Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Holding government contractors responsible for cybersecurity is trickier than it sounds

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The federal government wants to hold defense contractors accountable for the cybersecurity of their supply chains but that’s no easy feat, experts said recently.

On March 26th, industry representatives told lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee about attempting to tackle cyber threats as a federal contractor. Much of the hearing was focused on one specific issue: increasingly complex levels of supply chains make it difficult for prime contractor to ensure all subcontractors are upholding cybersecurity protections. And that ever-lengthening chain increases the possibility of compromised information or cyberattacks.

“I don’t know why we don’t hold the larger contractors who are responsible for the contract to make sure the subcontractors they are hiring have protections,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., said. “Somebody has to be held accountable.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2019/03/holding-government-contractors-responsible-cybersecurity-trickier-it-sounds/155862/

Pentagon auditors advised to better monitor contractor business systems

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The Defense Department’s management and auditing sub-agencies need to clarify their roles and improve the timeliness of their examinations of contractor accounting, estimating and purchasing systems, a watchdog found.

“DoD currently lacks a mechanism based on relevant and reliable information, such as the number of [contractor business system] reviews that are outstanding, the risk level assigned to those systems, and the resources available to conduct such reviews,” the Government Accountability Office wrote in a report released on February 8th.

Citing directives from Congress over the past decade, GAO reviewed data from the Defense Contract Management Agency and the Defense Contract Audit Agency and found that the DCAA, for example, conducted few business system audits in the past six years, due, in part, to the need for it to reduce its backlog on completing incurred cost audits.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/defense/2019/02/pentagon-auditors-advised-better-monitor-contractor-business-systems/154758/

How some contractors successfully weathered the shutdown

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The 35-day government shutdown cost thousands of small- and mid-size businesses nationwide that supply services or technology to the federal government $2.3 billion in revenue and forced tens of thousands of layoffs.

As once-furloughed federal employees and contractors begin the slow business of reopening government, the cold reality is that another shutdown looms if a spending deal is not reached before Feb. 15.

It’s a time of “uncertainty” for contractors, according to David Berteau, who represents hundreds of companies as head of the Professional Services Council, and some contractors “may be in a holding pattern” while they wait and see whether the government shuts down again. In the interim, Berteau is advising contractors to proactively seek backed government invoices for money owed, sniff out new solicitations and bid on as many opportunities as they can.

Yet amid all the doom, gloom, and wall-to-wall news coverage, the longest government shutdown in history brought about pockets of optimism, innovation and strategy and teachable moments the contracting community that could serve thousands of businesses and 1 million-plus individual government contractors moving forward through future shutdowns or trying times.

Nextgov spoke with two small government contractors about their strategies for handling the shutdown and lessons learned.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2019/01/how-some-contractors-successfully-weathered-shutdown/154568/

White House wants to reduce the shutdown pain for contractors

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During this week’s continuing shutdown drama, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney has reportedly instructed agencies to identify the hardest hit programs, presumably to add to the growing lists of tasks the Trump administration believes it can legally perform to mitigate the pain.

One move in the works would benefit contractors, according to a draft revision of shutdown guidance from the Office of Management and Budget obtained by Government Executive. It would alter past guidance of both the Trump and Obama administrations to allow non-furloughed agency employees to pay contractor invoices for work on contracts awarded before the Dec. 22 appropriations lapse.

The prospective move (OMB did not respond to inquiries on Thursday) also comes as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce organized a letter to President Trump and members of Congress signed by 645 businesses, including small business contractors in 50 states demanding an end to shutdown.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/01/white-house-wants-reduce-shutdown-pain-contractors/154412/

See text of the full OMB Jan. 19, 2019 memorandum here: Planning for Agency Operations during a Potential Lapse in Appropriations OMB – Planning for Agency Operations during a Potential Lapse in Appropriations -M-18-05-01.19.2019

E-Verify procedures during the government shutdown

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When the federal government partially shut down on December 22, 2018, so did E-Verify, the online system for verifying a new hire’s eligibility to work.

Employers that are obligated to or have chosen to use E-Verify have probably already received this message from the E-Verify website: “NOTICE: Due to the lapse in federal funding, this website will not be actively managed. E-Verify and E-Verify services are unavailable.”

