Acquisition

White House Wants Funds for New Industrial Base Support Program

The White House’s budget request for fiscal year 2014 includes $14 million for the Defense Department to start a new program aiming to help defense companies manage breaks in production. This program also intends to help defense vendors avoid reconstitution costs for capability after either a defense procurement hiatus for a large program, according toRead… Read more »

Tips on Bidding for State and Local Government Contracts!

State Government Bids and RFPs are very tough to find. Contrary to the government bodies, that performs most investing in via GSA schedules, state and local bids can be found in an exceedingly nice range of sources throughout the net — on government websites, structure pages, third party contracted web-sites, and newspaper postings. What toRead… Read more »

Navy Proposes Incentive Program for Contractors

Under a new pilot program the Navy proposed on August 9, the department wishes to offer incentives to its best contractors. The Superior Supplier Incentive Program would offer fewer audits or more favorable progress payments to companies who have excelled, according to a Fierce Government article. “It’s an interesting idea,” said Roger Jordan, PSC’s viceRead… Read more »

Billions Wasted Annually Due to Duplication – Why?

Redundant federal programs are leading to billions in waste. Even worse, the Government Accountability Office says in their new report that the government is slow to adopt reforms to fix the problem. Nikki Clowers is a Director of Financial Markets and Community Investment Issues at GAO. She told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program thatRead… Read more »

Federal Agencies Plan to Increase No-Bid Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses in 2013

In an effort to improve small business contracting opportunities the Office of Budget and Management has issued a recommendation to all federal agencies to analyze their no-bid contracting process. No-bid contracting opportunities dropped 4% this past year while large prime vendor profits continued to rise. U.S. Congressman Sam Graves (R-Mo.), the chairman of the HouseRead… Read more »

3 Activities to Get Your Agency in Tip-Top Shape for CPIC Season

GovLoop and Integrity Management Consulting are proud to present a 12-part series called “Conscientious Contracting: A Thoughtful Approach to Acquisition and Program Management,” that aims to address common challenges and achieve new efficiencies in government procurement. Summer is just around the corner and many people are thinking about getting in shape before they hit theRead… Read more »

How to buy in 2013 – Multi-Award Contracts

The government is changing the way it buys things. That much is clear. Multi-award contracts are in and prime contracts are out. Brian Friel is the Federal Business Analyst at Bloomberg. He told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program that there has been a bit shift in the last decade toward multi-award contracts, particularly inRead… Read more »

Better government IT starts with smart procurement

There are many challenges to using the competitive procurement process to purchase IT solutions for government. The dilemma is more than just large and cumbersome RFP package production, long software demos and lengthy review and contracting. Government has reduced funding for investments and can no longer afford to get it wrong – especially for coreRead… Read more »

Accountability Update: Is Anybody Listening?

Our recent blog post about accountability had some good discussions on the GS-1102 LinkedIn group (closed group) about who actually is responsible for accountability. Should it rest squarely on government? What responsibility does the contractor have when the government is asleep at the switch? A recent issue seems to have blurred that line, prompting theRead… Read more »