All Learning Content
NAO Report on Commercial and Contract Management
Dec 15, 2016
Last month, the UK’s National Audit Office published what we think is one of its most important pieces of work ever – “Commercial and contract management: insights and emerging best practice”.
We’re biased obviously being in the business as it were, but as NAO points out, the public...
Public Spend Forum Newswire | 12/13/2016
Dec 14, 2016
DoD: More Reforms than Personnel Can Handle
During a speech Monday at a National Contract Management Association conference, Peter Levine—the acting defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness and former deputy chief management officer—said there are too many acquisition reforms coming...
Public Procurement News Round-up | 12/13/2016
Dec 14, 2016
DoD: More Reforms than Personnel Can Handle
During a speech Monday at a National Contract Management Association conference, Peter Levine—the acting defense undersecretary for personnel and readiness and former deputy chief management officer—said there are too many acquisition reforms coming...
Transport for London Wins Innovative Procurement Award – A Bright Future for London Underground
Dec 14, 2016
The most outstanding innovative procurement activities were showcased last week at the Procura+ Awards in Sweden. We have been highlighting the shortlisted entries for the past couple of weeks, here and here. These awards are part of the ICLEI (local governments for sustainability) network’s...
Public Spend Forum Newswire | 12/12/2016
Dec 12, 2016
Worry Less about the FAR and Build Relationships Instead
Jackie Space, founder of tech company BMNT, said there is too much focus on fixing the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as a means to helping foster innovation. Space argues that putting the emphasis on process ignores a cultural problem...
Public Procurement News Round-up | 12/12/2016
Dec 12, 2016
Worry Less about the FAR and Build Relationships Instead
Jackie Space, founder of tech company BMNT, said there is too much focus on fixing the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) as a means to helping foster innovation. Space argues that putting the emphasis on process ignores a cultural problem...
Public Procurement News Round-Up | 12/9/2016
Dec 12, 2016
Waldron: “Best-in-Class” Contracts Causing Headaches
Roger Waldron, executive director of the Coalition for Government Procurement, writes about the problems with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) designation of some contracts as “best in class,” and the category management...
Can Procurement Reform Help Philadelphia Rebuild?
Dec 12, 2016
The City of Philadelphia is getting started on a $700 million program called Rebuild, meant to revitalize city parks, libraries, playgrounds, etc. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is considering contracting with a nonprofit to administer that program. Philadelphia Councilwoman Maria D. Quiñones...
Reasons to Be Optimistic about Trump’s Approach to Acquisition and Procurement
Dec 12, 2016
Just after the election, I wrote a blog post asking whether President-elect Donald Trump was likely to have a management agenda at all. My concern was based on the observation that most in the traditional Republican management community had not supported Trump and thus had not produced the campaign...
Is Raising the Micro-Purchase Threshold a Good Idea?
Dec 9, 2016
Ace government watchdogs the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) flagged proposed language included in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would raise the micro-purchase threshold—essentially the limit that can be spent via a government purchase card—from $3,000 to...
Shouldn’t we be setting the bar higher for option execution in government contracts?
Dec 9, 2016
Jason Bakke posted the post below to the Public Spend Forum community.
“NASA has issued a proposed rule to create “award terms” for superior performance extending beyond the typical base-plus-four contract. The intro states:
While there are similarities between an award term and an option,...
Public Procurement News Round-up | 12/8/2016
Dec 9, 2016
Backlog of Unawarded Contracts Continues to Grow
Daniel Snyder of Bloomberg Government talked with Federal News Radio about the growing backlog of unawarded contracts, contracts that are in the source selection stage but have not yet been awarded. In other words, the final solicitations have been...
