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It's been nearly three weeks since the Thrift Savings Plan board announced a data breach of 123,000 Thrift Savings Plan, and since then, the board has been fielding questions from participants, Congress and the media. TSP's executive director answered some of the most frequently asked questions about the breach.
You have to have a very good business case if you want to add the long list of contract vehicles. Jim Williams managed a few of those vehicles as commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Acquisition Service. He's now a senior vice president at Daon.
Rules and regulations are supposed to help the government make the smartest, fairest purchases are often complex. For Bill Woods, director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office, federal procurement rules are a full-time pursuit.
The four acquisition decisions the service will make in the coming months are the first fruits of a task force the Army created to pursue large-scale solar, geothermal, wind, biomass and waste-to-energy facilities on its bases.
A look at the major acquisition professionals making a difference in government. Do you know everyone on our list?
The American Small Business League says there's no legal basis for the department to deny its Freedom of Information Act request.
The deal will help Northrup broaden its client portfolio amid dwindling defense sales and concerns about sequestration.
Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said the acquisition workforce is most important to improving how the government buys goods and services. He said with 55 percent of the current workforce eligible to retire by 2018, agencies and Congress have to work together to figure out how best to train and equip these employees to be successful.
The two influential senators say the mistakes the Defense Department and others made in the 1990s during the last serious budget reductions can't be repeated this time around. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) said budget cuts shouldn't be balanced on the backs of the acquisition workforce. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) added reductions in acquisition staff mean the government will pay more for goods and services.
Tighter budgets and the threat of sequestration have not discouraged the Defense Department from increasing the size of its acquisition workforce, officials said. DoD is adding 20,000 employees to buy more efficiently.
At the heart of solid federal acquisition lies a well-trained workforce. National Defense University's iCollege professors Andy Gravatt and Russ Mattern share how the school stays up-to-date on acquisition practices across government and the recent changes they've made to the curriculum.
This is the Federal Drive show blog. Here you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.
Retired Maj. Gen. Arnold Punaro, a member of the Defense Business Board, said the decimation of contracting officers, program managers and others have put the military at a disadvantage in spending hundreds of billions of dollars. He said the answer to their problem is simple but hard to implement: a comprehensive plan to improve the acquisition workforce.
GSA, Commerce and others are using supply chain management techniques to buy smarter and more efficiently. Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Steve Kempf said a recent survey of their contractors will help influence the next generation of schedules.