Schedule contract cancellation no big deal, experts say
April 30, 2012 by cs
The General Services Administration’s cancellation of Oracle Inc.’s Schedule 70 IT services contract was simply because the two could not reach an agreement on terms, deciding in the end to go their separate ways, experts say.
A senior GSA official said April 20 that it was not in the government’s best interest to continue to offer Oracle’s IT services though its Schedule. GSA officials would not provide further details.
However, one day earlier a spokeswoman said the cancellation was the result of the company not meeting the terms of the contract.
Experts said they were were not surprised by of GSA’s decision, nor did they say they believed Oracle had done something terrible.
“Since GSA isn’t suggesting suspension or debarment, and because GSA is openly referring to Oracle’s other reseller and partner channels to sell its offerings, actions leading to the cancellation are probably not egregious,” said Ray Bjorklund, vice president and chief knowledge officer at Deltek’s GovWin.
Mary Davie, assistant commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service Office’s of Integrated Technology Services, noted April 20 that agencies could still buy software and software maintenance from Oracle’s resellers that have IT Schedule 70 contracts.
As for directly working with Oracle, Davie said, “It was determined that it was not in the best interest of the government to continue the contract.”
In the meantime, Oracle has yet to comment on GSA’s action.
The cancellation takes effect May 17.
Oracle’s Schedule contract was to run from Oct. 1, 2006, to March 28, 2012. The Schedule was last updated September 30, 2011, Bjorklund said.
“One could infer that GSA and Oracle couldn’t reach agreement on the terms and conditions needed to renew or extend the contract,” he said.
A lot of procurement changes have happened since 2006 that may have arisen between the two. There may have been differences in opinion about Oracle’s interest in its proprietary data rights, payment terms or rules that affect overseas work, Bjorklund said.
In addition, experts said the decision could stem from Oracle’s inability to comply with existing contractual stipulations because the company has changed the way it conducts business since the contract was last modified.
Mark Amtower, partner of Amtower and Company, said major corporations often struggle with GSA’s demands on sales records. Companies the size of Oracle may not be able to provide all of their sales information.
“When a worldwide company like Oracle is required to provide pricing data for every product sold, it is akin to Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill,” he said.
GSA Schedule contracts are under the Price Reduction Clause, which requires the government to get at least the same sale price as any other client.
GSA’s move came several months after Oracle agreed to pay a $200 million fine for its failure to comply with the terms and conditions of its Schedule contract.
“Now, in addition to the fine, Oracle will have to find other ways to sell to federal customers,” Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, wrote in his weekly ‘The Week Ahead’ newsletter.
Overall, the reaction from experts is that the cancellation won’t be a huge blow to Oracle or its sales.
Schedule 70 is not a preferred vehicle for IT, Amtower said. It has become more or less a default vehicle.
According to Amtower, Oracle’s Schedule contract accounts for less than 7 percent of total government purchases.
Oracle’s sales are coming through other contracts, such as NASA’s Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurements and other Defense Department indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts.
Bjorklund said this latest action is unlikely to dampen any interest in what Oracle offers the government; nor is it any grand-scale initiative on the part of GSA.
“When parties can’t agree, it’s just time to cancel the contract and try to start over again,” he said.
About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Federal Computer Week. This article was published on Apr. 23, 2012 at http://washingtontechnology.com/Articles/2012/04/23/reaction-GSA-oracle-cancellation.aspx?s=wtdaily_240412&Page=2.
Schedule 70 chief lays out management goals
March 28, 2012 by cs
Contractors on the General Services Administration’s major Multiple Award IT Schedule 70 should watch for changes.
Kay Ely, director of the Schedule since September, laid out her top management priorities March 15 to make operations run better and more smoothly, according to Allen Federal Business Partners’ The Week Ahead newsletter.
Ely wants to:
- Digitize all contract files.
- Expand the use of electronic contracting for end-to-end contract management.
- Shorten the time it takes modify a contract. This should make the schedule more competitive.
- Make Schedule 70 consistent across its components, so IT contracting officials give their customers and contractors consistent and correct answers.
- Enhance the skills of the IT Schedule’s acquisition workforce.
Ely believes that achieving just some of the goals “would go a long way to restoring the luster of the IT Schedule, and most likely help increase business conducted through it,” according to the report.
