Acquisition

  • The Army is reviewing information it got from industry after its industry days for its new Information Technology Enterprise Solutions 3 Services and Army Desktop and Mobile Computing 3 Contracts. Tom Neff is project director for Computer Hardware and Enterprise Software Solutions at PEO Enterprise Information Systems. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the new contracts, what Army users will buy from them, what industry should do to get on them and what the Army hopes the contract will achieve.

    August 19, 2015
  • The General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management have issued requests for proposals for two new contract vehicles. They'll create a new way for agencies to buy human resources and training services. The Human Capital and Training Solutions (H-CATS) contracts will replace an acquisition vehicle that has been in place for more than 25 years. Federal News Radio's executive editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on this project.

    August 19, 2015
  • GSA and OPM issue two requests for proposal to create a new way for agencies to buy human resources and training services. The Human Capital and Training Solutions contracts (HCaTs) will replace an acquisition vehicle that has been in place for more than 25 years. Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the latest governmentwide acquisition contract.

    August 18, 2015
  • Ray Bjorklund, president of BirchGrove Consulting, discusses procurement spending in fiscal year 2015 and purchasing patterns across the federal government. August 18, 2015

    August 18, 2015
  • GSA released two solicitations under the Human Capital and Training Solutions (HCaTS) program. The GWAC would provide services across three main functional categories and replace the 25-year-old Training and Management Assistance (TMA) contract.

    August 18, 2015
  • Congress knows it wants to include some kind of acquisition reform in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. But it can't agree on what those reforms should look like. Beth McGrath is director of the federal strategy and operations practice at Deloitte and former deputy chief management officer at the Defense Department. She tells In Depth with Francis Rose why procurement policy reform is a start, but the main thing slowing down defense IT and weapons acquisition is process.

    August 17, 2015
  • The Office of Management and Budget just released new guidance on protecting non-sensitive information from federal contractors. The guidance would require contractors follow National Institute for Standards and Technology standards for protecting their information.

    August 17, 2015
  • Kevin DeSanto, co-founder and managing director of KippsDeSanto, joins host Mark Amtower to discuss mergers and acquisitions, including who is buying and who is selling. August 17, 2015

    August 17, 2015
  • GSA, on behalf of the Defense Information Systems Agency, made a $296 million award for email-as-a-service to Dell Federal. GSA made the award to Dell June 19.

    August 17, 2015
  • The real question GSA is trying to gather information on is whether the current cyber and information assurance SINs just need to be improved or if a new one is needed.

    August 17, 2015
  • Agencies will soon have an easier time buying telecom, cloud and other network services. The General Services Administration is working on the first of a few successors to its Networx contracts. Network Services 2020 Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions is offering agencies a more flexible buying market. Bob Woods is president of Topside Consulting and former commissioner of the Federal Technology Service at GSA. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the differences between the current Networx contracts and NS 20-20 Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions.

    August 14, 2015
  • Retired Maj. Gen. Dale Meyerrose, president of the Meyerrose Group and former CIO of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and Steve Grundman, the George Lund Fellow for Emerging Defense Challenges at Brent Scowscroft Center on International Security of the Atlantic Council, count down the week's top stories with Francis Rose.

    August 14, 2015
  • Federal contractors might have to offer up to seven days of paid sick leave a year for their employees under a new executive order from President Barack Obama. But industry isn't thrilled. Four contracting associations have written to the White House. They say more regulations are making an already complicated acquisition process more difficult. Charles Tiefer is a law professor at the University of Baltimore. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose that industry shouldn't get too worried about this order because they have plenty of tricks up their sleeves to stall and water it down.

    August 13, 2015
  • Federal contractors have new guidance for protecting government information from the CIO and CAO Councils. Contractors will have to comply with some of the same standards agencies do. Jeremy Grant is managing director at the Cheroff Group and former director of the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace at NIST. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose what this means for contractors who will have to comply with these NIST standards.

    August 13, 2015