In today’s Federal Newscast, Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders wants to know what Defense Secretary James Mattis is doing to address Pentagon waste and high contractor pay.
Source: Sen. Bernie Sanders takes aim at ‘excessive defense contractor compensation’ – FederalNewsRadio.com
In a bid protest situation, if you don’t respond to the arguments raised by an agency, you might be declared to have abandoned your protest.
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: What Does It Mean to “Abandon Your Protest”?
Just 30 minutes after the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Technology asked what is the state of federal IT during its hearing Wednesday afternoon, the General Services Administration offered a timely update.
Source: GSA picks 4 vendors to test Centers of Excellence IT modernization
One day after Air Force leaders severely restricted media contacts, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan encouraged Pentagon officials to engage more with industry.
Yesterday in Part 1 of this series, we discussed the FAR requirements for overtime approval, the valid purposes and uses of overtime and the considerations that the contracting officer mulls over in deciding whether to approve overtime. If you missed that posting, click here to read. The contracting officer often requests the contract auditor to weigh in on whether to approve overtime and the DCAA (Defense Contract Audit Agency) manual provides auditors with guidance to follow when making recommendations to the contracting officer. This audit guidance is the the subject of this Part 2. If you make a request for overtime approval, you should be prepared to respond to these inquiries.
WOSB status for purposes of a task or delivery order under a multiple-award contract ordinarily is governed by the company’s WOSB certification on the underlying contract.
Source: WOSB Status & Task Orders: Underlying Contract Usually Governs – SmallGovCon
In the face of an actual or potential organizational conflict of interest (OCI), the potential solutions are often limited. There are several options for contractors and the government that are broadly categorized as mitigation, avoidance, neutralization, limitations on future contracting, and exclusion. Although used sparingly, the FAR also provides that the government can “waive” actual… Continue Reading
The General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget are gearing up to meet the demands of the Modernizing Government Technology Act.
Source: The Era of Federal IT Modernization Is About to Finally Begin – FedTech
This is the first of a two-part series on overtime. Today we will discuss the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) requirements for overtime approval. Tomorrow we will discuss the Government’s oversight activities at contractors who incur and charge overtime to the Government.
It sometimes seems the Defense Department is slow to award contracts. But it’s also been slow to close them out. That can put both contractors and the government at financial risk. The closeout backlog has been growing — more contracts coming into the Defense Contract Management Agency than it could get to. But staff there have piloted a special quick closeout team that produced real results. It won a David Packard Excellent in Acquisition Award. Irene Johnson, director of special programs at the DCMA, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to explain.
Source: Irene Johnson: DoD contract closeout backlog needs some help
