I’ve long predicted that Congress would eventually adopt a formal, Government-wide SDVOSB certification program (or “verification” program, if you prefer). Maybe my crystal ball is finally right. As my colleague Matt Schoonover wrote last week, a new bill introduced in the House of Representatives would do just that.
The Government Accountability Office’s latest annual report on bid protests shows a less than a 1 percent increase in the number of complaints last fiscal year. In the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of contract transactions that happen annually across government, contractors decided to take their grievances to GAO for just over 2,600 of them.
Source: Vendors more motivated to protest to GAO, 2018 numbers show why
The Contract Data Requirements List (CDRL) is usually contained in Part III, Section J of the government solicitation you are bidding and the executed contract upon award.
The CDRL is a register of the deliverable data items. Each data item has a discrete numeric identifier, a data item description (DID) number and a delivery schedule to the customer.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Mission Information Technology Services (NMITS) Industry Day was the hottest ticket in town last Thursday. With only 520 seats available and more than 600 people registered, the highly anticipated event turned out to be first come, first serve. Fortunately, Red Team was lucky enough to attend. In case you missed it, we’ve put together acquisition strategy highlights and other pertinent information about this small-business set-aside.
Source: NOAA NMITS Industry Day | Get Your Team Ready for this SB Set-Aside
The Homeland Security Department released a list of 10 bleeding-edge research areas it plans to pursue in fiscal 2019 in partnership with innovative small businesses.
Source: 10 Problems DHS Wants Innovative Small Businesses to Solve in 2019 – Nextgov
Newly released emails about the three Trump associates who secretly steered the Department of Veterans Affairs show how deeply the trio was involved in some of the agency’s most consequential matters, most notably a multibillion-dollar effort to overhaul electronic health records for millions of veterans.
Source: VA Shadow Rulers Had Sway Over Contracting and Budgeting – Management – GovExec.com
This week’s episode covers GSA schedule, cybersecurity, and FCA news, and is hosted by partners Peter Eyre and David Robbins. Crowell & Moring’s “Fastest 5 Minutes” is a biweekly podcast that provides a brief summary of significant government contracts legal and regulatory developments that no government contracts lawyer or executive should be without.
Source: Fastest 5 Minutes The Podcast Gov’t Contractors Can’t Do Without | Government Contracts Legal Forum
The Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration have issued a semiannual regulatory agenda for the Federal Acquisition Regulation. The agenda provides summary descriptions of regulations being developed by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council. The agenda shows 33 rules in the proposed stage, 9 rules in the final stage, and 7 completed actions. The rules in the proposed stage include:
Source: FAR Council Previews Upcoming Rules | Government Contracts Blog
On November 27, 2018, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) released its Bid Protest Annual Report to Congress for Fiscal Year 2018.
Just three days remain before funding expires for a wide swath of the government. Don’t you hate when that happens? So do contractors, and they have advice for the Office of Management and Budget about what should happen to deal with a partial shutdown. David Berteau, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin for details.
Source: Contractors have ideas for OMB in case of government shutdown