Professional Services Council

It’s taken a couple of weeks, but the White House and various agencies have more or less come up with policies for contractors trying to support the government during the virus crisis.

In today’s Federal Newscast, federal contractor associations wrote separate letters to the White House and lawmakers asking for more guidance for how industry should expect to work during the effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Defense Department has set up a daily call with associations representing its vendors to take stock of how the coronavirus is impacting its industrial base while the White House has activated a 1950 law to give agencies procurement priority.

Vendors are waiting for the Defense Department to release more details, including the proposed acquisition rule, about how it will apply the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification starting this year.

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency will name a new permanent director after months of acting leadership.

The Homeland Security Department sent a letter to contractors explaining the steps the agency is taking to protect facilities and encourages communication with industry employees about telework options.

The Professional Services Council’s Alan Chvotkin joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for more information.

One backlog goes down, another one pops up. That’s how it is in the background security clearance process.

The General Services Administration says the number of help desk calls about the beta.sam.gov website is at or below the levels that came in for the old site. Some contractors, however, say the new site continues to struggle and remains frustrating to many.

The General Services Administration named Julie Dunne and Tom Howder to lead the Federal Acquisition Service on a permanent basis. Both has been acting in the commissioner and deputy commissioner roles, respectively.