Advocacy group sues government over contract data
April 7, 2010 by cs
A small-business advocacy group has asked a federal court to force the General Services Administration to restore various types of contracting data that the public can no longer access, according to court documents.
The American Small Business League alleges the Obama administration’s recent changes to the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation may have eliminated access to scores of contracting data that identify small-business contracts in the governmentwide database, according to court documents filed March 30 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
The group said officials eliminated from the searchable FPDS-NG fields that allow viewers to see what contracts are set aside for small businesses and which companies received federal contracts.
“The removal of the contractor identity and small business identifier fields represents a major move towards decreased transparency in federal contracting data,” the group wrote in the court documents.
Investigators and other groups have used this type of data to uncover fraud and abuses in small-business contracting, according to the filing. The league said watchdog groups like it may be prevented from further investigations into fraudulent behavior without access to the federal data, according to the filings.
by Matthew Weigelt – Federal Computer Week – Apr. 02, 2010 - About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is acquisition editor for Federal Computer Week. © 1996-2009 1105 Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
GSA chief says agency will ‘up its game’ with technology
March 30, 2010 by cs
by Emily Long - NextGov.com – 03/25/10 - The General Services Administration will leverage technology solutions to better serve federal agencies, Martha Johnson, GSA’s top executive, said on Thursday.
GSA, which currently accounts for 13 percent of federal spending, could increase its sales if it were allowed to open its schedules to state and local jurisdictions or expand into new markets such as health information technology, Johnson said in a speech at FOSE, a government technology conference and security expo in Washington.
But if the agency is going to expand, it must change its internal business practices such as improving the flow of data and information to boost performance, she added. “What is in our hands is the whole notion of upping our performance and performing better for our clients — being more responsive, helping people find what they need more quickly and understanding where they can get the best value for the right price,” she told reporters after her speech.
“If GSA ups its game, its business will grow,” she said.
Johnson stressed that technology enables collaboration through collective intelligence or social media tools to harness expertise and solve problems. The technologies exist, but government still needs to work out how best to use them to communicate ideas, she said.
GSA on Thursday launched two pilots for its Better Buy Project, a collaborative forum that collects ideas for improving the federal acquisition process. The first uses a wiki and other social media tools to collect comments and questions on how to improve data storage and hosting on Data.gov. The second solicits feedback on the infrastructure of a new hosting environment called Clearpath.
The agency is involved in several IT areas, according to Johnson. Its Office of Citizen Services is exploring social media and helping agencies purchase the right applications. Such a focus has led to agencies having posted 85 YouTube channels and 80 Facebook pages, she said. GSA officials also believe cloud computing could boost the value of IT and hope to quickly improve the government’s legacy IT infrastructure.
Each technology solution involves green IT, Johnson added, and GSA will continue to pursue data center consolidation and more efficient technology solutions.
Johnson also highlighted the importance of collaborating with industry and other agencies such as GSA’s partnership with the Office of Personnel Management to give federal employees the tools and guidance they need to telework. Technology has been an enabler for telework, she said.
GSA no longer serves as the sole supplier of goods and services to government, so it will be a challenge to meet its goal of growth, she said. The agency must compete with other procurement vehicles and explain how it provides the best service to its customers. “GSA’s mission is to support its client agencies so that they can focus squarely on their core missions,” Johnson said. “We must deliver innovative solutions, not the solutions and tools that may have worked in the past.”
Acquisition councils create database to track contractor misdeeds
March 24, 2010 by cs
by Elizabeth Newell – govexec.com – March 23, 2010 – Civilian and defense acquisition councils on Tuesday published a final rule launching a comprehensive database for information on contractor integrity, conduct and past performance.
The Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System, required under the 2009 Defense Authorization Act, will be “designed to improve the government’s ability to evaluate the business ethics and expected performance quality of prospective contractors and protect the government from awarding contracts to contractors that are not responsible sources,” the Federal Register rule stated. The General Services Administration will manage the database, effective April 22.
It will provide one-stop access to the Excluded Parties List System and Past Performance Information Retrieval System, nonresponsibility determinations, contract terminations for cause or default, defective pricing determinations, and self-reporting of criminal convictions and civil liabilities. Under the new rule, FAPIIS will cull this information from existing databases, contracting officers, suspension and debarment officials and the contractors themselves.
