DoD eases contracting restrictions with DFARS amendments

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on  Federal Drive with Tom Temin.

• The Defense Department put forward five final and two proposed rules amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. They mostly eliminate certain restrictions placed on specific kinds of contracts. For instance, one gets rid of certain domestic source restrictions on contracts DoD executes for or receives from the General Services Administration. (Federal Register)

• Two government chief information officers said they’d like to see more flexibility when it comes to communicating with industry. Federal CIO Tony Scott said he sees a bar on companies looking to bring good — but sometimes unsolicited — ideas to agency acquisition teams. Commerce CIO Steven Cooper suggested adding language into Scott’s IT Modernization Fund to create more flexibility. (Federal News Radio)

• The Office of Management and Budget said it still sees bipartisan support from Congress for its $3.1 billion IT modernization fund, but it’s still unclear how far it will take them. A spokes person for Rep. Will Hurd’s (R-Texas) office said members are still concerned agencies won’t pay back the funds according to the plan. Some members are discussing other alternatives to the fund. The Government Accountability Office’s Dave Powner said agencies could uncover at least $3 billion in savings over the next four years by closing more data centers. (Federal News Radio)

• The Treasury Department added another popular payment app to its growing offerings. The Bureau of Fiscal Service will soon start accepting payments from a third digital wallet vendor. The fiscal service announced Amazon Payments will join PayPal and Dwolla in giving citizens and businesses another third-party app to make payments through. These third-party services can be found at the Pay.gov website and provide a more secure payment method. The bureau collects almost $4 trillion in revenue each year from citizens and businesses making non-tax payments to the government.  (Treasury Department)

• A new group is trying to solve some of DoD’s biggest problems. Experts from both sides of the aisle are forming a task force to take on the military’s biggest personnel issues. The Bipartisan Policy Center Task Force on Defense Personnel, said it will propose innovative recommendations to address the formidable challenges facing the military. Those challenges include recruiting and retaining innovative leaders, dealing with budget constraints and reforming antiquated managing techniques. The task force will also address how to create a force that can adapt to different threats across the globe. The panel is made up of a handful of former senators and DoD officials. (Federal News Radio)

• Washington Headquarters Services awarded the Boston Consulting Group an 8 million dollar contract for help executing policies, procedures, and systems. The Defense Department says it will increase the effectiveness of DoD’s cost management across all business lines. The contract goes until April of next year. (Defense Depaertment)

• Veterans Affairs Department officials give their input on several bills to the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. One was the Veterans Health Care Staffing Improvement Act, which would create a program to recruit military personnel with health care experience when they leave. They said they opposed a part of the bill that calls for replacing its credentialing system VetPro. (Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs)

• Recently appointed Director of the Veterans Crisis Line Gregory Hughes has resigned. Military Times reports Hughes left to deal with family obligations after just being hired in January. Tough news for the line as a Government Accountability Office report released just this week said severe improvements are still needed. (Military Times)

• After heavy demand, the Federal Labor Relations Authority said it would be adding two more training sessions for Arbitration and Negotiability. The complimentary training opportunities aim to help federal labor managers learn strategies for processes. Both will take place at the beginning of August. To register visit FLRA.gov.

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