Industry
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Senior administration officials say the Executive Order is not a replacement for comprehensive cybersecurity legislation, but the start of a new conversation for how best to protect the nation's critical infrastructure. NIST released an RFI Tuesday as part of its effort to create a voluntary, flexible framework. And DHS will expand the number of companies the government shares classified and unclassified cyber threat information with through the Defense Industrial Base pilot.
February 13, 2013 -
As sequestration draws nearer, contractor groups have pointed to alarming studies that show the 9 percent in across-the-board Defense cuts would throw at least 1 million people out of work and potentially cripple the defense and aerospace industries. But in a new report, the Center for International Policy, a nonprofit group which advocates reducing military spending, presented evidence that far fewer defense-sector jobs would be lost than industry has claimed and that defense companies would likely be able to absorb the defense cuts.
February 12, 2013 -
In an analysis prepared for the American Federation of Government Employees, contracting expert Charles Tiefer said that agency managers have a number of tools at their disposal to legally scale back service-contract spending and that doing so would be preferable to federal furloughs.
February 11, 2013 -
Declining federal spending, evolving customer requirements related to the changed threat environment and the increase of competition from nontraditional defense contractors, such as Accenture, Dell and Apple are just a few of the issues on the horizon, according to an analysis from Booz and Company.
February 07, 2013 -
Michael Tinsley, CEO of NeoSystems Corp., tells The Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Emily Kopp, there's little contractors can do to influence agencies facing impending sequestration beyond maintaining good communications and weathering the storm.
February 05, 2013 -
Robert Litan discusses a Bloomberg Government study about rule-making in the Obama administration. Michael Tinsley, CEO of NeoSystems Corp., offers insight on how furloughs might affect federal contractors. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo weighs in on a a 2012 Supreme Court case that could come back to bite federal agencies facing budget cuts under sequestration. Gregory Wilshusen discusses a new GAO report on how prepared agencies are to fend of online assaults. John Palguta of the Partnership for Public Service talks about sequestration and the threat of furloughs.
February 05, 2013 -
At an industry sponsored event, GSA tried to clarify its plans for the multi-billion dollar governmentwide contract, which will let agencies buy complex services from one place. Questions about how OASIS fits with the administration's strategic sourcing initiative and the expectation for price standardization were among the biggest areas of concern from companies.
February 01, 2013 -
The Presidential Innovation Fellows Program and SBA launch RFP-EZ to make finding and bidding on Web and digital services contracts worth $150,000 or less easier. The team of three found the six-month project also could test out tools for contracting officers to write better RFPs.
January 25, 2013 -
The Commerce Department issued a request-for-information asking for input from vendors around 11 cyber capabilities.
January 21, 2013 -
Guidance from the administration on what steps federal agencies should take to prepare for potential across-the-board budget cuts has set off a war of words between federal-employee unions and industry groups. The American Federation of Government Employees says guidance exempts contractors at the expense of federal employees, but industry groups say the criticism is misguided.
January 18, 2013 -
NASA is partnering with a commercial space company in a bid to replace the cumbersome "metal cans" that now serve as astronauts' homes in space with inflatable bounce-house-like habitats that can be deployed on the cheap.
January 17, 2013 -
News and buzz in the acquisition and IT communities that you may have missed this week.
January 11, 2013 -
Federal regulators say they are ordering a comprehensive review of the critical systems of Boeing's 787s, the aircraft maker's newest and most technologically advanced plane, after a fire and a fuel leak earlier this week.
January 11, 2013 -
The Network Services 2020 initiative will not be a large worldwide contract as the Networx and FTS procurements were over the past 20 years. GSA still is developing the overall strategy, but plans to use a similar approach it used with DISA on the recent satellite communications contract.
January 04, 2013 -
After the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) certified the first cloud-computing services company last month, the General Services Administration is predicting a steady wave of new approvals later this year. The length of time it has taken the initial 78 companies or products in the FedRAMP pipeline to gain approval is a testament to the rigorous process, said Dave McClure, GSA's associate administrator in the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies.
January 03, 2013