The Civilian Agency Acquisition and Defense Acquisition Regulations councils said eventually the database will include performance information for state contracts, but that won’t be added until a later phase of FAPIIS.
“The councils had concerns that the challenges of collecting state government information, such as establishing a reporting format that is consistent across state governments, could not be resolved without delaying this rule-making,” the announcement said. “In addition to working out an appropriate plan for collecting state information, the councils will explore the feasibility of collecting local government information.”
The councils and the Office of Management and Budget also are considering issuing a proposed rule to expand the database’s reach by lowering the threshold of contracts that trigger FAPIIS reporting and expanding the scope of reporting to include illegal activities that aren’t directly related to contracts and grants.
Companies will be notified when the government adds to their FAPIIS records and will have the opportunity to post comments that will remain with the entry unless the company revises them.
The FAPIIS launch is part of a larger Obama administration push to increase the extent to which contractor integrity and past performance weigh into the award process, according to the rule.
“Improved interagency access to these assessments will motivate better performance and reduce the likelihood that taxpayer resources will go to contractors with poor track records in meeting the government’s requirements in an efficient and effective manner,” the announcement stated. “FAPIIS is intended to significantly enhance the scope of information available to contracting officers as they evaluate the integrity and performance of prospective contractors.”
The rule requires contracting officers to review the information in FAPIIS before making awards over a certain size, document how they used the information and notify relevant officials if database entries seem to warrant suspension or debarment.
The Project on Government Oversight, a nonprofit watchdog group, called the database an improvement, but said it should be open to the public.
“The database was improved, but the administration really missed a golden opportunity to promote its good government and openness agendas,” said Scott Amey, POGO’s general counsel. “POGO wanted to see a system with real teeth to protect taxpayers from risky contractors, but instead contractors received a shield to protect them from public scrutiny. If the government is serious about improving federal spending accountability, it just missed its chance to prove it.”
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Group seeks injunction to halt changes to procurement database
March 18, 2010 by cs
By TIM KAUFFMAN – Federal Times – March 11, 2010
A small-business advocacy group says it will request a preliminary injunction by tomorrow to stop the General Services Administration from removing two data fields from the federal contract award database it manages.
The American Small Business League contends that removing the two fields, which list contractor names and categorize companies as small businesses, would make it impossible for government watchdog agencies and groups to track whether large businesses are receiving contracts that should be going to small businesses.
GSA announced in October that it would be removing those two data fields from the Federal Procurement Data System when the system was updated March 12. Separate data fields that list the vendor’s name and the agency contracting officer’s determination of whether a company is a small business would not be affected.
The organization filed a request for a temporary restraining order against GSA March 8 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. District Judge William Alsup denied the request the following day, saying that GSA had not been given an opportunity to file its response. The judge said he would entertain a motion for a preliminary injunction if it was properly filed by Friday.
Panel recommends overhaul of GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules
March 12, 2010 by cs
By Emily Long 03/11/10
A changing acquisition landscape and inconsistent policy implementation are behind a push to update the General Services Administration’s contract practices, according to procurement professionals.
The Multiple Award Schedules Advisory Panel, made up of stakeholders from GSA, agency users and industry, published on Monday its 20 recommendations to improve the structure, use and pricing of GSA’s schedules program.
The recommendations acknowledge the program, which has evolved from offering commodities to providing solutions and services, and the pricing methodologies might not suit what agencies are buying today, said Alan Chvotkin, a panel member and executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, a contractor trade association.
Although the schedules have been a useful tool for agencies looking for commercially available services and products, “MAS has needed a lot of rehab because it hasn’t kept up with the wide expansion of services and products that are out there,” said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at FedSources, a market research firm.
One of the panel’s tasks was to determine the future of the price reduction clause, which states if a vendor lowers prices for its target customer, then it also must do so for government. The panel recommended GSA remove the clause from supply and services contracts and, in turn, not apply the provision to solutions.
“[Some are] mischaracterizing the panel’s recommendations regarding the price reduction clause,” Chvotkin said. “We did recommend eliminating it, but the mischaracterization is that we said, ‘Do away with it.’ We proposed replacing it with other tools and techniques to help buying agencies.”