– by Matthew Weigelt, Federal Computer Week, Mar 19, 2012 at http://fcw.com/blogs/acquisitive-mind/2012/03/gsa-schedule-70-priorities.aspx.
GSA moves forward with new professional services vehicle
February 29, 2012 by cs
The General Services Administration is moving ahead with a new contract vehicle for buying professional services.
Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Commissioner Steve Kempf approved the internal business case for the Integrations program earlier this month, according to GSA’s Integrations Blogger’s Blog on the agency’s “Interact” website.
While no dollar value has been attached to the contract’s ceiling, the government spent $79.5 billion on professional services during fiscal 2010, according to GSA data.
Integrations will be a multiple-agency indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. The Integrations contract is expected to include commercial and non-commercial services, that may include program management and consulting services. GSA is also considering having logistics services, professional engineering services and financial services on the menu. GSA is designing the contract vehicle to address needs for professional services that span several types of services that are often difficult to specify or quantify before making an award. However, the contract will elevate risk as a result, wrote Lisa McGuire, program manager for Integrations.
Mary Davie, assistant FAS commissioner for the Integrated Technology Service, said GSA’s Schedules program offers technology and other professional services on an a la carte basis. But agencies want more.
“Agencies have asked us to provide a total professional services solution, which often requires acquisition of multiple services across separate functional areas,” she wrote Feb. 21 on her Great Government Through Technology blog.
Davie said agencies want flexibility. About half of all government spending on complex integrated professional services in fiscal 2010 took place under cost-type contracts.
“That is why we are planning to include all task-order types in Integrations, including cost reimbursement,” she wrote.
Officials intend to make the acquisition process more flexible for all sorts of contract-type task orders and other direct costs at the task-order level, McGuire wrote.
At this point, the Integrations program team is working on a project schedule.
So far though, officials have said they are developing a customer working group, and, for industry, they plan to post draft documents for feedback as the working group meets. GSA wants to make the acquisition planning process to include input from industry and customers. GSA also has to register the contract vehicle with OMB’s MAX Federal website.
Davie is planning a “Tweet Chat” Feb. 29 from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. She wants to interact with customer agencies and industry on a range of topics about Integrations. She will be answering tweets to @GSA_ITS with the hashtag #ITSChat.
About the Author: Matthew Weigelt is a senior writer covering acquisition and procurement for Federal Computer Week. This article appeared Feb. 21, 2012 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/02/21/gsa-integrations-program.aspx?s=wtdaily_220212.
DHS plans industry day to highlight IT priorities
February 16, 2012 by cs
The Homeland Security Department is planning an industry day Feb. 28 in Washington that explore priorities in five mission areas.
The day-long event at the Ronald Regan Building in downtown D.C. also includes a DHS CIO Council meeting that will be open to the public and cover fiscal 2012 initiatives.
The five mission areas are:
- Preventing terrorism and enhancing security
- Securing and managing borders
- Enforcing and administrating immigration laws
- Safeguarding and securing cyberspace
- Ensuring resilience to disasters
Each mission area will have its own breakout sessions that include more details on specific initiatives. For example, under preventing terrorism, there will be information presented on Secure Flight, a Transportation Security Administration program. The ensuring resilience to disasters will have breakouts on the Homeland Security Information Network and the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System.
The agency said that acquisition information on specific program areas will be presented.
DHS has a $39.6 billion 2012 budget and the budget request for fiscal 2013 is $39.5 billion.
About the Author: Nick Wakeman is the editor-in-chief of Washington Technology. This article was published on Feb. 14, 2012 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/02/14/dhs-industry-day.aspx?s=wtdaily_150212.
Defense technology to grow despite Pentagon budget cuts
January 17, 2012 by cs
As the Defense Department slashes its budget by at least $487 billion in 10 years, technology investment is one of the few areas that will continue to grow, according to a new military strategy that President Obama and Pentagon officials released Thursday.
The increased spending will focus on cyberspace, intelligence systems, space and science research, according to the review.
President Obama told a Pentagon press briefing that Defense has to develop “smart, strategic priorities.” Specifically, he called for enhanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
In his written introduction to the review, Obama said the new strategy will “ensure that our military is agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies.” He added this includes investments to ensure that the United States can prevail in all domains of military operations, including cyberspace.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said broad cuts in the new Defense budget, due for release in late January, do not apply to investments in technology, including unmanned systems, space capabilities and “particularly cyberspace capabilities.”
