisition process flow. In “Do COR’s Matter in Your Agency? Why they Should,” I advocated the importance of reassuring CORs that they are a valuable force within acquisition teams. This blog generatedRead… Read more »
By Craig Taylor, Senior Analyst The original implementation of DoD’s “Better Buying Power” initiative heavily promoted the use of Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract types. Many federal agencies adopted this approach with the intent to control costs and limit the Government’s risk exposure on acquisitions. This does not remove risk from the acquisition itself, andRead… Read more »
By Tom Kuhn, PhD, Fellow Do not assume anything when you are writing a task order against an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. Why? Ever write a task order and miss something or miss ensuring the proper contract language rigor is included? For example, what happens when a task order is written against anRead… Read more »
By Patricia Miller, Senior Acquisition Analyst Picture the acquisition process flow as a wheel. Around the wheel are the pre-award and award process, contract management and finally the contract close-out. Because Contracting Officer’s Representatives (CORs) may be involved in all aspects of the acquisition cycle, they operate as the linchpin that holds it all together.Read… Read more »
By Derry Goberdhansingh, Program Development Manager Recently the US Chief Information Officer (CIO) Steven Van Roekel (@stevenvdc) has been discussing the Federal Information Technology FY 2014 Budget Priorities on social media such as Twitter and elsewhere. In his budget priorities presentation, he discusses the shift towards Performance Based Budgeting (PBB). So what exactly is PBB?Read… Read more »
By Michael Ipsaro, PMP, CCE/A Your agency just received a legislative mandate to implement a capability by a specific date. The mission could range from expanding a capability, to improving security at a checkpoint, to meeting an estimated surge in demand for transactions in a compressed time period. It may take months or years toRead… Read more »
By Chris Poole and Lyttleton Shurland You don’t have work in the federal budget field to know that agencies are closely reviewing every budget line item to see where they can streamline to reduce costs. It is vital that government Program Managers (PMs) understand the importance of building and reporting on sound business cases forRead… Read more »
By Robert Nau With budgets and resources stretched more than ever, portfolios are under fire to demonstrate the value of their investments through sound business cases. One way to show soundness is to demonstrate the business cases are compliant and coherent. But how is this accomplished? Based on my experience supporting teams through many CapitalRead… Read more »