Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Contractors and advocacy groups push back on states’ efforts to mandate surveillance software

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A broad coalition of 14 organizations representing state contractors and issue advocacy groups released an open letter last week opposing legislation that has cropped up in over 30 state legislatures that, if passed, would require government contractors to purchase and install monitoring software.

While varying somewhat from state-to-state, the bills typically require the software to take very specific actions, such as screenshots of all “state-funded activity at least once every three (3) minutes” and logging of “keystroke and mouse event frequency.”  The legislation also demands contractors store that data for years to come.

The groups that signed onto the letter represent contractors in wide-ranging professions, including accountants, technologists and engineers, as well as the health industry and an association representing state legislators. In the letter, they state that the requirements in the bills carry “significant” privacy and data security risks.

“At a time when most states and businesses have worked together to implement stronger data protection standards, this legislation would undermine existing progress, raise costs, and needlessly expose public and private information to new threat vectors,” they wrote.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/policy/2019/03/contractors-and-advocacy-groups-push-back-state-efforts-mandate-surveillance-software/155818/

GTPAC hosts ‘Creating the Next: Defense Innovation Conference’

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The Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center (GTPAC) recently sponsored an event where 200 small innovative tech companies learned about special funding opportunities and programs that are available to small businesses at the Department of Defense (DoD), including the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.

“The goal of the January 14th conference was to help small companies, especially small technology companies and innovative manufacturers, learn about how they can do business with the Defense Department and its various components,” explained Andrew Smith, GTPAC’s program manager.  “We wanted to have an event where we could educate the small business community about DoD opportunities.”

GDX connects Georgia businesses with each other and with DoD contract opportunities.

The event featured numerous prominent speakers.  Khai Edouard, the co-founder of the technology consulting firm The Simple Vue, spoke about the Georgia Defense Exchange (GDX), a technology platform that was built for the Georgia Department of Economic Development that helps government defense contractors network with other contractors and find contracting opportunities with DoD.  Contractors can access the Georgia Defense Exchange at https://gdx.georgia.org

The National Security Technology Accelerator prospects, vets, and develops technology.

Tim Greeff, the founder, and CEO of the National Security Technology Accelerator (NSTXL), which prospects and develops innovative technology for the Department of Defense, spoke about Other Transaction Authority (OTA) contracts, and how DoD utilizes OTAs to fund research and prototype development.

Adele Navarrete, senior corporate counsel for the Logistics Management Institute, a major not-for-profit defense contractor, provided attendees with insights and advice on how to win business with the Department of Defense.  Ms. Navarrete later joined an industry panel with Raven Smith, senior regulatory compliance analyst with Lockheed Martin, and John Roman, senior vice president at Huntington Ingalls Industries – Technical Solutions.  They discussed the important attributes and qualities defense contractors look for in subcontractors.

Panelists, representing defense industry giants, provided attendees with subcontracting insights.
Lisa R. Sanders with U.S. Special Operations Command discussed technology problems she’s counting on industry to solve.

The keynote address was delivered by Lisa R. Sanders, the director of science and technology for the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).  As a defense intelligence senior leader, Ms. Sanders is responsible for all research and development funded activities for the U.S. Special Operations Forces at MacDill Air Force Base.  Ms. Sanders gave an overview of USSOCOM’s technology and purchasing priorities, and the difficult technology problems Special Operations Forces needs industry to solve.  Ms. Sanders also gave an overview of how industry could engage and do business with the USSOCOM.

After the keynote speech, attendees were able to network with one another and forge potential business relationships.

Four concurrent workshops were also held in the afternoon sessions that covered a variety of topics of interest to government contractors, including how to develop successful bids and proposals and how to comply with DoD cybersecurity requirements.

“Overall, I’m very proud of the event and how industry and government came together to provide such excellent information and training to our attendees,” said Mr. Smith.  “I think everyone came away learning a lot about how to best engage the Department of Defense if you are a small technology company or manufacturer with the next great product or idea.  I firmly believe Georgia Tech can help connect the next great idea to those in DoD who need that idea and solution — and that is going to keep our nation safe.”

Copies of all presentations made at the Jan. 14, 2019 event — along with related resource materials — can be downloaded from: https://gtpac.org/training-video/

 

Four steps to fix the security clearance backlog

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Congress will get an update on the security clearance backlog this week, but if you can’t tune in, here’s the bottom line up front: the government has taken steps, there has been progress and the system is improving, but it’s not nearly enough.

There are still more than 600,000 government and industry employees waiting for security clearances from the federal government — highly skilled Americans who are sidelined because of bureaucratic red tape. Some have been waiting as long as 500 days just to go to work.

We in the aerospace and defense industry must frequently ask new employees to delay showing up for work, or do less important work, for months until their clearances are approved. The slow pace of background investigations impedes our industry’s ability to recruit the talented individuals we need to fulfill important roles, such as conducting space missions, managing cyber networks, and performing advanced manufacturing.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/12/four-steps-fix-security-clearance-backlog/153445

U.S. defense contractors report that business is booming — thanks to new spending, lower taxes

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The U.S. defense industry is on track for one of its best years in recent memory.

The five largest U.S. defense contractors — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics — reported healthy financial results for the third quarter, in a series of earnings reports over the past week.

They benefited from a defense budget that has grown significantly under a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, as well as a 2017 tax overhaul that slashed their corporate tax rates.

“We’re seeing more and more signs of sustained long-term stable defense budget in the U.S.,” Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said Wednesday.

