By Kevin Hilferty, Legal Intern With the arrival of sequestration and slashed budgets, agencies have been facing many tough decisions on where to cut spending and save money. Acquisition teams have been given the difficult task of doing the same or even more with less. The pressure to maintain current levels of support with lessRead… Read more »
By Michael Ipsaro, Technical Director, PMP, CCE/A Sound familiar? A complex professional service contract is awarded using the LPTA approach…..it costs millions more than expected. A recurring supply of widgets or routine services is obtained using a Best Value approach. The delivery is delayed months and when combined with the final price of the contract…..resultsRead… Read more »
Article By John Coombs, Fellow, CFCM, DAWIA III On a trip to San Diego I watched a Navy destroyer slip quietly under the Coronado Bridge. I remembered a phrase I’ve repeated many times throughout my career as a procurement leader and manager: “Don’t try to dial up an aircraft carrier in port to the perfectRead… Read more »
By Donald Freedman, Senior Fellow I believe there’s a truism in acquisition: the work’s not done until the paperwork is finished. How many of you have tried to get an acquisition through the approval process only to be stymied because some of the critical Acquisition Documentation was not up to date or was missing completely?Read… Read more »
By Tom Kuhn PhD and Fellow In an environment of uncertain budgets and evolving technology, a modular or Agile approach to acquiring new systems can provide greater cost control and flexibility. In Part I of my primer on Agile, I wrote about the What and Why of the modular approach to buying information technology (IT).Read… Read more »
By Tom Kuhn, PhD, DAWIA III Government agencies need the most innovative IT solutions, but they also need to “innovate with less.” That’s where Modular Acquisition comes in, taking a “small bites” approach to IT investment, which gives government fast access to the latest technology while lowering the risk of upfront spending on systems. TheRead… Read more »
By John Coombs, CFCM, DAWIA III As fiscal pressures rise, senior leaders across the federal government place additional emphasis on Firm-Fixed Price (FFP) contracts. A prime example is the Department of Defense “Better Buying Power” memoranda. FFP contracting is an important method to add simplicity and cost efficiency, but with respect to services, FFP contractingRead… Read more »
Our Integrity experts each forecast one top trend for 2013. What emerging trends will dominate the next 12 months or more in acquisition and program management? And what should you know right now? Trending Up: Back to the Basics — Choosing the Right Contract Type Mark Hogenmiller, PMP, CPCM, COO Last November Mr. Frank Kendall,Read… Read more »
By Mike Ipsaro, PMP, CCE/A, In my first post about the OMB 300/53, I laid out the operational basics, the scoring, and important stakes behind managing the business case process. Having supported a customer to achieve all green scores across a complex investment portfolio for two consecutive years, I can share with you the strategiesRead… Read more »
By Mike Ipsaro, PMP, CCE/A, Technical Director Each year Program Managers are tasked with proving that investments align with agency mission and support business needs with low risk during the investment lifecycle. The OMB Budget Exhibit 300/53 is a business case that justifies the strategic and economic value of any investment, say for example, inRead… Read more »