But what does this notice actually mean for employers?

In a nutshell, the E-Verify system is completely unavailable.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=772996

‘Tens of thousands’ of government contractors laid off due to shutdown

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As unemployment filings among furloughed federal employees doubled last week across Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., the effects on government contractors are beginning to take shape.

The shutdown is costing contractors an estimated $1.5 billion per week and companies that primarily serve the government have already hemorrhaged “tens of thousands of people,” according to David Berteau, who represents hundreds of companies as head of the Professional Services Council.

Those unemployed government contractors are likely to join the 9,000 furloughed federal employees added to unemployment rolls in the capital region during the week of Jan. 5, Berteau said.

“We have tens of thousands of people laid off or not working in the nine cabinet agencies and other agencies shut down,” Berteau said on a call with reporters last Thursday. “Contractors are feeling more and more impact. Each day, we’re getting notices of stop-work orders from our member companies.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/contracting/2019/01/tens-thousands-government-contractors-laid-due-shutdown/154265

Tips for federal contractors during a government shutdown

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25 days and counting, the partial government shutdown has left many federal employees with an endless weekend and no paycheck.

While those workers grapple with the financial hardship and uncertainty as Congress and the Administration try to reconcile their differences, contractors working under a government contract may be forced to deal with their own issues.

Government contractors may feel the impact of the shutdown in three primary ways: 1) availability of funds, 2) financing performance of the contract, and 3) handling financial responsibility for an idle workforce.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=773342

See our earlier article on this subject at:

Government shutdown costing private-sector contractors $245 million every day

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As it rounds up its third week, the partial government shutdown isn’t only affecting hundreds of thousands of federal employees. Contractors are potentially losing out on $245 million each day the shutdown continues, Bloomberg estimates.

Private-sector organizations that serve federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, the United States Agency for International Development and the Environmental Protection Agency have been told to stop work on certain contracts, with little indication as to what happens next, the Washington Post reports.

Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) last week posted a “blanket” stop work order affecting scores of open contracts, the Post reports. “Any work done after receipt of this notice is at your own risk and will not be reimbursed,” Bobby McCane, FEMA’s head of contracting activity, wrote to federal contractors. “I thank you for your assistance during this funding lapse.”

Keep reading this article at: http://fortune.com/2019/01/07/u-s-government-shutdown-private-sector/

DoD reports spike in contractors in Iraq

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The number of civilian contractors supporting U.S. and coalition operations in Iraq against the Islamic State is on the rise, even as major military operations there have ceased, according to new figures released by U.S. Central Command,

From January 2017 to January 2018 the number of Defense Department contractors in Iraq rose 37 percent, from 3,592 to 4,927, according to statistics CENTCOM released last week.

The numbers are reported quarterly and have risen steadily over the last year. For example, contractors supporting base operations rose from 564 contractors in January 2017 to 827 contractors in January 2018. The number of contracted translators rose from 377 in 2017 to 805 in 2018 and the number of contractors supporting logistics and maintenance rose from 1,156 to 1,480.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/flashpoints/2018/01/16/dod-reports-spike-in-contractors-in-iraq/

Despite procurement concerns, vendors made out well in 2016

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Federal procurement spending is up.

The number of mergers and acquisitions are skyrocketing. And overall, despite worries about the transition to a new administration, the continued inability of Congress to pass appropriations bills on time and what, many said, was an unfriendly environment for federal contractors, fiscal 2016 was a pretty darn good year for vendors.

Bloomberg Government found agencies spent $477.8 billion on acquisitions in 2016, up from $441.6 billion in 2015—a $36.2 billion increase (8 percent).

“Overall we saw a lot of positive areas for contractors in terms of growth in these markets,” said Daniel Snyder, deputy director of BGov’s Government Contracts Research, during a webinar on Aug. 29. “About one-third of overall categories were in the plus this year, and then in terms of companies, about 121 companies improved their rankings, they are followed by 64 who did a little worse than the year before and 14 remained just about the same and maintained their position.”Bloomberg Government released its sixth annual Top 200 contractors Aug. 23 along with data on trends across the federal sector.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/reporters-notebook-jason-miller/2017/09/despite-procurement-concerns-vendors-made-out-well-in-2016/

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