Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Georgia Tech’s ATDC hosting healthcare summit Sept. 12th

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Georgia Tech’s  Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), the longest-running state-sponsored startup incubator in the country, has been chosen as one of eight stops on a national “Startup Day” tour for federal health officials to connect with tech startups.

The ATDC Federal Healthcare Innovation Summit, which will be held September 12, will allow entrepreneurs and technologists to connect with representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

The federal government spends more on healthcare than any other single entity in the country, about 28.3 percent of the total national health expenditure in 2016. That’s compared to 28.1 percent spent by individual households, 19.9 percent by private businesses and 16.9 percent by state or local government. Those hundreds of billions present a massive market opportunity for startups to make operations more efficient and streamlined with new technologies.

The capstone of the Federal Healthcare Innovation Summit will be a “Shark Tank”-type pitch event where startups can share their products and services with HHS officials, including the agency’s Chief Technology officer Edward Simcox, for feedback. 

The Summit, to be held from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, requires preregistration.  You can register for the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/atdcs-federal-healthcare-innovation-summit-tickets-49397520313

Company and officers to pay $1.9 million to settle False Claims Act SBIR allegations

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Maryland-based MassTech, Inc., its former Chief Executive Officer, Arnold Lee, and its former Chief Financial Officer, Richard Lee, have agreed to pay the United States $1.9 million to resolve allegations that MassTech falsely certified it was a small business concern in order to obtain Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards.

The settlement agreement was announced on May 3, 2018.

 

The SBIR program is a set-aside program for small businesses.  The purpose of the SBIR program is to strengthen the role of small business concerns in federally funded research and development and to increase private sector commercialization.  To receive SBIR funds, each awardee of an SBIR Phase I or II award must qualify as a small business at the time of the award as well as throughout the duration of the award.  To be eligible, the small business and its affiliates collectively must have fewer than 500 employees.  According to the settlement agreement, the government alleged that MassTech, Arnold Lee, and Richard Lee falsely represented to the National Science Foundation (NSF), to NASA, and to the Dept. of Health & Human Services (HHS) that MassTech was an eligible small business concern at the time of the SBIR application as well as throughout the lifecycle of the award.  As a result, NSF, NASA, and HHS approved and funded SBIR awards to MassTech that MassTech otherwise would not have received.  MassTech, Arnold Lee, and Richard Lee denied the United States’ allegations.

NSF’s Office of Inspector General, the NASA Office of Inspector General, and the HHS Office of Inspector General worked in the investigation.  The settlement agreement was announced by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/masstech-richard-lee-and-arnold-lee-pay-us-19-million-settle-false-claims-act-allegations

‘Big challenge’ ahead for procurement, grants reporting under DATA Act

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It took federal agencies’ four years to go from introduction to implementation of the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act, so what will it take to get 2,300 grant-making programs and 3,200 procurement offices to do the same?

The Office of Management and Budget recommends three steps to help expedite the process: continue to standardize data, use auto-populating technology, and use IT open standards for developing any new tools needed along the way.

The recommendations are part of OMB’s recent report on the DATA Act’s two-part Section 5 pilot, which covers federal grants and federal contracts. The grants pilot ended, but the procurement side will continue through February.

“The procurement pilot demonstrates that burden is reduced and efficiencies are achieved when data already provided to the federal government is re-used,” OMB said. “The procurement pilot results also demonstrate that reporting can be streamlined when technology standards are open. The grants test pilots demonstrate that the following conditions can reduce recipients’ burden: (I) required reporting data elements are defined in a central open repository, (2) reported data is collected centrally, (3) data can be re-used and auto populated across government, and (4) available resources explain requirements and business processes where needed.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/open-datatransparency/2017/08/a-big-challenge-ahead-for-procurement-grants-reporting-under-data-act/

An easy way to explore how changes in federal spending affect a contractor

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The U.S. federal government agreed to spend $262 billion with its top 100 contractors in 2016.

A billion here, a billion there — pretty soon you’re talking about real money, right?  So changes in how the government allocates funds can have a significant impact on supplier companies.

Consider President Trump’s proposed defense budget. For the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1, it would provide $574 billion to the Pentagon (not including an additional $65 billion for overseas contingency operations). That’s a 10 percent increase from the last full-year budget, and some of that could flow to defense contractors. Which ones, though?

