All Learning Content
Past Performance: Does Duration Matter?
Jul 31, 2017
Past performance evaluations normally consider two aspects of an offeror’s prior work: whether that performance was recent and relevant. But in making its best value determination, must an agency also consider the duration of an offeror’s past performance?
A recent GAO bid protest decision...
Unrealistic Assumption on Social Value Benefits Mars Scape Group Report
Jul 31, 2017
Scape Group is a UK public-sector organisation, owned by six local authorities. The organisation offers a suite of fully managed frameworks, property services, innovative design solutions, community investment opportunities and joint ventures that are available to any public body in the United...
Effective August 1, 2017, the SCA Health and Welfare Benefit Rate Will Increase to $4.41 per Hour
Jul 28, 2017
On July 25, 2017, the Department of Labor released Agency Memorandum 225, increasing the health and welfare (H&W) rates for contracts under the Service Contract Act (SCA). Effective August 1, 2017, the H&W rate under the SCA increases to $4.41 per hour from $4.27 per hour. The Memo also discusses...
SmallGovCon Week In Review: July 24-28, 2017
Jul 28, 2017
July has flown by. Soon, my kids will be back in school, the leaves will start to turn, and the annual craziness at the end of the government fiscal year will be here. For now, I’m enjoying a few more weeks of summer. I hope you are too.
Before we head into the last July weekend of the...
Senate 2018 NDAA Re-Introduces Flawed GAO Bid Protest ‘Reforms’
Jul 28, 2017
Last year, during consideration of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate proposed to “reform” the GAO bid protest process by forcing some unsuccessful protesters to pay the government’s costs, and (more controversially) by denying incumbent protesters profits on bridge...
Supporting Public Procurement in Europe – Recommendations for Open Data Sharing Published
Jul 28, 2017
The Research Data Alliance (RDA) builds the social and technical bridges that enable open sharing of public sector data across Europe. Supporting Public Procurement in Europe it released this week (24 July) 4 Recommendations for Open Data Sharing published as ICT technical specifications. The...
What Are the Differences Between Public and Private Sector Procurement?
Jul 27, 2017
The 4 Fundamental Differences You Need to Understand Today
Way back in 2013, we ran a survey about the differences between public and private sector procurement. We turned the results into this article, which still comes in at the top of our “popular posts” ranking. Since it’s still such a...
Guidance for Public Sector Bid Challenges
Jul 27, 2017
The Technical and Construction Court (TCC) has published guidance for UK authorities, bidders and specialist procurement lawyers on how they should conduct public procurement claims in court. It gives easy to follow steps they should take when bringing a claim and the key points of the guidance...
NAO on Commercial & Contract Management – Design Performance Measures that Work
Jul 27, 2017
At the end of last year, the UK’s National Audit Office issued a very useful document titled “Commercial and contract management: insights and emerging best practice”. We did provide an initial overview of it here, and now we are into a more detailed review of its content and findings. For...
Encouraging Small Firms in Public Competition
Jul 27, 2017
The Pre-Procurement PhaseWe wrote here about the reasons why many contracting authorities around Europe have found it difficult to get the proportion of their contracts and business won by small or diverse firms up to a reasonable level. But the good news is that there are many steps that...
A Good-News Story About Cost Control
Jul 27, 2017
I am working on an article for FCW about changes in the procurement system over the past 25 years, with the theme “has the performance of the procurement system improved?” Along the way, I have been looking into why cost growth in the development of new weapons systems has slowed.
Development...
Camo in the Desert? A Senator Demands Answers
Jul 27, 2017
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is probing a recent report by the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction about the Pentagon’s purchase of $28 million worth of uniforms with a forest camouflage pattern for the Afghan army. “These failures raise the question of whether or not DOD...
