Acquisition

Small Businesses as Primes: Beware the Scorpion

As the 2012 Fiscal Year comes to a close, procurement shops are in full gear awarding contracts in the shadow of sequestration. Many large firms are also trying to close business after months of business development, only to see last minute decisions to make their solicitation a small business set-aside. This creates another potential avenueRead… Read more »

Federal Capture Management – Identifying Teaming Partners

When you receive a proposal from a contractor, it typically includes a number of teaming partners all singing in unison that they are the only ones in world who understand your mission, can fulfill your requirements, etc. So what brings two or more companies together to pursue a federal contract opportunity? Well, there are aRead… Read more »

Civil War Contracting: Claims Process Little Changed

I was hiking and touring the Manassas, VA battlefield recently, and came across something interesting. The congressional act of July 4, 1864 (13 Stat. 381-82), recognized the debt the Federal Government owed loyal citizens for property losses suffered during the Civil War. This act, like all such Government legislation until 1871, applied only to citizensRead… Read more »

RFP-EZ: What We’re Thinking

Hi All — We’ve been working hard on RFP-EZ trying to come up with a system that really works for all the parties involved in small contracting. We’d love your feedback on our general thoughts so far, which are here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nm9k5do801umh2u/RFP-EZ%20Product%20Documentation.doc It’s a loose spec of the various products we intend to build, but subjectRead… Read more »

“Buying In” Now Effectively Policy Across Government

In a recent breakfast hosted by the Coalition for Government Procurement, Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Joe Jordan effectively punted on the notion of best value versus the realities of federal procurement; lowest priced offers win contracts. …Generally speaking, he said industry likes best-value procurements. They allow companies to propose higher prices, since officialsRead… Read more »

Case Studies Highlight Efficient and Smarter Spending

Last year, President Obama released Executive Order 13589: Promoting Efficient Spending. This Executive Order promotes agency reductions in the following areas: travel, information technology devices, printing, vehicle fleets, and extraneous promotional items. Certainly, with the perilous state of the federal government’s budget, certainly any savings that can be found and continue to provide the highestRead… Read more »

ACT-IAC Oct. 4 Forum to Address Big Data Blues

In spite of the Obama Administration’s recent $200 million investment in the Big Data Research and Development Initiative many agencies continue to struggle to find the necessary funds for Big Data projects, while others are challenged to build the proper infrastructures to handle them. Simply put, agencies recognize the importance of Big Data, yet ITRead… Read more »

DHS/HOST Open Source Policy Training Seminar — Sept 24

Government Open Source Software Policy Training Seminar conducted as part of the Homeland Open Security Technology (HOST) program Date: Monday, September 24, 2012 Time: 0800 – 1200 Location: SRI Conference Center 1100 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 2800 (28th floor) Arlington, VA 22209 (Map – http://goo.gl/F9pp7) Purpose: The purpose of the HOST Government Open Source Software PolicyRead… Read more »