Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

While agencies scramble to spend, SEWP may help

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The end-of-year spending spree is set to begin in about a month, as the federal government heads into the last quarter of fiscal 2018. And agencies still have tens of billions of dollars to spend on information technology products and services.

As it has in past years, much of that spending will go through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V. Historical contract spending data shows that the vehicle has been heavily used at the end of the fiscal year and customers are likely to turn to it again as fiscal 2018 wraps up.

Bloomberg Government’s analysis shows about $30 billion to $35 billion in remaining IT contract obligations likely to be awarded by the end of September. IT contract obligations are on pace with those of fiscal 2017, but agencies have more money to spend this year.

Keep reading this article at: https://about.bgov.com/blog/agencies-scramble-spend-sewp-may-help/

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

GAO: ‘Reasoned judgment’ required when establishing competitive range

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On May 19, 2017, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) sustained a protest filed by Pinnacle Solutions, Inc. (Pinnacle) challenging its exclusion from the competitive range in NASA procurement for aircraft logistics, integration, configuration management, and engineering services.  GAO concluded that NASA had unreasonably evaluated and assigned weaknesses to Pinnacle’s proposal and, as is relevant here, excluded Pinnacle from the competitive range based on “unreasoned distinctions[.]”

The RFP contemplated the evaluation of proposals on two non-price factors: Mission Suitability and Past Performance.  The Mission Suitability factor consisted of three subfactors, Management Approach, Technical Approach, and Safety & Health Approach which were allocated point values of 700, 150, and 150 points, respectively.  Per the source selection plan, the points corresponded to adjectival ratings: an Excellent was worth 91-100 percent of the points, a Very Good was worth 71-90 percent of the points, a Good was worth 51-70 percent of the points, a Fair was worth 31-50 percent of the points, and a Poor was worth 0-30 percent of the points.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2017/07/gao-reasoned-judgment-required-establishing-competitive-range/

OPM holds 4th quarter readiness forum on July 20th

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The federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Clark Atlanta University have joined forces to present a “4th Quarter Readiness Forum” at Clark Atlanta University on July 20, 2017.

The session is designed to offer the small business community marketing and contracting tips to consider when marketing to federal agencies during the federal government’s 4th quarter (July, August and September).

Representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), General Services Administration (GSA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Education Dept., the Small Business Administration (SBA) and other agencies will be available to discuss how they utilize various contracting tools and vehicles to award contracts in this often challenging 4th quarter time frame in the government’s calendar.

Attendees also will be provided research tips on how to use the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG) data base to help you research procurement opportunities.

The session will be held at Clark Atlanta University, Cole Science Research Center at 223 James P. Brawley Dr., SW, Atlanta, GA  30314 from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Box lunches will be available for purchase at this event.

Here’s a link to what OPM buys: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/us-office-of-personnel-management-14499326759

Attendees are required to register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/4th-quarter-readiness-forum-tickets-35946174977.

For more information, feel free to contact Ms. Cherina Hughes at cherina.hughes@opm.gov or Art Brown at 770-732-9392 or art@lescot.com.

5 steps for contractors to meet the FAR’s cyber requirements

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With major data breaches and system hacks dominating the headlines over the past few years, cybersecurity has become a top consideration for anyone operating a business. Although these breaches affect companies from all industries, the government remains a top target for cybercriminals across the globe.

Widespread attempts to take down government systems and steal data have officials scrambling to eliminate risk from all angles.

Recognizing the devastating impact of data breaches, especially considering the sensitive nature of their respective data, the Department of Defense, NASA, and the General Services Administration collaborated on developing safeguards for contractors who store, transmit, and process federal data – a new subpart and contract clause to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

The proposed FAR Rule was first issued in August 2012, but the ruling was not finalized until May 2016 – nearly four years later.

The requirements settled upon in the final ruling outline 15 categories of security controls meant to protect government information stored on contractor IT systems. With the federal government spending over $400 million on almost 4 million contracts in 2015 alone, this regulation will affect businesses of all types.

