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DHS’ Soraya Correa Discusses Benefits of Agile Development
Nov 16, 2017
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Chief Procurement Officer Soraya Correa wants acquisition officials in on the agile discussion. With agile development emerging as a key to efficient federal business, Correa sees the benefit. Acquisition officials can aid in creating a better strategy for the...
Agencies Fail to Improve in Latest FITARA Scorecard
Nov 16, 2017
The recent Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) scorecard has been bad news for many agencies. Six of the 24 agencies evaluated dropped below their June 2017 grade and only three improved their scores. While agencies struggled with software licensing, a relatively recent...
Can Drones Fulfill a Public Safety Role?
Nov 16, 2017
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has set up no-fly zones for drones in various parts of the country for assorted reasons. However, drones have successfully joined in searches and just last week in North Carolina, one located an elderly woman after just 25 minutes of searching. The hope is...
GAO Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2017
Nov 14, 2017
On November 13, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2017. The report is required under CICA, wherein GAO must provide Congress a summary of every instance where an agency did not fully implement a recommendation by GAO in...
An Important New Guide to Agile
Nov 13, 2017
Think about it for a bit, and it should become clear why a waterfall style of software development—where one develops requirements and a work plan in advance, and only then sets the contractor about the job of producing the system—became so entrenched in government for so long.
This approach...
SmallGovCon Week in Review: November 6-10, 2017
Nov 10, 2017
Happy Veterans Day to all our SmallGovCon readers. We hope that you will take some time today and tomorrow to honor the strength, loyalty and commitment that our brave veterans dedicated to this country. Veterans, we are deeply grateful for your service.
This edition of SmallGovCon Week In...
IT Funding, Amazon Amendment Survive Defense Authorization Bill Conference
Nov 10, 2017
The Senate Armed Services Committee released summary details of the $700 billion National Defense Authorization Act following conference negotiations to merge House and Senate versions. Highlights in the summary include the creation of a $500 million modernization fund through the Modernizing...
Recorded Webinar: How to Buy Drones
Nov 8, 2017
If you are curious about how drones are used in the public sector and want to learn how to buy them, then this pre-recorded webinar will get you on the right track.
Drones are doing amazing work in the public sector, from creating 3D models of large mountains to helping in disaster recovery and...
Highways England New Procurement Approach
Nov 2, 2017
Chief Executive of Highways England, Jim O’Sullivan, has revealed the highways body is looking at new ways to award work based on contractor performance as part of its new procurement model. We read in New Civil Engineer that contractors could be judged by the client on how well a scheme is...
Webinar Recording: Modernizing IT Through Agile Share-in-Savings Contracts
Oct 30, 2017
To watch the full video, scroll down!Governments at all levels are grappling with the need to invest in new technologies and modernize their legacy systems. But lack of resources and capital investment dollars can often prevent that from happening. Vendors are ready to take risks and put more...
NAO Publishes Investigation into NDA and Reveals Some Disturbing Issues
Oct 17, 2017
We featured the procurement problems at the nuclear de-commissioning authority last year in some depth. A mis-handled procurement process led to unsuccessful bidders taking the Authority to court and winning their challenge, which has cost the British taxpayer some £100 million.
Now, the National...
A Successful Public Sector Procurement Transformation Story
Oct 12, 2017
It makes a nice change to actually report on a public sector ‘good news’ story. This one in particular is a successful procurement transformation story in the UK Blue Light, or emergency services, sector. It was undertaken by Mike Fairbotham, Associate Director of Procurement and Logistics at...
