Acquisition Policy

  • Katrina McFarland, the assistant secretary of Defense for acquisition, said a new report is in the final approval stages that will detail changes to the Defense FAR. The goal is to save the military and industry money from unnecessary procurement rules.

    July 29, 2015
  • Bill Gormley, president of the Gormley Group and chairman of the Coalition for Government Procurement, joins host Roger Waldron to discuss market strategies, end of year procurement trends and more. July 28, 2015

    July 28, 2015
  • The House has a number of bills on its calendar this week that, if enacted, could have significant impacts on federal employees and their dependents.

    July 28, 2015
  • Members of GSA's Alliant team join host Mark Amtower to discuss the program, Alliant 2, GSA Schedule 70 and more. July 27, 2015

    July 27, 2015
  • Three federal contractors lost an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals. The DC Circuit upheld a statute banning any one person who enters a federal contract from contributing to a political campaign or party from the time negotiations start to the end of the contract. The contractors argue the decision violates First Amendment and equal protection rights. Nick Townsend is counsel for Arnold and Porter's national security and public policy practices. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose that the decision leaves a few too many unanswered questions for federal contractors.

    July 27, 2015
  • Small business success for the federal government in the latest contracting numbers as the government as a whole hits its small business contracting goal. The government also hit some other goals in minority contracting. Joe Jordan is CEO of FedBid, and former administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose that he likes what he sees in the latest numbers.

    July 22, 2015
  • Lockheed Martin plans to sell its IT business and acquire helicopter-maker Sikorsky for $9 billion. It's a deal with far-reaching consequences — not just for Lockheed and Sikorsky parent United Technology, but also for the broader defense industrial base. Jesse Holler is a quantitative analyst at Bloomberg Government. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more analysis on this deal.

    July 22, 2015
  • Bloomberg Government\'s Brian Friel and Cameron Leuthy join host Roger Waldron to discuss the current federal budget landscape, and provide an overview of multiple award contracts across government. July 21, 2015

    July 21, 2015
  • Bob Lohfeld and Lisa Pafe of Lohfeld Consulting, join host Mark Amtower to discuss what you can do to help your company win more government business. July 20, 2015

    July 20, 2015
  • The Electronic Questionnaires for Investigations Processing system is offline now while the Office of Personnel Management tries to fix its cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Those vulnerabilities were discovered during the investigation into the recent data breach, in whch hackers stole personal information for 21.5 million people. And while much of the attention has focused on the OPM crisis' impact on federal workers, contractors are impacted too in a big way, and they're certain to be impacted by the backlog now building up while eQIP is offline Stan Soloway is the president and CEO of the Professional Services Council. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu about the effects contractors are feeling -- and what they expect.

    July 16, 2015
  • Agencies will likely go a relative spending spree between now and the end of the fiscal year. But some small companies could be missing out on potential contracts. Marci Love Thomas is a senior counsel in the government contracts practice at General Counsel, and a former senior attorney advisor for the Small Business Adminstration. She tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu that there are two things that could impact companies in the small business 8(a) program, and also small businesses more generally.

    July 16, 2015
  • Angela Styles, chair of Crowell & Moring LLP joins host Roger Waldron to discuss implementation of the "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces" executive order. July 14, 2015

    July 14, 2015
  • Dave Wennergren, senior vice president, Technology Policy, at the Professional Services Council  and Dave Chesebrough, president of the Association for Enterprise Information, join host John Gilroy to talk about the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. July 14, 2015

    July 13, 2015
  • Competition in the federal market is up for the third year in a row. And some contractors with skin already in the game don't have as many advantages anymore. For example, the rate at which incumbents are winning is down more than 20 percent since fiscal 2014, according to a new report from Bloomberg Government. Brian Friel is a government contracts analyst for Bloomberg. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu that some agencies are especially hard on incumbents.

    July 09, 2015