Acquisition

  • According to Japanese government sources, Japanese Prime Minister Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao likely will not meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meeting in late September. This is a modestly significant development because such meetings are almost standard practice. China previously postponed a visit to Japan because of the maritime confrontation in which a Chinese fishing boat apparently deliberately rammed Japanese patrol boats. This latest development means that the fishing boat dispute continues to fester and escalate. It also reinforces the NightWatch assessment that the fishing boat incident is almost a strategic confrontation.

    September 20, 2010
  • On the heels of a number of management changed made official yesterday, Steve Kempf, the commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, has named Houston Taylor as the assistant commissioner for the Office of Acquisition Management.…

    September 17, 2010
  • What industry really thinks about the Pentagon\'s cost cutting plan from Stan Soloway of the Professional Services Council

    September 17, 2010
  • \"CIOs that are adopting desktop virtualization can be CIOs that can say \'yes\' to things; before they had to say \'no\' because there was no way to manage those devices.\"

    September 16, 2010
  • How sure are you that the contractors you\'re working with at your agency are handling sensitive information in the way that they should - or that you expect they will? John Needham is the Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Issues at GAO.

    September 16, 2010
  • A number of leadership changes at the General Services Administration. GSA Administrator Martha Johnson has announced that Gail Lovelace, who has served as the chief people officer for the General Services Administration, will be taking…

    September 16, 2010
  • The UN Food and Agriculture Organization called a meeting for September 24 to address the highest increase in food prices since 2008. That was the year of world-wide riots fueled by speculators and shortages. Wheat production is down from last year, but is still the third largest harvest on record. The problem leading to riots is usually not supply, but distribution and availability at reasonable cost. For countries as poor as Mozambique, even slight price increases make living impossible. Other countries at risk of disorders are China, Egypt, Pakistan, Senegal and Serbia. More food riots are unavoidable this fall.

    September 16, 2010
  • VA, SBA, EPA and HUD are the first to go through the review process and see dramatic changes. OMB controller Werfel said the goal for each agency is to invest only in top priorities, saving $1 billion a year by eliminating or reducing the size of agency modernization projects.

    September 16, 2010
  • The Army is trying to get the word out that it needs good people to help manage money. The lagging economy, stubborn unemployment and improved pay and benefits are helping to attract the next generation of acquisition professionals into the fold.

    September 16, 2010
  • Appropriators slash F-35 purchases in fiscal 2011, U.S. charges Florida pair with selling counterfeit computer chips from China to the U.S. Navy and military

    September 15, 2010
  • According to Chinese media, The China National Petroleum Corporation has begun construction of oil and natural gas pipelines between China and Myanmar. According to the company\'s statement, CNPC wants to complete the China section of the pipelines, as well as the refinery, by 2013. The significance of this information, plus other recent reports about China building a railroad through Burma, is that they reinforce the assessment that Chinese leaders see Burma as a gateway for channeling natural resources to China. This symbolizes the next step in China\'s economic expansion by creating a network of vertical and horizontal monopolies on a global scale.

    September 15, 2010
  • Learn more about efforts to increase competition in DoD contracting

    September 14, 2010
  • Learn more in today\'s DoD Report

    September 14, 2010
  • This week, host Larry Allen talks with David Gragan, Chief Procurement Officer for the District of Columbia. Sept. 14, 2010

    September 14, 2010