Contracting

  • The goal is to encourage agencies to use the new blanket purchase agreements signed with 15 companies in June.

    September 22, 2010
  • A new report to Congress says OFPP will release new policies this fall to improve the management and use of multiple award contracts. One of the policies will require business cases for all multi- and inter-agency contracts. OFPP found that agencies spent more than $52 billion on these contracts in 2009.

    September 22, 2010
  • A Chinese national threw beer bottles at the Japanese consulate general in Guangzhou on September 9th, and Japanese school buildings were attacked in Tianjin . An anti-Japanese rally was held in Beijing on September 18th to protest the detention of the fishing boat captain held in Japan, after which ministerial contacts were severed between the two countries on the 19th. Public protests are never spontaneous in China. These harassment tactics signify that the fishing boat incident is now a serious international confrontation which continues to escalate. Precedent suggests there is an increased threat of violence against Japanese nationals in China.

    September 22, 2010
  • The General Services Administrations wants to gather data on federal contractors\' greenhouse gas emissions.

    September 21, 2010
  • The Department of Health and Human Services chose Verizon to provide data services under the Networx telecommunications contract.

    September 21, 2010
  • Pakistan Defense Minister Mukhtar said Pakistan does not want a war with India, but if India tried to impose a war behind the facade of a Kashmir dispute, then Pakistan would fully defend its territory. Mukhtar said India\'s concern over the presence of Chinese troops in Gilgit-Baltistan is incorrect. He said China is Pakistan\'s friend and has helped the country in tough times. He also said the Chinese troops were in no way interfering with Pakistan\'s sovereignty. Mukhtar\'s remarks sound a lot like an admission about the accuracy of the Indian accusations, implicitly confirming the presence of Chinese soldiers in far northern Pakistan.

    September 21, 2010
  • The GWAC is focused on providing health IT services along with other general technology functions. Vendors must have specific health IT capabilities to bid on the contract. NIH said a small business RFP of the contract will be issued soon.

    September 21, 2010
  • A proposed rule change by the Labor Department would give preference to contractors that hire disabled workers. All comments on the proposed change must be submitted by Tuesday.

    September 20, 2010
  • The Defense Intelligence Agency has signed a 523,482-square-foot lease at Boston Properties\'s Patriots Park in Reston, with plans to fill the entire two-tower property by 2013.

    September 20, 2010
  • A recent hearing by the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan took a look at whether Defense has made adequate plans and actual progress to improve the federal workforce that oversees billions of dollars in contracting activity. Former Congressman Chris Shays is the co-chairman of the Commission brings us up to speed.

    September 20, 2010
  • 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