Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Intel community scientist subjects contracts to frequent review

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Forget the traditional annual review.

The top scientist for the intelligence community’s innovation grant maker says his agency reviews contracts every six months to decide whether the funding continues.

“The bulk of time on my job is to review progress on new programs, and a fourth of our budget is test and evaluation,” Jason Matheny, director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity since 2015, told an analytics breakfast on Tuesday sponsored by Johns Hopkins University Graduate School and REI Systems.

Like its larger and older Pentagon counterpart—the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency—Matheny’s agency seeks to find and outfit its agencies (17 in the intel community) with cutting-edge technology tools. That means scanning research being done in government, business and academia in fields as diverse as physics, math, chemistry and political science, he said, to apply their skills to high-performance computing, robotics and biotechnology.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2017/03/intel-community-scientist-subjects-contracts-frequent-review/136463/

How contractors view Trump’s budget and government reform agenda

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The Trump administration’s “skinny budget” released last week after an executive order on reorganizing the government drew cheers as well as brickbats from the contracting community.

The Professional Services Council, which represents 400 companies, said in a statement it backs the budget’s “increases for defense spending and believes that, if they are focused on sustainment and legacy systems modernization, those increases will help increase military readiness around the globe.”

But the council plans to work with Congress to alter some of President Trump’s priorities. “We are particularly concerned about arbitrary and disproportionate reductions in some agencies, cuts that do not align with the vital missions and functions of those agencies,” said President and CEO David Berteau. “Contractors can help bridge that gap.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/management/2017/03/how-contractors-view-trumps-budget-and-government-reform-agenda/136450

GSA aims to refresh Schedules in April

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The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) is moving to launch a “refresh” of its Multiple Awards Schedule next month, applying recent rules changes to its largest buying program.

On a March 22 conference call, General Services Administration’s FAS officials said the refresh could roll out in the middle of April and would include:

  • Purchasing by Non-Federal Entities from Federal Supply Schedules
  • Small Business Subcontracting changes
  • Model Subcontracting Plan changes
  • Order level changes

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/fas-aims-to-refresh-multiple-award-schedules-in-april

Supply company owner pleads guilty to $1 million fraud scheme

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The owner of three fraudulent commercial supply companies has pled guilty to cheating approximately 40 subcontractors out of more than $1 million.

From February 2010 through August 2015, Keith B. Fisher Sr. of Philadelphia used FedBid.com to submit quotes and offers for his companies KLA International Inc., Quad Trade Services Inc. and TCI Technologies. After winning federal contracts, Fisher and his associates would subcontract third-party vendors to provide goods to government agencies with the intention to not pay or only pay nominal amounts to the 40 victim vendors.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/http:/www.federaltimes.com/articles/supply-company-owner-pleads-guilty-to-1m-fraud-scheme

Woman in DBE front scheme gets 12 months in federal prison

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The former owner of a suburban Chicago construction business convicted of acting as an illegal front so another company could secure a lucrative city airport contract was sentenced Thursday (Mar. 16, 2017) to 12 months in federal prison.

Lawyers for Elizabeth Perino had sought probation and home confinement, but U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman said he opted for prison to send a message to “an industry that needs to clean up its act.”

Perino’s conviction is the latest turn in an eight-year saga sparked in 2008 when Perino’s former project manager filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging misconduct in massive projects run by industry giant McHugh Construction, a century-old company that reported more than a half-billion dollars in revenue in 2015.

That sparked a joint investigation by federal prosecutors and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan resulting in the criminal charges.

Perino’s company posed as a legitimate woman-owned business, allowing Chicago-based Diamond Coring Co. to meet its requirements for hiring disadvantaged businesses in order to win a multimillion-dollar runway repair contract at O’Hare International Airport. Perino did no work for the bills submitted by her company.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-phony-woman-business-owner-sentencing-met-20170316-story.html

Is Trump’s budget an opportunity for contractors?

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Click on image above to see the FY18 White House budget proposal.

The White House revealed its $1.1 trillion skinny budget Thursday, slashing funding for many federal technology research and grant programs, including the Energy Department’s R&D unit, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

It’s less clear how the administration plans to address the federal government’s internal information technology challenges. In the last Congress, lawmakers proposed legislation that would create working capital funds at agencies for IT modernization programs, but the White House’s budget blueprint is light on details about IT spending.

It mentions information technology just a handful of times: pledging to build up the Veterans Affairs Department’s IT system to “improve the efficiency and efficacy” of its services; committing to “strategically enhance” the Treasury Department’s security systems and “preempt fragmentation” of its IT management to prevent cyberattack; and allotting an additional $100 million to the Census Bureau, some of which would be used to fortify its internal IT to support the 2020 Census.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/03/trumps-budget-opportunity-contractors/136277

Army vows to ‘re-imagine’ how it works with innovative firms

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The undersecretary of the Army today pledged last week to win the trust of the defense industry as part of a new strategy to rebuild the service.

Karl Schneider said Congress has promised help the Army modernize and grow its end-strength on one condition: the Army must reform the way it does business with the defense industry.

“Maintaining our advantage as the world’s most dominate land force requires that we re-imagine how we work with the defense industry,” Schneider told an audience on Mar. 14, 2017 at the Association of the United States Army’s Global Force Symposium and Exposition in Huntsville, Alabama.

“Our focus must be on providing solutions and solving problems, not simply on checking a list of requirements.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.dodbuzz.com/2017/03/14/defense-industry/

NDAA makes significant changes to cost accounting standards

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Section 820 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, Pub. L. No. 114-238, 130 Stat. 2000 (NDAA), makes three significant changes to the federal government’s future use of cost accounting standards (CAS).

  • First, it empowers contractors to avoid Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audits by employing private auditors to audit their rates.
  • Next, it creates a new and independent Defense Cost Accounting Standards (DCAS) Board to oversee cost accounting standards across the Department of Defense (DoD).
  • Finally, it provides direction to the federal government’s existing CAS Board.

For details, keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2017/03/2017-ndaas-impact-on-audits-and-cost-accounting-standards/

 

Report: Physical, digital infrastructure drive $2 trillion government contracting market

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Efficiency, safety, functionality and compliance are among the factors driving growth rates for government contracting hotspots, according to an analysis by commerce intelligence company Onvia.

With limited resources and expanding needs, the federal government is always looking for cost-effective innovation to address issues like aging infrastructure and changes in demographics. This assures there are ample competitive opportunities for companies in the $2 trillion business-to-government market.

While there are 4,000 specific market segments, Onvia selected a small handful to profile based on their year-over-year growth rates, including providing clean water; serving those with disabilities; strengthening disaster services; upgrading to smart lighting; enabling government with IT; expanding connectivity; innovating education; and improving medical equipment.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/physical-digital-infrastructure-drive-2t-government-contracting-market-says-report

Construction firms seek an extra $300 million for bullet train work

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Two huge construction firms that are helping to build about 54 miles of bullet train structures in California’s Central Valley are seeking an additional $300 million on their fixed-price contracts, the Los Angeles Times has learned.

The increases, if the state ultimately agrees to cover them, would further bloat the bill for what has been touted as the easiest and most predictable section of the Los Angeles-to-San Francisco system.

The potential increases lend credence to the findings of a December risk assessment by the Federal Railroad Administration that costs for building the full 118 miles of work in the Central Valley could jump by 50%, or $3.6 billion, above current estimates.

The increases are described in letters from Tutor Perini Corp. and Dragados USA. The firms make the case that their contracts do not cover the full scope of the work and that the state’s management of the project is causing delays.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-bullet-train-cost-increases-20170302-story.html

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