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Confusion over Trump’s Lease of the Old Post Office Building

Four House Democrats said today that the General Services Administration (GSA) has determined that President-Elect Donald Trump’s lease of the Old Post Office Building for his Trump International Hotel, poses a conflict of interest that must be addressed before Inauguration Day. However, GSA rebutted that claim in an official statement. “GSA does not have a position that the lease provision requires the president-elect to divest of his financial interests. We can make no definitive statement at this time about what would constitute a breach of the agreement, and to do so now would be premature. In fact, no determination regarding the Old Post Office can be completed until the full circumstances surrounding the president-elect’s business arrangements have been finalized and he has assumed office. GSA is committed to responsibly administering all of the leases to which it is a party.”

GSA Wants Feedback on New IT Tool

The Defense Health Agency (DHS) and General Services Administration (GSA) are refining the GSA’s IT Solutions Navigator (ITSN), a web-based portal intended to simplify and expedite IT services and products acquisition. According to the Federal Times, “GSA plans to expand offerings within the ITSN to reflect the health IT marketplace, so industry partners are being asked to submit assessments of categories, product descriptions, information architecture expansion and other ways to enhance services.” Comments on the tool are open until the end of the day tomorrow, December 15.

Last Chance: The Five Myths of Market Research

If done well, and at an early stage of a program or procurement, market research can be a critical aspect of achieving program outcomes and procurement goals. It can lead to better requirements that are aligned to market capabilities, improved competition, and reduced total cost of ownership, benefitting both government and suppliers. Join our webinar to upend conventional wisdom around market research, and how to drive superior outcomes.

Agencies Staying Flexible When it Comes to Agile

At a recent ACT-IAC meeting, agency chief information officers (CIOs) discussed the impact of adopting agile approaches has had on their procurement and development of technology. Mark Schwartz, the chief information officer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said everything his department does now is agile. “To be agile means to inspect and adapt,” he said. “It means as we go we’re going to learn from what we see and adjust our plan based on that.” But other said they were adapting the principles and using them only in certain circumstances.

London Underground Wins Innovation Procurement Award

Nancy Clinton reports on a very interesting and innovative procurement in the United Kingdom, in which Transport for London looked at ways to increase sustainability when buying equipment needed to light the expansive London Underground network. “We took a look at how we spend public money on products and services, and applied a brand new approach to how we procure them, focusing on whole life-cycle costs,” said Dr Leon Smith, Capital Programmes Directorate, London Underground. “By brigading our future spend on lighting – creating economies of scale to offer to the market – we were able to inspire potential suppliers to invest in the effort and research required to develop technologies that are more economically advantageous for us, and more sustainable than any of the products currently installed on the TfL network.”

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