This is part one of a two-part look at OFPP’s version 3 category management strategies. In next week’s Reporter’s Notebook, I’ll look at concerns by the small business community about the current and future impact category management could have on contracting.
Things keep changing at the Defense Department, both big and small. Industry has sat up and taken notice of a proposal from Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Services committee, to eliminate the Defense Information Systems Agency and move it into the Cyber Command. Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to discuss how product contractors are reacting.
Source: How federal contractors are reacting to DISA elimination proposal
Contractors have been known to include the cost of capital equipment (or the unamortized value of capital equipment) in contract pricing proposals and incurred cost proposals. There may well be situations where this would be appropriate. Those situations are rare however and contract auditors have been instructed to question the cost of capital items except for:
Source: PNWC’s Government Contracting Update: Charging Capital Equipment Direct to Contracts
Every year the research team at GovWin+Onvia dives deep into the state, local and education (SLED) government contracting market to find the fastest-growing areas of opportunity, which we’ve compiled in our latest report, 10 Hotspots in Government Contracting for 2018.
Source: How Bids for Reducing Risk in Construction Grew 10% | GovWin+Onvia
A Small Business Administration notice advises the public that the agency has revised its white paper, entitled “SBA’s Size Standards Methodology,” which describes the SBA’s methodology for establishing, reviewing and adjusting its small business size standards pursuant to the Small Business Act (PL 85-536) and related legislative guidelines. Under the Act, as amended, the SBA’s Administrator has authority to establish small business size standards for federal government programs. The white paper provides a detailed description of the size standards methodology.
Source: SBA Seeks Comments on Revised Size Standards Methodology | Government Contracts Blog
Crowell & Moring’s 34th annual Ounce of Prevention Seminar (OOPS) is just around the corner, taking place on May 17 and 18 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington. At this year’s seminar, “Navigating Uncharted Waters,” the Government Contracts Group will provide updates and insight in a variety of areas, including ethics and compliance, bid protests, False Claims Act enforcement, international issues affecting government contractors, and more.
Source: OOPS 2018 Preview: Navigating Uncharted Waters – Government Contracts Legal Forum
Amazon and Google are taking on defense contractors in a heated battle for billions in government contracts.
Source: How a Pentagon Contract Sparked a Cloud War – Nextgov
The Department of Defense has issued Class Deviation 2018-O0012, which raises the threshold for obtaining certified cost or pricing data to $2 million.
FAR 15.403-4 sets the threshold for obtaining CCPD at $750,000. However, section 811 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (PL 115-91) increased the threshold for obtaining CCPD under the Truth in Negotiations Act (10 USC 2306a) and 41 USC 3502 from $750,000 to $2 million.
An agency’s task order award was improper because it was outside the scope of the underlying multiple-award contract, according to a recent GAO bid protest decision.
Source: GAO: Task Order Outside Scope of Underlying IDIQ Not Allowed – SmallGovCon
As time permits, I occasionally go back and read my blog posts, LinkedIn posts and my Washington Technology articles. I do this for several reasons: to see if the “rules” are changing, to see if I was right or wrong about something, and to see the evolution of the market and of my thinking.
Source: Revisiting the 3 Rs for GovCon success — Washington Technology