Keep reading this article at: https://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2017/03/07/insights-dunbar-understanding-far-cyber-rules.aspx

Update on government contracts ramifications of the Trump administration

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In December 2016, Jones Day issued “ Government Contracts Ramifications of the Trump Election,” a Commentary in which we discussed several likely impacts of the Trump Administration in the government contracts arena. Specifically, we discussed that the new Administration would:

  • Seek repeal of numerous Executive Orders affecting government contractors.
  • Reject some Obama Administration procurement policies, such as: the preference for fixed-price type contracts; the preference for lowest-price technically acceptable (“LPTA”) evaluation schemes; and the preference against outsourcing government jobs to private companies.
  • Embrace Commercial Item contracting.
  • Increase government spending for defense, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and immigration-related activities.
  • Decrease spending by many agencies, including the Department of Education, Environmental Protection Agency, and Internal Revenue Service.
  • Focus on compliance issues such as rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse, and ensuring compliance with the Buy American Act and Trade Agreements Act.
  • Withdraw from, or renegotiate America’s participation in, certain trade relationships, which could affect companies’ supply chains.
  • Decrease the federal workforce, which could result in understaffing and undertraining within the acquisition workforce.
  • Appoint the members of the FAR Council, including the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (“OFPP”) Administrator, Secretary of Defense, Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Administrator of General Services Administration.

Since the issuance of our earlier Commentary, President Trump has taken several actions that provide additional insight into the impact his Administration will have on government contractors.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/564798/Government+Contracts+Procurement+PPP/Update+On+Government+Contracts+Ramifications+Of+The+Trump+Administration

FAR Council finalizes rule imposing restrictions on contracting with companies with felony convictions and delinquent tax liabilities

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The FARThe Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Council — comprised of the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) — recently finalized a rule that imposes significant restrictions on federal agencies in contracting with corporations that have federal tax liability or a recent federal felony conviction.  The final rule implements requirements created by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, Pub. L. 113-235 (the CFCAA) and imposed by a December 4, 2015 interim FAR rule, which we wrote about previously.

The rule applies broadly to all DoD, GSA, and NASA procurements, and requires contractors to report any unpaid federal tax liabilities and to represent whether they have been convicted of a felony criminal violation within the previous twenty-four months.  In addition, for certain contracts in excess of $5 million, contractors must also certify that they:

  1. have filed all federal tax returns in the past three years;
  2. have not been convicted of a criminal offense under the Internal Revenue Code; and
  3. do not have any outstanding, unsatisfied federal tax assessments.

The rule imposes new requirements on procuring agencies as well: if a corporation discloses any tax delinquencies or felony convictions, the agency may only contract with it after first determining that suspension or debarment of the corporation is not necessary to protect the government’s interests.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.insidegovernmentcontracts.com/2016/10/far-council-finalizes-rule-imposing-restrictions-contracting-companies-felony-convictions-delinquent-tax-liabilities/

GWACs remain the vehicle of choice for government buyers

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GSA logoBusiness in governmentwide acquisition contracts is booming, with agency buyers turning to the large-scale vehicles for price breaks and convenience.

“The word has gotten out on the flexibility and ease of use of GWACs,” said Casey Kelley, acting director of the General Services Administration’s GWAC Program.

During a panel discussion at the Digital Government Institute’s 930gov conference on Aug. 24, Kelley said GSA’s Alliant contract has $3.5 billion in the pipeline for fiscal 2017. GWACs like Alliant, which is set to expire in 2019, typically see declines in their later years, he added.

Keep reading this article at: https://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2016/08/25/gwac-popular-rockwell.aspx

NASA makes its technology available to startup companies at zero cost

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In late December, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin managed to do what most refer to as the ‘Holy Grail of Rocketry’ — successfully send a rocket 62 miles into space and then, in a carefully controlled descent, land it upright just four-and-a-half feet from the center of its Launchpad.

NASAWhile Bezos and Blue Origin are being talked about and heavily discussed, one name that made all of this possible is lurking in the backdrop – NASA.

Blue Origin has been collaborating with NASA since 2009 through the Space Act Agreement to make commercial space travel accessible. But NASA’s technology touches more than the celestial spheres.

The space administration recently announced its Startup initiative by opening up around 1,200 patented technologies to U.S. startups to commercialize at no upfront costs.

Keep reading this article at: http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/30/nasa-entrepreneur-space-race/

Link to NASA’s Technology Transfer Program: http://technology.nasa.gov/ 

OMB tells agencies: No new contracts for desktops, laptops

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The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is prohibiting federal agencies from issuing new awards or solicitations for laptop or desktop computers and directing them to limit those types of purchases to governmentwide contracting vehicles.

OFPPThe new policy was announced Friday (Oct. 16, 2015) by federal Chief Information Officer Tony Scott and Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Anne Rung.

For years, agencies have purchased basic IT equipment, such as laptops and desktops, using thousands of contracts and delivery orders “resulting in reduced buying power, duplication of contracts and little transparency into the prices that agencies were paying for similar computers,” Scott and Rung said in a post on the OMB blog. (A recent inspector general review, for instance, reported one agency paid 42 different prices for the same desktop model in 2012.)

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2015/10/omb-agencies-no-new-contracts-desktops-laptops/122891

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