Here’s how to dig into that question and find the companies most exposed to changes in government spending, the details of government contracts, and the supply chain of each contractor.

To get insight into government policy from Bloomberg Government, first go to https://about.bgov.com/government-contracting.  BGOV follows and interprets legislation, regulation, government spending, lobbying, and campaign finance through the lens of industries and companies, enabling you to generate investment ideas and mitigate risk.

To analyze 2018 budget proposals and potentially identify winners and losers, select FY18 Skinny Budget for information on the White House’s preliminary budget outline and how it differs from the fiscal year 2017 budget.  Proposed increases in defense spending would be subsidized by potential cuts in funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development and the departments of State, Education, and Health & Human Services.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-19/an-easy-way-to-explore-how-changes-in-u-s-federal-spending-affect-a-contractor

See the Top 10 federal contract opportunities, updated weekly, here: https://about.bgov.com/?s=+Top+20+Opportunities

 

GSA creates Schedule SIN for health IT services

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Health Information Technology (IT) is one of the fastest-growing fields in the IT industry, in part due to a spurt of government technology modernization initiatives. After seeing skyrocketing demand across federal government agencies for the past several years, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) decided to prioritize Health IT as its own separate category within GSA Schedule 70 by establishing Health IT Special Item Number (SIN) 132-56.

The new SIN was officially established on August 1, 2016. It is the first SIN of its kind directly correlated to Health IT in compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

This new SIN category will give Health IT companies access to business with federal government agencies including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Defense Health Agency (a joint integrated Combat Support Agency that enables the U.S Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force medical services to provide a medically ready force and ready medical force to Combatant Commands in both peacetime and wartime). As military and civilian healthcare reforms take effect, GSA expects these agencies’ demand to continue to grow.

Part of the justification for establishing a separate category is that Health IT is truly different — in that companies involved in the Health IT industry require very specific skillsets and have to comply with various healthcare security standards, including the Privacy Act of 1974, Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).

Keep reading this article at: http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/gsa-has-created-a-separate-category-for-55952/

COFC awards enhanced attorney fees in protest following ‘egregious’ agency conduct

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The exceptional nature of a contract protest case was demonstrated in a recent decision made by the Court of Federal Claims (COFC).

In the case, Starry Associates, Inc. v. United States, the COFC awarded “enhanced” attorney fees to plaintiff’s counsel due to the agency’s cancellation of the solicitation which the court characterized as “capricious” and “reflect[ing] a lack of fidelity to the procurement process.”

The contract’s cancellation resulted in multiple GAO protests, a hearing at GAO, multiple depositions of agency officials during a follow-on protest at the Court, and a decision enjoining the Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) from cancelling the solicitation

Read about this rare rebuke of a federal agency by the COFC at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2017/04/cofc-awards-enhanced-attorney-fees-in-protest-following-egregious-agency-conduct/

Fraud alert: HHS OIG hotline telephone number used in scam

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently confirmed that the HHS OIG Hotline telephone number is being used as part of a telephone spoofing scam targeting individuals throughout the country.

These scammers represent themselves as HHS OIG Hotline employees and can alter the appearance of the caller ID to make it seem as if the call is coming from the HHS OIG Hotline 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477). The perpetrator may use various tactics to obtain or verify the victim’s personal information, which can then be used to steal money from an individual’s bank account or for other fraudulent activity.

It is important to know that HHS OIG will not use the HHS OIG Hotline telephone number to make outgoing calls and individuals should not answer calls from 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477).

HHS OIG encourages the public to remain vigilant, protect their personal information, and guard against providing personal information during calls that purport to be from the HHS OIG Hotline telephone number.

The OIG’s office also reminds the public that it is still safe to call into the HHS OIG Hotline to report fraud.  The OIG particularly encourages those who believe they may have been a victim of the telephone spoofing scam to report that information through the HHS OIG Hotline 1-800-HHS-TIPS (1-800-447-8477) or spoof@oig.hhs.gov. Individuals may also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

 

Source: https://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/consumer-alerts/alerts/phone-scam.asp

Contractor to pay government upwards of $675,000 for failure to pay proper wages

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Justice Dept. sealGovernment contractor Paige Industrial Services, Inc. has agreed to pay the United States between $450,000 and $675,000 to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that the company submitted false claims to the Department of Health and Human Services.

