ICYMI: Agencies Required to Comply With ‘Buy America’ by September
Jul 7, 2017
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Commerce released guidance on June 30 instructing agencies to comply with and enforce President Trump’s “Buy America” executive order. The order requires agencies to review any free trade agreements with foreign government...
Public Procurement Reform Could Add £14 Billion to Local UK Economies
Jul 7, 2017
A recent report, in response to the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, is calling for a clearer contribution of Social Value for all public sector procurement over £10m. It is possible to achieve high levels of social value and local spend, it says, so the government should now look to set a...
USDA’s Innovative Procurement Success Story
Jul 7, 2017
Ed Harper, the Food and Nutrition Service’s director of the Office of Program Integrity for Child Nutrition Programs, worked with the Presidential Innovation Fellows to create a new online application prototype for free and reduced lunches. Harper explains they started under the America Competes...
Nevada’s Largest City Going ‘Smart’
Jul 7, 2017
City hall leaders are looking to improve how Las Vegas gathers and analyzes information using the Internet of Things. The city is about two months into its pilot of Cisco’s Smart+Connected Digital Platform, with sensors at 20 intersections downtown and a plan to scale the network throughout the...
DoD Testing Alternative to CAC Cards
Jul 5, 2017
The Pentagon is testing a potential replacement for the Common Access Card (CAC), just one year after former CIO Terry Halvorsen first mentioned the idea. Last year, Halvorsen said DoD would retire the CAC within two years and that the replacement would not be a single card, but a collection of...
Dutch Rail Company Fined 41 Million Euros for Procurement Fraud
Jul 5, 2017
The Dutch Authority on Consumers and Market (ACM) has fined the Netherlands principal passenger railway operator, NS, 41 million euros for fraud in the procurement of a contract for regional public transit in Limburg. According to NL Times, where you can read the full story, the firm misused...
DOE Awards Contracts Focusing on Energy Efficiency
Jul 5, 2017
Federal News Radio reports on the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) that recently awarded 21 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts to help the government improve energy efficiency. The contracts include renewable energy sources for combined heat and...
Lack of Bid Competition in California
Jul 5, 2017
According to California state auditor Elaine Howle’s office, the Department of General Services and the California Department of Technology failed to provide proper oversight over the state’s procurement contracts. A number of large contracts were awarded without undergoing the required...
More Countries To Join WTO Procurement Deal
Jul 4, 2017
“The WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) may soon see some new additions, with Australia reportedly close to the negotiating finish line, nearly two years after it launched its bid to join the plurilateral accord,” reports the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable...
Number of EU Laws Introduced Illustrate Scale of the Challenge Ahead for UK Government
Jul 3, 2017
If you are in any doubt and want some clarification around the scale of EU laws introduced into UK statute since Brexit was voted for, there is an article on Legal Business which lays it out. “More than 700 new European laws have been introduced into UK statute since the EU Referendum vote in...
Ohio Streamlines Procurement Regulations to Encourage Startups, Small Businesses
Jul 3, 2017
The state of Ohio deals with the same challenges that federal agencies do when attempting to invite new players into the public market. In 2016, the state decided to do something about it when it announced a special streamlined procurement process for a specific solicitation for data analytics...
European Co-ordinated Defence Procurement – Funding for Two Initiatives Announced
Jul 3, 2017
We have written previously about the idea of European co-operation in terms of defence procurement. It has been discussed for many years, but little tangible has really happened.
But last month there was an announcement of funding for two specific initiatives. There will be a “research window”...
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Perspectives and Insights
I have been interested in the question of getting successful commercial companies, especially tech companies, to sell to the government from the time I was …
The Contractor Accountability and Transparency Act of 2017 (S. 651), introduced by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Jon Tester, D-Mont., is yet another example of a …
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
It’s no surprise President Trump has been systematically dismantling President Obama’s executive orders, since taking office. Obama himself knew it was a possibility: Frustrated by …
Past performance is an important step in being successful as a federal government contractor. Once firms get into the mid-tier range, they normally have amassed …
A few months back, we published several articles about the very interesting – and somewhat shocking – court case around the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning …