General Services Administration
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The General Services Administration signed its third MOU with a large federal organization to use the professional services governmentwide acquisition contract known as OASIS. In return for its pledge to spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year, DHS receives a lower fee.
July 30, 2015 -
Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller is reporting this week from the National Contract Management Association’s World Congress in Dallas. He reports on CDC contracting, GSA's FedSIM program and the current status of DoD's new services acquisition policy.
July 29, 2015 -
Chris Hamm, GSA's director of FedSIM, plans to take a different approach to using FAR Part 16.
July 29, 2015 -
The Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command will be in charge of hiring a contractor to provide identity-protection services to victims of the breach on the Office of Personnel Management's background-investigation database. NAVSEA will issue an RFQ early next week. GSA was supposed to send it out this week.
July 28, 2015 -
Members of GSA's Alliant team join host Mark Amtower to discuss the program, Alliant 2, GSA Schedule 70 and more. July 27, 2015
July 27, 2015 -
The never-ending talk about cloud computing makes it seem like agencies have fully bought in and everything is going to the cloud. But a recent event with several federal technology executives showed just how far cloud and open source have to go.
July 27, 2015 -
The long and twisting road that is the Homeland Security Department’s continuous diagnostics and mitigation (CDM) program got a nice jolt earlier this month. The Government Accountability Office resolved a bid protest that has impacted the implementation of new cyber tools and services.
July 27, 2015 -
The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel says Inspectors General must get permission from their agencies before getting certain documents like grand jury, wiretap and credit information. But Inspectors General say they need independent access to information to do their jobs. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is asking for Congress' help now by pushing for a bill that would give IGs that access. Brian Miller is the managing director at Navigant and former inspector general at the General Services Administration. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose about some of the contradictions he sees with this OLC opinion.
July 24, 2015 The General Services Administration has been working to combine eight contractor databases into a single system. Officials now say it will take at least another two years to complete. But, GSA has already been working on the System for Award Management since 2010. Not surprisingly, that timetable is leaving some on Capitol Hill frustrated. Federal News Radio’s Executive Editor Jason Miller joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with the latest on SAM and how the slow-moving program could impact Denise Turner Roth’s promotion to agency administrator.
July 24, 2015-
The Missouri Democrat is frustrated over the lack of answers from GSA about the program to consolidate eight disparate databases holding vendor information. McCaskill said the System for Award Management is taking too long and is costing too much.
July 24, 2015 -
It's been one year since the Agriculture Department jumped into the shared services business. Now a financial management shared services provider, USDA is working with other agencies to sign them on. The General Services Administration -- including about 30 other small agencies and commissions -- is one big customer. John Brewer is the deputy chief financial officer at the Agriculture Department. He's an AFCEA Bethesda 20-14 Governmentwide Initiative Excellence Award Winner for leading the charge. He tells Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller what prompted the agency's initial involvement with shared services.
July 17, 2015 -
It's been four and a half years since the White House proclaimed it wanted agencies to make a big move to cloud computing via the so-called "cloud first" policy. But the pace of cloud adoption has been far slower than what former federal CIO Vivek Kundra probably had in mind back in 2010. The American Council of Technology-Industry Advisory Council set out to find out why -- and then, in a new guidebook, explain how agencies can break down perceived barriers to cloud adoption. Mark Day is the co-chair of the ACT-IAC Cloud Computing Working Group and also the deputy assistant commissioner in GSA's integrated technology service. He tells In Depth guest host Jared Serbu what's in the new guidebook and how it will help agencies move to the cloud.
July 16, 2015 -
In the future, federal offices could be more like patios - where furniture is adjustable and moveable for whatever task or project is at hand, say experts at the General Services Administration. In our special report, The Federal Office of the Future, we examine the research behind the decision to make office spaces more flexible.
July 16, 2015 -
After a four-year renovation, the Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt (EGWW) Federal Building is a model of success for the green construction movement. The building now uses about half as much energy as it previously did and 60 percent less water than typical office buildings. Federal News Radio goes inside the building in part 2 of our special report, The Federal Office of the Future.
July 15, 2015 -
An exclusive Federal News Radio online survey shows feds are happiest when they work in offices where they can close their doors. Cubicles and open spaces with little separating them from colleagues are a recipe for distraction and lower productivity, they say. "My colleagues just pop up like prairie dogs and ask me questions all day," said one respondent. The survey is part of Federal News Radio's latest special report, The Federal Office of the Future.
July 14, 2015