So Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 is now in the books, and the new government FY 2012 begins. I don’t think anyone can argue that this end of FY was one of the most challenging end of FYs in recent memory, with budgetary issues and Continuing Resolutions adding to a sense of doom in industry, ifRead… Read more »
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is turning its attention to a long-neglected function, that of the Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative, or COTR. Starting January 1, 2012, COTRs will simply be called Contracting Officers’ Representative, or COR. The switch from COTR to COR is much more than just a simple title change. It is aRead… Read more »
First off, yes, I have a virtual assistant. Maybe you’ll ask me “What the heck do I need a virtual assistant for?” Well, I need one because I want one. It’s convenience. I only have so much time in the world. It’s like when a small business hires its first employee — its Sterling, Inc.Read… Read more »
Bay Area Rapid Transit (CA) directors held a special meeting last week to hear proposals for a cell-phone shutdown policy from a newly appointed citizens review panel. The action was in response to BART’s shutdown of cell-phone access at several stations in anticipation of a planned protest in August. One proposal called for requiring threeRead… Read more »
Gadi Ben-Yehuda First, a hearty congratulations to Steve Ressler, aka Mr. GovLoop, on his impending nuptials. Here is a blog post for people to wish him well and offer advice on being a married man. Open Government Community Chides DC. The municipal government of Washington, DC, suspended, and then reinstated the Twitter feed of DCRead… Read more »
Deltek Analyst Evan Halperin reports. Earlier this week, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy announced the signing of a contract between the state and Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS) for the highly-anticipated criminal justice information system (CJIS). Connecticut’s CJIS Governing Board has been planning this project since 2008, when the project was approved by the state’s generalRead… Read more »
Federal News Radio recently published a helpful article in which Houston Taylor, Assistant Commissioner for Acquisition Management at the GSA, identifies and dispels some common green purchasing myths. Taylor said that many people, “think the green purchasing requirements applies to all contracts for products and services — simply incorrect…The new FAR rule requires all suppliersRead… Read more »
A senate hearing earlier this week focused on Intelligence Community contracting presented several interesting thoughts. Most notably, a bi-partisan panel agreed with a CIA policy which prevents government employees from leaving the agency and immediately accepting contract work. Retirees are exempted. The whole idea is to prevent the “poaching” of the CIA’s top talent, whoRead… Read more »
The theory that the federal government should outsource its operations to private firms usually rests on a simple premise: It saves money. But why should we believe it saves money? Often the argument is made by pointing to salaries for public- and private-sector employees in comparable jobs and noting that the private-sector employees make less.Read… Read more »
Free WiFi on the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (CA) Gold Line is a little closer. Last week the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CA) approved a contract with Xentrans to prepare design specifications and a request for proposals from vendors. According to The Eastsider LA, the process began withRead… Read more »