Acquisition

  • 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 Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command will be in charge of hiring a contractor to provide identity-protection services to victims of the breach on the Office of Personnel Management's background-investigation database. NAVSEA will issue an RFQ early next week. GSA was supposed to send it out this week.

    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
  • The White House is giving agencies three years to process all their invoices electronically through a shared service provider. The Office of Management and Budget released details for how you should make that happen as part of the President’s second term management agenda. Dave Mader is the Controller and Acting Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget. He tells Executive Editor Jason Miller about the new electronic invoicing requirement.

    July 28, 2015
  • A new memo from David Mader, the OMB controller and acting deputy director for management, requires agencies to move to either the Treasury Department’s Internet Payment Platform or another approved shared service provider. OMB said agencies process only about 40 percent of all procurement invoices electronically today.

    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
  • The never-ending talk about cloud computing makes it seem like agencies have fully bought in and everything is going to the cloud. But a recent event with several federal technology executives showed just how far cloud and open source have to go.

    July 27, 2015
  • The long and twisting road that is the Homeland Security Department’s continuous diagnostics and mitigation (CDM) program got a nice jolt earlier this month. The Government Accountability Office resolved a bid protest that has impacted the implementation of new cyber tools and services.

    July 27, 2015
  • The Missouri Democrat is frustrated over the lack of answers from GSA about the program to consolidate eight disparate databases holding vendor information. McCaskill said the System for Award Management is taking too long and is costing too much.

    July 24, 2015
  • Keeping up with changes in federal procurement regulations takes some attention. New rules for small procurement thresholds and a tightening down on the use of sole source awards are among the most significant changes recently. They're ones you should know about. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo, a partner at the law firm Petrillo and Powell, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to help sort it all out.

    July 23, 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 is making a pivot in its future, buying Sikorsky Aircraft for $9 billion, but spinning off its IT business. The defense contractor is hoping to compete more directly with Boeing and other aerospace companies.

    July 22, 2015