Acquisition Policy
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Kay Ely, GSA's director of IT schedule programs in the Federal Acquisition Service, said removing 1,000 vendors who weren't meeting the minimum annual sales requirement of $25,000 a year is saving the agency about $3.2 million a year in administrative costs. At the same time, GSA is adding 30-to-40 new vendors each month to Schedule 70 as part of its effort to make sure agency customers have access to new, innovative companies.
July 30, 2014 -
Tiffany Hixson, the professional services category executive at GSA's Federal Acquisition Service discusses the new professional services category management agenda for FAS and what it means for customer agencies and contractors. July 29, 2014
July 29, 2014 -
A partially trained workforce working within a nearly impossible system is not a recipe for success. But that's how things are when it comes to federal acquisition, according to the Professional Services Council. The industry group has sent Congress a long list of recommendations to make procurement faster and more competitive. Council President Stan Soloway joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss how the study got started.
July 29, 2014 -
The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations wants to know how agencies plan to dispose of and consolidate more than 7,000 federal properties worth $350 billion. On the same day, the FBI announced the finalists for the site of its consolidated relocation.
July 29, 2014 -
Host Mark Amtower discusses the SmartPay program with David Shea, director, Office of Charge Card Management at the General Services Administration. July 28, 2014
July 28, 2014 -
It may seem crazy, but it's possible to get would-be federal contractors to bid against each other to drive prices down* That's the idea behind reverse auctions. All you need is the right platform. The General Services Administration operates the Government-Managed Reverse Auction Platform. Tom Temin spoke to Erville Koehler, a federal acquisition service regional 4 commissioner at GSA, at the National Contract Management Association World Congress at National Harbor. View photos and listen to more interviews from the conference.
July 28, 2014 -
Agencies released sustainability scorecards showing progress toward green goals. Overall, agencies have exceeded goals and reduced greenhouse gases, pollution and waste and increased renewables.
July 28, 2014 -
In this edition of Inside the Reporter's Notebook, Executive Editor Jason Miller shares news and buzz about the IT and acquisition communities.
July 25, 2014 -
Senators say the Office of Federal Procurement Policy needs an attitude adjustment. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee members are seeking reassurance from President Barack Obama's pick to lead OFPP that she would help deliver that change. Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin and Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive with details on Anne Rung's confirmation hearing. Read Jason's related article.
July 25, 2014 -
Anne Rung, President Obama's nominee to lead the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, detailed her three major priorities should the Senate confirm her. Lawmakers press Rung on improving communication between OMB and Congress, and how best to deal with the multi-sector workforce.
July 25, 2014 -
An unresponsive, or sclerotic contracting system is not a good fit for our fast-paced information world, says Jeff Neal, former chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security.
July 24, 2014 -
The General Services Administration will add a special cloud category to its IT Schedule 70 contracting vehicle. GSA wants to consolidate the contract's cloud options under a specific special item number. Right now the agency lists the cloud options under a variety of different numbers, so agencies browsing the system can't find them all in one place. GSA says the new approach will help small agencies in particular. The cloud-specific number will have its own subcategories of cloud-specific services, too. GSA wants industry recommendations on how to do it: a request for information is out on how best to differentiate the types of cloud services Schedule 70 includes. The deadline for the cloud industry to respond to GSA's request for information is August 6th. You can find the RFI on Fed Biz Opps.
July 24, 2014 -
The Justice Department joined the whistleblower lawsuit against Symantec Corporation on Tuesday. The department accuses the technology contractor of providing inaccurate prices to the General Services Administration, violating the False Claims Act.
July 23, 2014 -
Jeff Koses, senior procurement executive for the General Services Administration, will discuss his acquisition priorities for the agency. July 22, 2014
July 22, 2014 -
Keith Trippie, a former DHS IT executive, offers a unique approach to funding technology programs that borrows partly from the intelligence community and partly the start-up culture on the West coast.
July 21, 2014