Acquisition Policy
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In its first year, the website Challenge.gov let agencies add public contests as a low-cost way to find innovative solutions to their problems. Officials at the General Services Administration, which runs the site, say challenges offer a lower-cost alternative to procurement or grants and speak to a different audience. GSA would like to see challenges standardized across the government in the coming year — but worry that the site may lose funding.
October 06, 2011 -
GAO\'s John Hutton and Belva Martin highlight conclusions from two recent reports.
October 05, 2011 -
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy and GSA are working on a directory of Federal Supply Schedule blanket purchase agreements. The database would help fix one of the \"biggest blind spots\" in federal acquisition today, said Dan Gordon, OFPP administrator. OFPP\'s memo to require business cases for multiple-award contracts received praise for its direct and specific requirements.
October 05, 2011 -
Host Roger Waldron will talk about the MAS program with Caroly Alston, general counsel for the Washington Management Group. October 4, 2011
October 04, 2011 -
Molly Wilkinson, a 22-year federal employee, will take her first job in the private sector as head of government affairs for Regions Bank. She worked as the Republican general counsel for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for the last two years.
October 04, 2011 -
Agencies must develop a business case and post it on an internal government site for others to comment on. OFPP also wants senior acquisition officials to sign off on justifications before moving out with a final solicitation. The new guidance comes as GAO and others have found the proliferation of multiple award contracts is costing agencies and vendors millions of dollars.
September 30, 2011 -
Jessica Milcetich, a GSA social media strategist, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris to discuss GSA\'s video challenge contest.
September 30, 2011 -
A new Web portal will bring information on all federal agency services for small firms into one place. At the 29th Annual Minority Enterprise Development Week conference, White House officials highlighted how they are holding agencies accountable for meeting governmentwide small business goals.
September 30, 2011 -
Host Roger Waldron will talk cybersecurity with John Hillen, president and chief executive officer of Sotera Defense Solutions. September 27, 2011(Encore presentation October 25, 2011)
September 27, 2011 -
Mark Bennington, the executive director for acquisition management at the Navy research unit joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris to discuss his department\'s approach to the thorny issues involved in OCIs.
September 27, 2011 -
Former \"e-gov Czar\" Mark Forman joins host Mark Amtower on today\'s program. September 26, 2011
September 26, 2011 -
Time for lawmakers to pass a continuing resolution is running short as the fiscal year ends Friday. The Senate rejected the House version of CR Friday, and will take up debate on its version Monday afternoon. In the meantime, cuts to GAO and the E-Government Fund are drawing ire from supporters.
September 26, 2011 -
The Homeland Security Department remains committed to consolidating its headquarters on the campus of a former mental hospital in Washington despite receiving less construction money than anticipated. Officials from DHS, the Coast Guard and the General Services Administration reaffirmed their plans to a House subcommittee. The Coast Guard plans to move first, in 2013.
September 23, 2011 -
Agency CIO Casey Coleman said the move to Google\'s gmail went smoothly and is 99 percent complete. GSA recently hired another cloud service provider to host collaboration tools. Coleman said the agency now is looking at legacy business systems. September 22, 2011
September 22, 2011 -
Bajinder Paul, senior IT adviser at the General Services Administration, discusses the solutions to some of those planning challenges.
September 22, 2011