City Awards $3.2 Million in Contracts to Company Connected to Alleged Bid-Rigging
Aug 30, 2017
San Francisco awarded a transportation contract to a company connected with a federal indictment and alleged bid-rigging scheme. The company was awarded two $1.6 million public outreach contracts by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) despite charges of bid-rigging brought by...
Florida Lawmaker Pushes Transparency in Local Government Spending
Aug 29, 2017
State Rep. Colleen Burton wants to make it easier for residents to keep track of how local government spends tax revenues by placing new requirements on cities, counties, and school boards when they want to raise taxes or take on more debt. The bill, HB 7, uses the same language and requirements...
How One Small Agency Is Cutting Its IT Spending
Aug 29, 2017
Vincent Groh, the CIO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), said moving to the cloud cut in half his organization’s spending on data centers. “I would love to be spending less on the IT function at MCC and either return those funds to the agency or even fund additional strategic...
Contractor’s Email Leads to Lost Contract, Denied Protest
Aug 28, 2017
Generally speaking, government contractors know that part of the cost of doing business with the federal government is some loss of autonomy. The government writes the rules. It is the 500 lb. gorilla. What it says usually goes.
When contractors try to do things their own way–even in a relatively...
SmallGovCon Week In Review: August 21-25, 2017
Aug 25, 2017
It has been a busy week that kicked off with a total solar eclipse. I was on an airline heading to San Diego for 2017 Department of the Navy Gold Coast Small Business Procurement Event, so I missed the spectacle. I didn’t get to wear eclipse glasses, but was well worth it to be part of that...
GAO Chief Concerned Over CIO Departures
Aug 25, 2017
The recent CIO departures have Comptroller General Gene Dodaro worried about the road to IT acquisition reform. Back in 2015, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) added IT acquisition to the High-Risk list and Congress has since empowered CIOs to shape agency technology strategy and attempt...
Can Border Wall Efforts Continue With Unfilled DHS Roles?
Aug 25, 2017
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) can still focus on the border wall project without permanent leaders in key spots, according to expert observers. “I don’t believe not having a confirmed secretary or CBP commissioner will make a difference in the wall issue,” Gil Kerlikowske, former...
No Agreed Status on £140 Million Of Taxpayers’ Money For Ulster-Scots
Aug 24, 2017
A leaked document submitted to the Stormont (Northern Ireland parliament) talks proposes giving an additional £140 million of taxpayers’ money for Ulster-Scots, reveals News Letter, where you can find the full story. The proposal to increase public funding for Ulster-Scots cultural and...
Is Time Running Out to Prevent a Massive Cyberattack?
Aug 24, 2017
According to a new report approved by the Department of Homeland Security’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC), U.S. critical infrastructure is in “a pre-9/11 moment” when it comes to cybersecurity. If government and industry don’t dramatically increase their efforts to protect...
Big Challenge Ahead for Procurement
Aug 24, 2017
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recommends three steps to help agencies expedite the process of getting roughly 2,300 grant-making programs and 3,200 procurement offices to implement the DATA Act. The recommendations are part of OMB’s recent report on the DATA Act’s two-part Section 5...
Government Urged To Overhaul Public Sector Procurement Process for SMEs
Aug 24, 2017
The UK government is being urged to review its public sector procurement process after a Federation of Small Businesses report finds that of the £200bn a year spent on third-party goods and services, very little goes through small firms. Only 23% of SMEs have worked with the public sector in the...
Hospital Breaches Procurement Law With Lack of Transparency in Procuring Equipment, Furniture and IT In One Package
Aug 24, 2017
The Public Procurement Office of Slovakia has found a Bratislava hospital in breach of public procurement law. It is claimed that the hospital violated the law when it was procuring medical equipment, furniture and information technologies in one package, which resulted in a €23 million deal with...
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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 …