Chvotkin said GSA can’t simply eliminate the clause, so the recommendations in part were designed to build transparency and visibility for purchasing agencies. They ask, for example, for GSA to develop more information about individual orders, give benchmark data and provide more disclosure about how it establishes reasonable prices.
Bjorklund said one of the report’s less explicit themes is that GSA and contractors must apply policies consistently and coherently, which will help companies to sign up for multiple schedules.
The report also proposes governmentwide adoption of Section 803, a provision from the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act that previously applied only to the Defense Department. The policy would require agencies gathering bids for more than $100,000 in task and delivery orders to solicit all schedule contractors and collect bids from at least three.
Some of the changes are regulatory and administrative, Chvotkin said, adding the only statutory change — adopting Section 803 — has congressional approval. “It’s a leadership challenge more than a technical challenge,” he said.
Larry Allen, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement and a panel member, hopes the recommendations receive fair examination. “The report was designed to improve the schedules program. It would be a shame not to pilot test them,” he said.
GSA executives, including Administrator Martha Johnson, Chief Acquisition Officer Michael Robertson and the incoming head of the Federal Acquisition Service who has yet to be named, will review the recommendations and implement any changes.
GSA on Thursday confirmed that the administrator received the report.
GSA announces $10 billion telecom contract to complement Networx
March 8, 2010 by llyons
By Emily Long – 03/08/10 NextGov.com
The General Services Administration launched a $10 billion telecommunications contract to complement its massive Networx program.
Connections II, scheduled for completion late this year, is a 10-year contract that provides labor and equipment for agencies’ telecommunications infrastructure, building and campus needs, according to a draft request for proposals released on March 4.
“The Connections II acquisition can complement Networx by providing engineering, integration and applications support functions for agencies and can assist agencies in enabling and acquiring the services available on the Networx contracts, thus providing a one-stop solution for government agencies that need that level of support,” said Karl Krumbholz, director of GSA’s Office of Network Services Programs.
Networx offers recurring infrastructure and transport services but does not provide labor or equipment outside of network or telecommunications service delivery.
Krumbholz said Connections II will be particularly useful to agencies that need expertise in moving to new technologies. “The contract will also assist agencies with expertise on large-scale network services transitions and will provide support for installing the infrastructure required for delivery of the recurring transport services,” he said.
But observers questioned whether a separate contract is necessary to provide the services Connections II offers. “In many ways it does duplicate what Alliant is doing,” said Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer. “Any IT contract can do [LAN networking]. . . . There are existing contracting vehicles to do that.”
According to GSA, Alliant’s spectrum is much broader than that of Connections II. Its predecessor, Connections, expires in 2011.
Connections II likely won’t have a strong impact on Networx, Bjorklund said, although it could help accelerate or synchronize the contract’s usage.
The RFP closes on March 29.
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GSA Signs Up For OpenID
March 3, 2010 by llyons
By Aliya Sternstein - 03/03/10 03:29 pm ET
The General Services Administration has approved universal sign-in applications for use on government Web sites, provided by Equifax, Google and Paypal, that will allow citizens who are securely logged in to one site to instantly and safely switch to another agency site without having to log in again.
The so-called Open Identity Exchange applications are expected to expedite access to government services by giving users a single ID credential that all privacy-protected federal sites will accept.
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GSA solicits comments on contractor performance database
March 1, 2010 by llyons
By Emily Long – 03/01/10
The General Services Administration is looking for feedback on its federal contractor performance database, according to a notice published on Monday in the Federal Register.
GSA is soliciting comments on the necessity of the data gathered in the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information Systems to the acquisition process. The agency also is looking for ideas to improve data quality and for ways to minimize the reporting burden through information technology.
The system, known as FAPIIS, will collect data on criminal, civil or administrative proceedings against contractors and grant recipients. All companies with contracts or grants exceeding $10 million will be required to submit information to the database, which was mandated by a provision in the 2009 Defense Authorization Act.
Federal contracting officers will be expected to check the database when making a responsibility determination or conducting a past performance evaluation for all new contracts worth more than $500,000.
Stan Soloway, president and chief executive officer of the Professional Services Council, said a potential problem with the system is the scope and diversity of the information required could make it difficult for someone not trained in law to determine the severity and patterns of abuse.
