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UK Government Industrial Strategy Says It Will Improve Public Procurement
Nov 28, 2017
The UK government published its Industrial Strategy this week, intended to help prepare the UK economy for leaving the European Union. It sets out a plan to “boost the productivity and earning power of people” and describes four “grand challenges” (which sounds a little Stalinist …) the...
Agencies Should Join the Blockchain Conversation
Nov 27, 2017
Tim Gilday, a principal of technology acceleration at CSRA Inc., makes the case why agencies should figure out where this new security technology could work for them. “Delivering services to citizens without the security issues that currently plague most digital interactions will be a significant...
Will Modernization Lead to Monopolization?
Nov 27, 2017
Implementing efficient and cost-effective modernization efforts could possibly lead to industry monopolies within certain government markets according to industry groups that recently raised concerns. They state the Department of Defense (DOD) cloud initiatives will favor one cloud provider and...
Panel Discussion Talks Blockchain for Government, Federal Contractors
Nov 25, 2017
While mostly known as the technology behind the digital money Bitcoin, blockchain has other uses that are gaining traction across government. Blockchain can help improve cybersecurity, increase transparency, and speed up contract award processing and proposal review times.
At a panel discussion...
Government Needs ‘Public Value Framework To Improve Efficiency’
Nov 24, 2017
A report was published on November 17 by HM Treasury; the Public Value Review calls for a sharper results culture in public services. It looks into how central government can ensure it is delivering maximum value for money in public services such as hospitals, schools and other essential services....
UK Government and New Ideas to Boost Spend With SMEs
Nov 22, 2017
Spend Matters UK/Europe and Public Spend Forum reported recently on the disappointing figures quietly released by the UK government that showed the proportion of central government spend with smaller firms (SMEs) declining in 2015/16. While this was because of the “indirect” spend declining...
AWS Launches Secret Region for Government
Nov 22, 2017
Amazon Web Services (AWS) recently unveiled their AWS Secret Region cloud, available to the U.S. intelligence community. Federal agencies will now have the option of moving classified data to the cloud. “The U.S. intelligence community can now execute their missions with a common set of tools, a...
NDAA’s Protest Pilot Could Mean Changes for IT Contracting
Nov 20, 2017
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a Department of Defense (DOD) pilot that would require all contractors with $250 million in revenue in the previous year to pay for the cost of a failed contract protest. Currently restricted to DOD acquisition programs, the pilot could have a...
Federal Procurement Officer Charged in $2.3 Million Fraud Scheme
Nov 20, 2017
A former Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) procurement officer received an 11-count indictment over the fraudulent appropriation of a federal contract. Carla Sena was assigned to manage the bidding process for a moving services contract. She allegedly created a fake moving company, prepared a bid...
Procurement’s Productivity Puzzle – (Almost) Solved
Nov 18, 2017
Productivity is a subject that definitely falls into the worthy but dull category. Unfortunately it’s pretty fundamental to all of us. Whether we run, work in or are customers of organisations, it matters. It’s not a question of the dry definition – productivity is a measure of the efficiency...
Why UK Public Sector Outsourcing Is Failing To Deliver
Nov 17, 2017
Civil Service World this week reports on an interview it had with Prof Gary Sturgess, Australia and New Zealand School of Government chair of public service delivery at the University of New South Wales (who was doing a Public Service Transformation Academy (PSTA) workshop on contracting). They...
Disaggregation of Large IT Contracts – Government Offers Advice
Nov 17, 2017
On the disaggregation of large IT contracts drive, the UK Government Commercial Function has published an advisory document, Government Shared Learning – Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments, which could be of use to other administrations we suspect. It offers advice to...
