Opportunity for Irish SMEs And Public Sector To Work Together on New Initiatives
Sep 14, 2017
The Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection has called for a competitive challenge to increase collaboration between Irish public sector bodies and SMEs in order to come up with unique and innovative solutions to public sector needs....
Public Sector Pay Cap Lifted for Police and Prison Officers – Unions Not Happy
Sep 14, 2017
Since 2013 public sector pay rises in England and Wales have been capped at 1% – below the rate of inflation. That has now been lifted, with greater ‘flexibility’ given, to Police and Prison Officers – actions for other parts of the public sector have yet to be decided. But Unions are angry...
Release of Claims: Contractor Signatory Must Have Authority
Sep 12, 2017
What goes around, comes around.
The government sometimes refuses to pay a contractor for a modification when the government official requesting the modification lacks appropriate authority. But contractual authority isn’t a one-way street benefiting only the government. A recent decision by...
SmallGovCon Week In Review: September 5-8, 2017
Sep 8, 2017
Football season is back, and the Chiefs certainly gave those in our neck of the woods something to cheer for last night. I wish I could say I felt sorry for our SmallGovCon Patriots fans, but those five Super Bowl Rings ought to take the sting out of an opening-week loss.
I’ll be watching...
Bottom-Line Price, Not Line-Item Price, Is Key for Price Reasonableness
Sep 8, 2017
When I went out for pizza with my family the other night, the only number that mattered to me when I got the check was the bottom-line price. It didn’t matter to me what the price for each pizza or each lemonade was, as long as the total price was within my budget.
For an agency evaluating a...
Cybersecurity Challenges Remain During Push for IT Modernization
Sep 8, 2017
According to a survey of 200 federal IT executives conducted by Unisys Corporation and research company Market Connections, 59 percent said modernization efforts have increased the cybersecurity challenges they face. The survey highlights the challenges facing IT professionals; however, despite...
GSA Adjusts Purchasing Rules In Wake of Harvey
Sep 7, 2017
The General Services Administration (GSA) is easing purchasing rules to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. The micro-purchase threshold is now $20,000, the simplified acquisition threshold has been raised to $750,000, or $13 million for commercial items, and the simplified lease...
Strategies for Procurement Success
Sep 7, 2017
Government Technology provides examples on how to find procurement success at federal and local levels by examining models that other jurisdictions have explored. Taking direction from industry leaders, this article describes a current state where agencies are historically reluctant to adopt...
Guidance on Ethical Sourcing Across the Construction Sector
Sep 7, 2017
The Global Slavery Index estimates there are 45.8 million people still exposed to modern slavery. The construction sector is one of the areas where the problem is at its highest. Building Research Establishment (BRE) and Loughborough University have published the Action Programme on Responsible...
VA Withdraws Proposed SDVOSB Regulatory Overhaul
Sep 6, 2017
The VA has officially withdrawn its November 2015 proposal to overhaul its SDVOSB and VOSB regulations.
The VA’s action isn’t surprising, given that the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act requires the VA to work with the SBA to prepare a consolidated set of SDVOSB regulations, which...
New Legislation Could Privatize How Government Buys Everyday Supplies
Sep 6, 2017
Legislation passed by the House of Representatives contains language that would allow government agencies to buy directly from commercially run online marketplaces, significantly altering the way commercial companies sell everyday products and services to the U.S. military and federal agencies. The...
4 Vendors Chosen to Build Border Wall Prototypes
Sep 5, 2017
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) selected four companies to build prototypes of a concrete-based wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Vendors selected include Cadelle Construction LLC, from Alabama; Fisher Industries, from Arizona; Texas Sterling Construction Co., from Texas; and W.G. Yates &...
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Perspectives and Insights
We have some other written articles around the issues of lots and lotting (splitting up their contract requirements into smaller contracts), and …
One major trend over the past twenty years in public procurement has been the greater centralization of procurement activity. Conceptually and practically, collaborative procurement is …
Think you know all about public sector owned professional buying organisations (PBOs) and what they do? Here are ten interesting facts that might just surprise …
Policies and Regulations
A few months back, we published several articles about the very interesting – and somewhat shocking – court case around the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning …
The Procurement of Innovation Platform aims to make public procurement of innovation a widespread reality in Europe. The Platform has been developed to help public …
Why Evaluation in Public Procurement is Important If the phrase “bid evaluation” makes you cringe, don’t worry: you’re not alone. If …