In the wake of Oracle’s successful protest of a $950 million “other transaction authority” award by the Army to REAN Cloud, House appropriators are putting the Defense Department on notice that they’ll be keeping a close eye on future OTA awards.
Source: Congress puts more scrutiny on OTAs — Washington Technology
What does the Army’s biggest acquisition reorganization in 40 years mean for small business?
That’s what one senator is trying to find out.
Source: How will Army Futures Command work for small business? – FederalNewsRadio.com
Fourteen companies have won positions on the full-and-open portion of a potential 10-year, $7.5 billion contract for systems engineering and technical services to the Defense Information Services Agency.
Join us on June 20 at 2 p.m. Eastern time to take a deep dive with us into the 2018 Top 100 Washington Technology rankings.
In working the aftermath of natural disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency relies on contractors. A recent minority report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs found that FEMA does not always use best practices in hiring its contractors. Peter Tyler, senior policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, has been following this issue and spoke about it on Federal Drive with Tom Temin.
Source: Peter Tyler: Senate report says FEMA’s contract award process lacking
Federal Acquisition Circular 2005-99, issued June 15, contains two interim rules amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Item I—Use of Products and Services of Kaspersky Lab (FAR Case 2018-010) implements section 1634 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (PL 115-91) and goes into effect on July 16, 2018. Item II—Violations of Arms Control Treaties or Agreements with the United States (FAR Case 2017-018) implements section 1290 of the NDAA FY 2017 (PL 114-328) and has a June 15, 2018, effective date. Comments on both interim rules are due by August 14, 2018. The FAC also contains a Small Entity Compliance Guide, which indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis was prepared for each rule.
Source: Interim Rules Implement National Defense Authorization Act Requirements
Fourteen companies have won positions on the full-and-open portion of a potential 10-year, $7.5 billion contract for systems engineering and technical services to the Defense Information Services Agency.
Source: 14 win spots on DISA’s $7.5B SETI contract — Washington Technology
GAO’s bid protest regulations provide strict timelines for filing a protest.
Typically, a protest challenging an award must be filed within 10 days after the basis of the protest is known or should have been known. There is an exception to this rule for protests filed after a debriefing, but only when a debriefing was required by the FAR. As one contractor recently discovered, where a debriefing is not required, GAO’s bid protest regulations are not nearly as forgiving.
Source: Bid Protest Filed After “Non-Required” Debriefing Was Untimely, Says GAO – SmallGovCon
“Sum certain” is a legal term that refers to a fixed or specific amount of money, without any room for ambiguity. In the context of a claim against the Government, the claim must contain facts sufficient to permit the Government to understand the basis upon which liability is claimed. The claim shall also contain a specific amount for which the claim can be settled (i.e. sum certain) and the facts supporting the amount.
GovWin+Onvia just released a report containing in-depth analysis of the first several months of 2018 in government contracting in the latest quarterly report, State and Local Procurement Snapshot for Q1 2018. In spite of an overall 0.4% decline in the volume of state, local and education (SLED) government bids and RFPs, our research highlighted several industries that still saw strong rates of growth.
Source: The Top 4 Industries in SLED Government Contracts in Early 2018 | GovWin+Onvia