Defense budgeted $3.2 billion for cybersecurity in 2012. The Pentagon, Panetta said, must continue to invest “in new capabilities to maintain a decisive edge.”
He declined to provide specific funding figures for any military programs, deferring that action until release of the 2013 Defense budget. But, Panetta said, the strategy will drive the structure of the budget.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said the new strategy envisions budget increases in “all aspects of cyber,” along with science and technology research. Defense cannot abandon that research, Carter said, as it would be akin to “eating our seed corn.”
Highlighting the importance of networks and space systems in the future, the strategy document said: “Modern armed forces cannot conduct high-temp, effective operations without reliable information and communication networks and assured access to cyberspace and space. Today space systems and their supporting infrastructure face a range of threats that may degrade, disrupt or destroy assets. Accordingly, DoD will continue to work with domestic and international allies and partners and invest in advanced capabilities to defend its networks, operational capability and resiliency in cyberspace and space.”
Trey Hodgkins, vice president of national security and procurement policy at TechAmerica, an industry trade group, said the new military strategy reflects an increasing awareness within Defense that technology, including information technology, sits at the core of multiple missions, and the Pentagon has to continue to beef up investments in this area.
Obama pointed out that the new military strategy shifts the Pentagon focus from Europe and the Mideast to the Asia-Pacifc region, including a beefed-up U.S. force presence in Australia that he announced in November 2011.
“As we end today’s wars, we will focus on a broader range of challenges and opportunities, including the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific [region],” Obama wrote in his introduction to the review. This shift includes dealing with the growth of the military power of China, which should be balanced by greater U.S. military presence in the region, the document said.
Hodgkins said this increased focus on the Asia-Pacific region will boost the importance of the U.S. Pacific Command headquartered in Honolulu and will require greater Defense network capacity in the region.
– by Bob Brewin – NextGov – 01/05/12 at http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20120105_8406.php?oref=rss?zone=NGtoday
Contractors to give GSA IT security plans
January 12, 2012 by cs
The General Services Administration will require vendors to provide information technology security plans detailing how they are meeting federal cyber regulations under a new rule published on Jan. 6, 2012.
GSA said that changes are will apply to IT contracts awarded after Jan. 6, 2012 and that contractors must submit their IT security plans within 30 days of the contract award.
The plan should detail the processes and procedures the contractor will follow for “appropriate security of IT resources… used under the contract.”
GSA said it will use this information to verify that IT data and systems are effectively secured from unauthorized users. GSA will also inspect prime contractors’ and subcontractors’ facilities and IT systems.
Both prime and subcontractors will submit written proof of IT security authorization six months after the award in order to verify the validity of their security plan. The required plans and proposals will be included in IT contract solicitations.
– by Katelyn Noland, ExecutiveGov, on Jan. 6, 2012 at http://www.executivegov.com/2012/01/contractors-to-give-gsa-it-security-plans/
Supply chain innovations conference scheduled for Feb. 22-23 in Savannah
January 7, 2012 by cs
The Center for Advance Logistics Management is pleased to host a two-day conference on Supply Chain Innovations on Feb. 22 and 23, 2012 in Savannah, GA. The conference is an outgrowth of on-going research and education efforts by Albany State University, partnered with Albany Technical College.
The conference will be held at the Marriott Savannah Riverfront. The conference theme is “Leveraging technology for security, resilience and optimization in Defense supply chains.”
Information technology is being leveraged to provide enormous competitive advantage in globally connected supply chains. Technology is a source of innovation and competitive advantage, but it also makes supply chains vulnerable to cyber threats.
Advanced supply chains recognize and manage risk, and build security and resilience while they optimize performance.
IT underpins all of the elements of supply chain management. Sharing of information across processes in the supply chain affect everything from materials extraction and sourcing through manufacturing, transportation, distribution, finance, payments, security and customer relations.
The Department of Defense relies heavily on private-sector infrastructure for its supply chains.
While supply chains move materials through normal distribution channels (air, sea and land-based shipping), supply chain information travels on the Internet. Today we know that security and resiliency in information and communications infrastructures is insufficient, resulting in serious vulnerabilities for supply chains.
The risks and vulnerabilities in an improperly managed supply chain, from counterfeit equipment to malware to other avenues of attack, are real and growing. The Defense Department, through efforts such as the Trusted Foundry program and use of standards like Common Criteria (ISO/IEC 15408) is working to reduce its supply chain vulnerability footprint. This is not a small problem. Some have recommended government measures that mandate significant consequences for having inadequate cyber protections and requirements for reporting breaches and penetrations.
