Contracting

  • The Federal Acquisition Regulations Council's proposal would implement part of a July 2012 memo from the Office of Management and Budget. The memo directed agencies to take specific steps to ensure accelerated payments to small businesses.

    December 20, 2012
  • The White House typically gives agencies both funding and policy updates for the upcoming budget request by Thanksgiving. This year OMB decided to hold off on passback guidance because of the current fiscal negotiations with Congress. Several senior agency officials said this lag will compress the timeline to respond to the information and require them to prepare for something that may never happen.

    December 20, 2012
  • Federal Times senior writers Sean Reilly and Stephen Losey will update us on sequestration, buyouts, and the big issues affecting federal workers in 2013. December 19, 2012

    December 19, 2012
  • The blanket purchase agreement lists 15 tools and 11 service areas that DHS wants vendors to provide to improve agency cybersecurity.

    December 19, 2012
  • Congress has cleared the way for a $633 billion defense policy bill that includes mandated reductions to the Defense Department's civilian and contractor workforces. Leaders of a House-Senate conference committee, tasked with reconciling competing versions of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, included in the final report the automatic workforce reductions that opponents say would result in about 36,000 job losses.

    December 19, 2012
  • Gigi Schumm, vice president and general manager Public Sector of Symantec, talks about computer security. December 18, 2012

    December 18, 2012
  • If a compromise does not take place by Jan. 2, sequestration will kick in potentially causing challenges for federal agencies and contractors. So do federal agencies and contractors have plans in place or are they crossing their fingers in the meantime?

    December 18, 2012
  • Bob Litan of Bloomberg Government talks about a new study on reducing the deficit. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo weighs in on a recent GAO decision. Lisa Pape discusses the Veterans Health Administration's efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans. Charles Paidock of the NFFE union talks about a proposal that would have some feds emptying their own waste bins. Hord Tipton reviews how the certification process is keeping up with new technology.

    December 18, 2012
  • Latest edition of a biennial survey, sponsored by a contracting industry group, finds acquisition leaders have the same challenges they had a decade ago. But they fear tighter budgets will reverse progress toward improving the government's acquisition workforce.

    December 18, 2012
  • Preliminary results from a Grant Thornton survey of contractors show profits, revenues and overall participation in the government market is down. The pressure from the administration's steps to reign in high risk contracts and reduce spending is having an impact on most contractors. The Navy, for example, is trying to be more disciplined in how it buys goods and services.

    December 17, 2012
  • If you could pick any historical event to relive, it probably wouldn't be the maiden voyage of the Titanic — that didn't go well. And now, 100 years later, federal, military and Social Security retirees are just becoming aware of a political iceberg that could punch a hole in their future benefits, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

    December 17, 2012
  • Evan Lesser, founder and director of ClearanceJobs.com, will talk about the big issues affecting federal workers with security clearances. December 14, 2012

    December 14, 2012
  • NAPA's Dan Blair and Antoinette Samuel and Paul Posner from ASPA, discuss how the new Memos to National Leaders project helps federal managers address the challenges at their agencies. December 14, 2012

    December 14, 2012
  • Tom Simmons, area vice president for the U.S. Public Sector for Citrix Systems, joined Industry Chatter with Francis Rose to workplace virtualization and cloud solutions.

    December 13, 2012