“How do we avoid penalizing those whose errors are administrative rather than defrauding? Companies will have to pay close attention to the information entered,” he said.
The database hasn’t yet been created, said Gary Therkildsen, federal fiscal policy analyst at the nonprofit OMBWatch. Monday’s notice asks for comments to fine-tune some of the system’s details, which indicates GSA is coming to the end of the process, he added.
GSA estimates that of the 12,000 to 14,000 contracts worth more than $500,000 annually, 5,000 recipients will be required to submit information to the database. Contractors will be required to update FAPIIS on a semiannual basis. Including time required for record-keeping, the agency has calculated a total reporting burden at 505,000 hours.
The request for comments ends March 31, 2010.
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Snow Can’t Stop Johnson’s Swearing In
February 9, 2010 by llyons
By Alyssa Rosenberg Tuesday, February 9, 2010 6:15 PM
By Robert Brodsky
After 10 months of waiting to be confirmed as GSA administrator, Martha Johnson wasn’t about to let a little snowstorm to stop her from taking the oath of office.
On Sunday evening, Johnson was sworn into office–by telephone–at her home in Annapolis, Md. The oath was performed by Acting Administrator Steve Leeds and Johnson’s husband, Steve, reportedly served as a witness.
Johnson was confirmed as the agency’s first permanent and Senate-confirmed administrator on Thursday after enduring a long hold by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.
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Senate confirms Johnson as GSA administrator
February 4, 2010 by cs
Martha Johnson’s stay in bureaucratic purgatory has ended.
More than 10 months after she was nominated to serve as head of the General Services Administration, Johnson finally was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday afternoon.
The Senate had to vote to invoke cloture — essentially a motion to end debate — to break a hold on Johnson’s nomination placed by Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. Once cloture was invoked, the Senate voted again and confirmed Johnson, 94-2.
A former chief of staff at GSA during the Clinton administration, Johnson will be the agency’s first Senate-confirmed chief since Lurita A. Doan resigned in April 2008. Since then, the agency has had four acting administrators, including its current interim chief, Stephen Leeds.
“As administrator, I will leverage the agency’s strong leadership to build a team that welcomes talent, exhibits performance excellence, collaborates, and innovates; a team that through knowledge, expertise, and transparency, will reform procurement and help move the president’s agenda for improvements in the professional acquisition workforce, Johnson said in a statement released by GSA after the vote.”
Johnson was nominated for the post on April 3, 2009, and she cruised through her June confirmation hearing, receiving unanimous support from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
But in August, Bond blocked the Senate from voting on Johnson’s nomination. He wanted GSA to close down the federally owned Bannister Complex outside Kansas City, which houses 1,200 federal employees, and to relocate staff to new office space downtown as part of a major revitalization project. GSA, however, plans to build and then own new office space in the region.
On the floor of the Senate on Thursday, Bond defended the hold and castigated GSA for failing to move quickly to close the Bannister Complex. He cited the building’s “dilapidated” physical condition, potential health risks due to reports of chemical contamination and its low 20 percent occupancy rate.
“My efforts here are about keeping 1,000 jobs in Kansas City and not about blocking one job in Washington,” Bond said.
The senator said he felt “no joy” in holding up Johnson’s nomination and conceded that her “qualifications are not in doubt.”
On Wednesday, President Obama jumped into the fray, arguing that the hold on Johnson’s nomination was preventing the administration from implementing policies that would cut waste from the budget. In particular, Obama said GSA could be saving billions of dollars by ending or renegotiating costly lease agreements or consolidating buildings and efficiencies.
“Let’s have a fight about real stuff,” Obama said at a meeting with Senate Democrats. “Don’t hold this woman hostage. If you have an objection about my health care policies, then let’s debate the health care policies. But don’t suddenly end up having a GSA administrator who is stuck in limbo somewhere because you don’t like something else that we’re doing, because that doesn’t serve the American people.”
Bond’s office fired back at the president on Thursday. “With all due respect, the hostage here is not Martha Johnson,” he said. “They are the 1,000 workers at Banister Complex in Kansas City.”
The Senate on Thursday also voted 60-37 to confirm M. Patricia Smith to serve as solicitor of the Labor Department, the No. 3 position at the agency.