Acquisition Policy
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Customer service initiatives are popping up all across government. Many them are based in customer service work the General Services Administration does in the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies. Kathy Conrad is acting Associate Administrator at GSA's OCSIT, and was at the Executive Leadership Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia. On In Depth with Francis Rose, she explained how she'll take home lessons learned and put them to work at her agency.
October 28, 2014 -
Readers of Robert Gates' biography will remember that one of the former Defense secretary's biggest disappointments was how much effort and political capital he had to personally expend to get the DoD acquisition system to deliver results to the field when there was no clear constituency for a given program within the bureaucracy of the military services. But Andrew Hunter, the director of DoD's rapid acquisition cell says senior leaders have come to realize that they should be able to acquire urgent items quickly without the secretary of Defense having to effectively become the program manager.
October 27, 2014 -
The General Services Administration is setting up a program office to help agencies get over the most common hurdles to using shared services, following a request by the CIO Council.
October 23, 2014 -
Steve Schooner, Nash & Cibinic professor of Government Procurement Law and co-director of the Government Procurement Law Program at the George Washington University Law School, will discuss procurement reform and other acquisition issues with host Roger Waldron. October 21, 2014
October 21, 2014 -
Knowing and appreciating the industry side of the acquisitions process is key to training the acquisition workforce of the future, according to two acquisition experts.
October 21, 2014 -
Roger Waldron, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement, and Stan Soloway of the Professional Services Council discuss what hurdles stand in the way of real procurement reform as part of Federal News Radio's special report, Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform.
October 20, 2014 -
Thieves would like GSA's new open-floor design, the inspector general finds.
October 20, 2014 -
The White House wants the government to lead a nationwide effort to reduce identity theft and fraud. More secure government credit cards and multi-factor authentication for federal websites dealing with sensitive citizen data are two ways to do that.
October 17, 2014 -
Like virtually everything in the federal government, the relationship federal agencies and industry organizations is complex. Contracts, buying and selling are just a small piece of the pie. Communication and collaboration are key factors that must exist in the pipeline between the public and private sectors. As part of our special report, the Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform, Federal News Radio hosted a panel with acquisition experts.
October 17, 2014 -
Remember the good old days when federal buyers were paying $435 for a claw hammer? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey does and wonders whether the federal government ever really learned its lesson.
October 17, 2014 -
The acquisition workforce is issue number one for just about every person Federal News Radio has talked to as part of our special report "The Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform". Today's focus - taking stock for the future. Melissa Starinsky is chancellor of the VA Acquisition Academy. On In Depth with Francis Rose, she said they're realizing some success in training the acquisition workforce of the future.
October 16, 2014 -
It's day three of our special report "The Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform". Today's focus -- taking stock for the future. What aspects of the procurement process should the government preserve or replicate across government? Stan Soloway is president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, and Roger Waldron is president of the Coalition for Government. They joined In Depth with Francis Rose to explain what's working well in the procurement process.
October 16, 2014 -
Congress has repeatedly tried to eliminate the problem of defense acquisition programs that cost more than they're supposed to and take too long to deliver. After several decades of attempts, it might be time to admit that lawmakers can't solve all of the Pentagon's purchasing problems. As part of our special report, The Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform, Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu explains.
October 16, 2014 -
The Treasury Acquisition Institute has experienced a nearly 20 percent increase in the number of federal employees it trains each year. The appetite for training is going to keep growing, forcing TAI to rethink how it delivers workforce education. As part of our special report, The Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform, today we'll focus on taking stock for the future. Institute Director Kelvin Wood tells Executive Editor Jason Miller how TAI is changing with the times.
October 16, 2014 -
Big programs at DoD continue to overspend their budgets and blow past their schedules because of unrealistic requirements and rosy cost projections. As part of our special report, The Missing Pieces of Procurement Reform, several acquisition experts pointed out that DoD acquisition is one of the most studied problems in the history of government.
October 16, 2014