DoD programs that are mission critical or essential to national security or national defense have stepped up the requirements for compliance with DoD directives and Public Law requiring trusted components in the most important defense systems.
Agencies and departments are developing policies to keep a more watchful eye on vendors, partners, and others in their cyber supply chains and adopt best practices for mitigating risks across their systems and processes to protect your system against backdoor access or other deliberate mischief.
Complete confeence information, including registration details, may be found at http://www.afei.org/events/2A08/Pages/default.aspx.
Is small business ready for DHS’ $3B FirstSource II?
November 4, 2011 by cs
Homeland Security Department officials unveiled the details of their new seven-year, $3 billion FirstSource II contract.
The FirstSource II draft Request for Proposals was released Oct. 31. The final RFP is expected no later than December 31, officials said.
FirstSource I, a $2 billion contract launched in 2007, is expiring and its replacement will concentrate on commodity purchasing through value-added resellers, William Thoreen, director of the Acquisition Division in the Office of Procurement Operations, told 600 small business owners Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Building.
“We really believe FirstSource II is going to become a very important piece of our portfolio both for IT and strategic sourcing,” he said.
Under FirstSource I, DHS has bought commodities through value-added resellers, including the purchase of computers, desktops, laptops, network cards, routers through small businesses, Thoreen said.
“The scope of the commodities we buy under it is very broad because we need a lot of different IT commodities,” Thoreen said, and added that FirstSource II will also include VAR purchases of new IT commodities.
“We have learned an incredible amount from that [initial] award and we are going to incorporate a lot of changes in FirstSource II that makes sense for us and we hope makes sense for you,” he said.
For one, “FirstSource II targets specific [small-business] categories that will help our program managers meet their individual goals,” Thoreen said.
FirstSource II “is going to be different. It will provide opportunities for small businesses to partner up for us. The most important thing is that it succeeds in fulfilling our mission needs. We’re not just contracting for contracting sake; there are mission needs and they need to be primary,” Thoreen said.
DHS CIO Richard Spires summed up the dilemma of most of his peers in government. “I’ve got more things coming at me than ever, more demands,” he said. “And I’m going to have less dollars – a pretty classic problem, right? – we’re feeling the squeeze right now.”
Spires said the new contract would address four DHS priorities: infrastructure rationalization, overall IT improvement, elimination of duplication and balancing the CIO workforce, which has grown to 260 employees during the past few years, to meet the new realities.
“We’ve got to make significant changes, particularly in our infrastructure and the commodity IT arena to be able to offer at least the same level of service – and I would hope more service – to my customer base,” he said.
“Data center consolidation, really looking hard and driving true cloud-based services both in the private cloud, out of our own enterprise data centers, as well as in the public services are certainly a couple of things that we’re doing that are very visible,” Spires said.
Spires added that he wants to leverage DHS’ great buying power as exemplified by FirstSource II “to bring components together in ways that we never have before across a lot of functions within DHS.”
As a result of discussions with the Small Business Administration and others, “we’re going to be able to use all five of the small business categories in which we have set-aside authority,” said Kevin Boshears, director of the DHS Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time this has been done in the federal contracting arena,” he added.
As a result, FirstSource II will have clear set-aside awards to 8(a), HUBzone, Service Disabled Veteran-Owned, Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned, and general small business.
But Boshears urged all small businesses “to be aware of the individual aspects of these [five] programs. There are common themes that run through all five of them, but there are individual details that may be germane to [only] one of the individual five categories.”
“So be certain that you are comfortable with the rules and all that has been asked of you to participate in any of the five categories,” he added.
Addressing the issue of teaming, Boshears said although teaming has always been a successful part of DHS contracts and because First Source II is all for small business, “we want each participant to be absolutely clear about which firm is serving as the prime contractor in both the pre-award phase and the post-award phase.”
He said that’s important for proposal preparation, for meeting all the requirements of the small business program and for transparency.
To answer “the question I get the very most – how many awards are you going to make?’ Boshears said the proper answer is “competition determines the final number.”
But a scan of previous DHS-wide multiple award contracts, including Eagle I, have averaged 27 to 28 small business prime contracts, he added.
