“Certain planned procurements may be cancelled and certain existing contracts may be stopped, reduced in scope, terminated or partially terminated.” Nick Nayak, chief procurement officer at the Department of Homeland Security, has advised contractors of these potential actions in the event of a government shutdown in a letter posted Thursday on FedBizOpps. DHS will notRead… Read more »
The Defense Information Systems Agency has released a draft request for proposals to acquire commercial cloud computing services through 2017 for up to $450 million. DISA is seeking to purchase commercial infrastructure-as-a-service tools and associated support services under the Commercial Cloud Services Provider program, the draft RFP released Monday says. Service lines covered under theRead… Read more »
A General Services Administration procurement vehicle for office supplies has saved the agency $200 million and supported small contracting businesses. GSA Chief Acquisition Officer Anne Rung announced the number during the Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week Phoenix and Procurement Awards ceremony in Washington, the agency said Friday. Small contractors won 13 of 15Read… Read more »
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will not furlough any of its 12,000 employees after the Commerce Department reached an agreement late Friday night for additional budget flexibility, acting NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan wrote in a memo obtained by SpaceNews.com. Sullivan wrote the agency would have had to furlough some workers for up to 10Read… Read more »
Federal agencies saved 4 percent on the $307 billion they spent to acquire services during fiscal year 2012. That percentage would equate to $12 billion by using strategic sourcing to acquire services for engineering and information technology, the Government Accountability Office says in a report dated April 15. Under strategic sourcing, agencies use an aggregateRead… Read more »
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 »
Have you taken the comprehensive MAS Basic Course yet? Join us for this training online and receive a 4-credit CLP certificate towards your warrant requirements. The target audience for this training is contracting professionals at all levels who seek to gain understanding or strengthen their knowledge of Schedules contracting and ordering procedures. This course willRead… 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 »
NCMA’s December 2012 flagship publication, Contract Management, published the article Comparative Best Practices in Public Sector Contracting — How the FAR Excels in the Socioeconomic Perspective. The piece provides a brief breakdown of five major procurement regimes including the the European Union’s Procurement Directives used by the European Union and the U.S.’s Federal Acquisition Regulation.Read… Read more »
You probably have a New Year’s resolution. It may be losing 15 lbs. It may be spending an extra hour each week with your family. I have a few, but one is specific to government contracting: providing better customer service. One of the recurring themes of this blog is government contract specialists are in theRead… Read more »