Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Bidders await word from SOCOM after court ruling

By

SOCOMTampa defense contractors are awaiting a response from U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to a federal court ruling last week that the command overreached by calling for a do-over on $900 million worth of awards on a problem-plagued contracting program.

At stake is millions of dollars in government contracts and a significant investment of time and money by contractors. But often, progress is tied up in a system where a protest can extend an existing contract or lead to a new one.

As government contracting dollars dry up, protests have increased, according to a study last year by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

The latest example came last week from a Washington, D.C., court that few outside government contracting have heard about.

Court of Federal Claims Judge Nancy Firestone ruled that SOCOM took action “not reasonable under the circumstances” when it decided to redo an award that allowed four companies to bid on up to $900 million in services over a five-year period.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.tbo.com/list/military-news/bidders-await-word-from-socom-after-court-ruling-20160227/

Use your own words in proposals

By

GAO-GovernmentAccountabilityOffice-SealIn a recent decision, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) played seventh-grade English teacher, reminding offerors to use their own words to get full proposal-writing credit.

In the case of Res Rei Development, Inc., B-410466.7 (Oct. 16, 2015), the agency found a proposal unacceptable because, in its view, the offeror had simply restated the terms of the solicitation. The GAO agreed with the agency’s decision, writing that a proposal that merely restates the requirements of the solicitation without adding detail and insight into how the offeror would manage and execute the contract can be found unacceptable.

The Res Rei Development protest arose out of a United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) solicitation for support services such as acquisition, budget planning, business process re-engineering, and program planning services. Res Rei Development, Inc. was one of several offerors submitting proposals.

 

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/gao-to-contractors-use-your-own-words/#more-4426

DoD acquisition heroes during Iraq, Afghanistan? Small biz, universities and DARPA

By

You didn’t hear much about them during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but DARPA, small businesses, and universities were the people who most impressed retired Gen. Hoss Cartwright when he was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as he and the services scrambled to find weapons to give American troops a combat edge.

“DARPA was incredible to our ability to gain advantage. Small businesses and universities were hotbeds of innovation for us,”  Cartwright said during a panel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on lessons learned from the last dozen years of war. He made no mention of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, or BAE Systems — or any of the other large defense companies.

What made them special? “Their willingness to take risks… made a huge difference and saved countless lives on the battlefield,” Cartwright said. And he said that in Afghanistan and (previously) Iraq, “[the] battlefield is not driven by platforms” — tanks, ships, planes — which take so long to design, build, and deploy.

Another avenue of innovation at the Pentagon sprang from the acquisition processes of Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which has the right to just buy things in small quantities if it really needs them.

Keep reading this article at: http://breakingdefense.com/2013/11/dod-acquisition-heroes-during-iraq-afghanistan-small-biz-and-darpa/

Contracting News

Read More

Contracting Tips

Read More

GTPAC News

Read More

Georgia Tech News

Read More