“That doesn’t give you the absolute final number,” he said, “but it does give you kind of an idea of what we’ve done on previous projects.”
About the Author: David Hubler is senior editor of Washington Technology. Published Nov. 3, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/11/03/dhs-firstsource-ii.aspx.
IT Schedule 70 to get new director
September 22, 2011 by cs
Kay Ely is coming aboard as the new director of the General Services Administration’s largest Multiple Award Schedule, IT Schedule 70, according to a tweet Sept. 14.
“Two big pieces of news in the @GSA_ITS world—welcoming Kevin Youel-Page as the ITS Deputy AC & Kay Ely as the Director of Schedule 70,” tweeted Mary Davie, assistant commissioner for the Federal Acquisition Service’s Integrated Technology Service at GSA.
Ely starts Sept. 25.
Ely is the chief learning officer at the Office of Personnel Management and had been deputy associate director for contracting for facilities and administrative services there.
Davie chose Kevin Youel Page as her deputy, making the announcement to staff Sept. 13. He too will start Sept. 25.
Schedule 70 is one of GSA’s most lucrative schedules. In 2010, IT Schedule 70 had $16 billion in federal sales.
First quarter sales for fiscal 2011 indicate that 2011 may surpass fiscal 2010′s sales, according to EZGSA, a consulting firm that specializes in GSA Schedules contracts. The IT schedule had $4.7 billion in sales in the first quarter of 2011, and $4.5 billion during the same period in 2010, a 7 percent increase.
Here’s Davie’s announcement.
Colleagues,
It’s a big week in ITS! I’m pleased to announce the selection of Kay Ely as the Director of the IT Schedule 70 Program. Kay is a current Senior Executive at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) where she most recently served as the Chief Learning Officer. She has an extensive background in federal IT acquisition, including both policy and operations, through both private and public sector positions. At OPM, Kay also served as the Deputy Associate Director for Contracting, Facilities and Administrative Services and was the Procurement Executive leading the information technology branch. She served as a Senior Principal at Acquisition Solutions where she led the federal civilian acquisition consulting practice. She also served as the Associate Administrator for Acquisition Implementation at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and as the Director of Acquisition Resources Services at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Kay’s well-rounded experience in IT acquisition and leadership positions across government give her a unique perspective that will add tremendous value to GSA and to the ITS leadership team. Kay will be joining ITS on September 25.
Mary
– by Matthew Weigelt of Washington Technology on Sept. 15, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/blogs/circuit/2011/09/kay-ely-gsa-opm-schedule-70.aspx?s=wtdaily_190911.
Contractor cuts among proposals sent to super committee
September 21, 2011 by cs
Three recommendations that target contractors are on a list of proposals sent to the deficit super committee from the GOP side of the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management.
Sen. Ron Johnson, (R-Wis.), collected the recommendations from a variety of sources and has submitted them to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Known as the super committee, it is charged with finding between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion in savings over 10 years. They have to report their recommendations by Nov. 23 and the President must sign the bill by Jan. 15 or automatic cuts kick in.
On Johnson’s list is cutting the contractor workforce by 15 percent, which he says would save $233 billion over 10 years. Eighty percent of the more than $100 billion spent with contractors each year is for services. Johnson is advocating that agencies be required to provide an annual headcount of the number of employees working on federal contracts. His document credits the suggestion to a report by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) called “Back in Black: A deficit reduction plan,” released in July.
A second recommendation that would impact business opportunities for contractor is Johnson’s proposal, also pulled from Coburn’s report, that federal IT management be reformed and that the government close data centers. Technology allows more work to be done by fewer computers and data centers, so closures would increase efficiency and create savings.
Johnson pegged the savings at $200 billion over 10 years.
A third recommendation could create more opportunities for contractors. Johnson is recommending that the government expand its use of public-private partnerships for infrastructure projects. He says the savings could be $180 billion over 10 years.
The government should use more partnerships for highway, rail, port, airport and other projects, he noted. The government could improve project management and take advantage of private sector incentives and efficiencies, Johnson wrote.
The recommendations are part of a House report, “Sitting on Our Assets: Federal Government’s Misuse of Taxpayer-owned Assets,” that comes out in October. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) also has proposed the policy as well.
About the Author: Nick Wakeman is the editor-in-chief of Washington Technology. Published Sept. 16, 2011 at http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2011/09/16/supercommittee-contractor-recommendations.aspx?s=wtdaily_190911.