They have also taken advantage of a more stable budget environment that has made it easier for them to prepare for the future. Last year, Congress lifted the “sequestration” budget caps that have limited defense spending since 2013. For the first time in years, lawmakers passed their most recent spending bill without a “continuing resolution,” giving defense firms a better blueprint for their future sales.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/26/us-defense-contractors-report-that-business-is-booming-thanks-new-spending-lower-taxes

Pentagon tells leaders to talk more with contractors — and less to the public and press

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Even as Pentagon leaders restrain military officials’ contacts with the public and the press, they are pushing for more engagement with defense contractors.

On March 1, U.S. Air Force leaders suspended all interviews, embeds, and base visits for media organizations “until further notice.” The following day, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan — a former Boeing executive — sent a memo to the Pentagon’s civilian and military leadership encouraging wider communication with defense contractors.

“Cultivating a competitive mindset requires that we optimize our relationships with industry to drive higher performance while always remaining within the letter and spirit of ethics and procurement regulations,” Shanahan wrote in the March 2 memo, entitled “Engaging With Industry.” “Leaders must talk with personnel about the importance of having dialogue with industry and help them understand the parameters for doing so.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.defenseone.com/business/2018/03/pentagon-official-directed-leaders-speak-more-contractors-just-one-day-after-ban-press/146679

Mergers and acquisitions: Contractors advised to slow down and ensure compliance

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The pace at which government contractors are engaging in mergers & acquisitions has increased notably in recent years, as a stream of recent stories in the Washington Post and New York Times have reported.

The acquisition of a government contractor frequently provides the buyer an opportunity to increase its market share and/or strengthen its capabilities in an existing industry. The acquisition may also allow the buyer to develop and market a new government contracting capability that was previously lacking from its portfolio.

In the past few months alone, several multi-billion-dollar acquisitions within the government contracts sector have been announced. For example, in September 2017, Northrup Grumman announced it would acquire Orbital ATK, a rocket and defense contractor. Orbital will bring new capabilities to Northrup’s portfolio, including a missile defense business line and the ability to launch rockets that carry satellites into space. The deal, worth $7.8 billion, will also allow Northrup to bolster its existing satellite capabilities.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=635270

Contractors object to parts of OMB’s agency reporting reductions

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A group representing 400 services and information technology contractors has asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to revamp several of the 59 changes announced on June 15 in its memo on easing the reporting burden on agencies.

The Arlington, Va.-based Professional Services Council, though supportive in general of the budget office’s bid to trim and update administrative requirements, sent a June 22 letter to OMB Director Mick Mulvaney seeking changes in the Trump administration’s handling of accelerated payments to small businesses, acquisition assessments and reporting of agency priority goals.

“If no one is asking for it, maybe it doesn’t have much value to it,” Mulvaney told reporters during the rollout of the June 15 memo to agency heads targeting a portion of what eventually could be 250 management directives that might be “duplicative, obsolete, redundant or low value.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2017/06/contractors-object-parts-ombs-agency-reporting-reductions/139023/

Let’s bust some myths!

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In February 2011, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) released a memo called “Myth-Busting: Addressing Misconceptions to Improve Communication with Industry During the Acquisition Process.”

They recognized that agencies were hesitating to meet with vendors out of fear of protests or because they just didn’t have effective strategies to manage these communications. Vendors, on the other hand, had fears of their own, such as inadvertently creating a conflict of interest that would keep them from competing on future requirements.

They held a series of sessions with representatives from all aspects of the acquisition process to get a better sense of everything that was getting in the way of clear communication between the federal agencies and their prospective vendors. Out of those talks, they pulled together the 10 misconceptions they heard most frequently, and gathered them in this myth-busting memo, along with the corresponding fact and a detailed explanation for each point.

You can read the full report in the White House Archives, but here is a summary of the 10 myths and facts, along with my comments. This document may be a few years old, but the myths are still around!

Keep reading this article at: http://blog.federalsmallbizsavvy.com/capture-management/federal-contracting-officers-lets-bust-some-myths/

How will Trump’s ‘Buy American, Hire American’ executive order impact construction?

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In the latest of a series of executive orders signed since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has again chosen that method as a way to affect policy in the U.S. Unlike some other executive orders that aim to streamline project schedules and cut red tape, however, the “Buy American and Hire American” measure could put more restrictions on the construction industry.

Inside the executive order

The executive order doesn’t change anything just yet. Through the order, Trump calls on all of his administration’s agency heads to:

  1. Evaluate the implementation and compliance of existing Buy America laws under their jurisdictions
  2. Take a look at their waiver process and determine how it is affecting American business.
  3. Come up with additional policies, within the confines of existing law, that “maximize” the use of American-made products and their components, including common construction materials like steel, iron, aluminum and cement.

For purposes of the order, administration officials added that American-made steel means that it is produced in the U.S. from the melting phase forward.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.constructiondive.com/news/trumps-buy-american-hire-american-executive-order-construction-industry/441115/

Defense contractors see end of budget decline

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“The tide has definitely turned in the direction of contract spending,” wrote a team directed by Andrew Hunter of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Defense Department fiscal 2016 contract obligations increased by 7 percent over the previous year, “far higher than predicted,” said the analysis of the outlook for spending on research and development, defense acquisition reform and procurement performance-based data from the Federal Procurement Data System.

Significant boosts in spending commitments were recorded by the Missile Defense Agency, the Air Force and the Navy, “driven primarily by increased obligations for large procurement programs like the C-130J transport aircraft, the KC-45A tanker aircraft, and the Trident II missile program,” CSIS said. “Even the Army, which had declined far more steeply than DoD overall throughout the budget drawdown, was virtually stable between 2015 and 2016.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2017/04/defense-contractors-see-end-budget-decline/136788

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