In a related parallel criminal proceeding involving a Paige subcontracting company, construction company owner Luis Alonso Valle, age 46, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty on February 11, 2016 to an illegal pattern and practice of hiring unauthorized aliens.

This settlement resolves allegations that Paige Industrial Services submitted claims from 2006 to 2013 falsely certifying that it had complied with the Davis-Bacon Act.  The Davis-Bacon Act required Paige to pay certain prevailing wages and fringe benefits to its employees, or the employees of its subcontractors, while working under a government contract performing construction at the National Institute of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, Maryland.  Paige, which provided construction and maintenance services to government agencies, allegedly failed to meet the requirements of the statute while certifying that it had.  Paige denies the allegations.

“Contractors are required be truthful in their certifications to federal agencies,” said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein.

“This office is committed to investigating allegations of fraud involving the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires that contractors and subcontractors pay prevailing wages to their workers on government projects,” stated Acting SAC John Dolce, U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General – Washington Regional Office. “The joint criminal and civil resolutions announced today reflect the seriousness with which our agency and its law enforcement partners pursue allegations of wrongdoing that affect the American workforce.”

As part of the settlement, Paige has agreed to make additional payments above a minimum settlement payment of $450,000, depending on the financial performance of the company over the next five years.

The civil settlement resolves a lawsuit filed in the District of Maryland under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which permits private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and obtain a portion of the government’s recovery. (U.S. ex rel. Brandon Owens and Stevan Reba v. Gilbane, Inc, Gilbane Building Company, Inc, and Paige Industrial Services, Inc.) The claims resolved by this settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

In a related parallel criminal proceeding, Valle Services, LLC., was a subcontractor to Paige at the NIH campus in Bethesda.  According to his plea agreement, Luis Valle owned and operated Valle Services, a construction company that provided unskilled laborers to clean up after demolition projects.  From at least January 2010 to June 2013, Valle paid some of his employees by handwritten checks without withholding required payroll taxes of at least $54,641.  Additionally, Valle failed to pay a matching employer share of the payroll tax of at least $54,641.  These wages were not included on W-2 forms distributed to the employees at the end of the year.

Furthermore, from March 2008 to August 2013, Valle hired at least 19 illegal aliens to work in the United States, and paid them weekly through checks that he typically distributed in person from his vehicle at a parking lot.  Valle approved the hiring of at least five of the illegal aliens to work on a federal contract at the Bethesda NIH campus, which contract was subject to the provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act.

U.S. District Judge Paul W. Grimm sentenced Valle on February 11, 2016 to three years’ probation and imposed the condition that Valle not employ any unauthorized aliens.  Judge Grimm also entered an order that Valle forfeit $57,000, which represents a $3,000 fine for each of the 19 unauthorized aliens that he illegally hired.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/paige-industrial-services-agrees-resolve-false-claims-act-allegations

Federal contract spending fell 3.1 percent in 2014, study finds

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Despite an overall hike in government spending in 2014, federal contract spending last year fell by $14.5 billion or 3.1 percent, according to the latest annual federal industry leaders study from Bloomberg Government, released on Friday.

Budget Versus Contract Obligations

But the good news for industry is that last year “may have represented the dawn of a new normal in the federal marketplace: contract spending was down following the drawdown in Afghanistan and Iraq, but greater budget certainties allowed greater planning and projections,” the analysts noted.

The drop in Pentagon spending was partially offset by a $1 billion hike in spending by the Health and Human Services Department. HHS spent about a billion more last year on services to medical providers.

Technology Spending Increases

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/06/federal-contract-spending-fell-31-percent-2014-study-finds/114547

See full report at: http://about.bgov.com/nextedge/report/bgov200/

‘National dialogue’ called for on contract reporting costs

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The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are facilitating a ‘national dialogue’ to discuss ideas on how to reduce the costs associated with reporting compliance under Federal awards, including contracts, subcontracts, grants, subgrants, and cooperative agreements.

The GSA/HHS notice is posted at: 80 Fed. Reg. 17438.

The dialogue is part of an effort to improve the economy and efficiency of the federal award system by identifying impactful steps that can be used to streamline reporting, reduce burden, and reduce costs.

Interested parties may participate in the national dialogue through an online platform by reviewing the information and participation dates posted at www.cao.gov.  The dialogue will open on May 30, 2015 and close on May 30, 2017.

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