back to main menu

Obama Acquisition Leaders See Sustained Effort Under Trump

Apr 25, 2017
While the new administration has promised a break from past Washington approaches, Obama-era acquisition leaders say the Trump White House’s efficiency efforts—outlined in an April 12 memo—echo many of their policies, and are a welcomed continuation of their work. Lesley Field, the deputy...

GSA Looking for Help with New Telecom Contract

Apr 20, 2017
The General Services Administration (GSA) has issued a request for information looking for ideas for how to shift small agencies and Native American tribes to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS), its new telecommunications contract vehicle. EIS will move some 36 small organizations off the...

Procurement Fraud Protection Goes Beyond Data Analytics Tools

Apr 20, 2017
Nonie Dalton, senior product manager for public sector at ACL, writes that while data analytics tools can help governments weed out procurement fraud, the tools are not enough. Dalton runs through some best practices for how to use that data to identify fraud, including weeding out false positives,...

GAO: Commerce Could Improve Public-Private Partnerships

Apr 20, 2017
John Neumann, the Government Accountability Office’s (GA) director of natural resources and environment issues, talked with Federal News Radio about a recent report looking at the Commerce Department’s drive to build a network of public-private partnerships to boost U.S. manufacturing. The...

DARPA to Hold “Proposers Day”

Apr 20, 2017
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will host a virtual “Proposers Day” in advance of its new Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), seeking innovative systems for military missions. The “proposers day” is intended to give interested organizations a chance to preview the BAA and...

McKinsey: Governments Could Save $3.5 Trillion a Year

Apr 20, 2017
A new McKinsey report finds that governments around the world could save $3.5 trillion by improving the effectiveness and efficiency of their spending. McKinsey analyzed spending in 42 countries, and found four primary areas where governments could save money if they improved their effectiveness:...

What’s Inside the “Buy American, Hire American” Executive Order?

Apr 20, 2017
FCW looks at President Donald Trump’s “Buy American, Hire American” executive order, which essentially directs agencies to follow laws already on the books, and directs leadership to issue guidance to ensure agency buyers prioritize American-made goods. The president said the Buy American...

Former OFPP Admin: Go Back to Clinton-Era Reforms

Apr 20, 2017
With White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner leading a new office of innovation, former Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Angela Styles said the office should look at past acquisition reform efforts before implementing new ones. “I actually think there’s a lot left to reform,...

State Supreme Court Considering Philly Procurement Case

Apr 18, 2017
Philadelphia city commissioners are asking the state Supreme Court to allow them to intervene in a lawsuit that would throw three commissioners off the Board of Electors. Philadelphia watchdog the Committee of Seventy filed suit against Common Pleas Court President Judge Sheila Woods-Skipper, for...

GSA Responding to Industry Concerns Over Pilot Program

Apr 18, 2017
The General Services Administration (GSA) is open to adjusting its pilot Transactional Data Reporting program, said Kevin Youel Page, the deputy commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service. The program has come under criticism from industry, which has said that while the pilot is supposed...

GAO: DoD Needs to Improve Mentor-Protégé Program

Apr 14, 2017
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a new report, arguing the Department of Defense (DoD) should strengthen its Pilot Mentor-Protégé Program to ensure it’s fully benefitting the protégé companies. The program is designed for established defense contractors to assist...