Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center

Get ready for a massive government spending spree

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A government spending spree of potentially historic proportions will play out over the final seven weeks of fiscal 2018, as federal agencies look to spend $140 billion more than they thought they’d get before Congress signed the omnibus spending bill.

Without a budget agreement in place, agencies spent cautiously through the first two quarters of fiscal 2018 before the omnibus—signed six months late in March—obligated an additional $80 billion for defense and $63 billion for civilian agencies.

Federal agencies, now flush with cash, must obligate that money before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30 or lose it to the Treasury Department. Analysts believe the federal market will see a monumental effort among procurement officials to spend as much on contracts as possible.

“If agencies are going to spend the extra money in fiscal 2018, it’s going to have to be at a much higher percentage in the fourth quarter than it has been historically,” David Berteau, president of the Professional Services Council, told Nextgov.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/08/get-ready-massive-government-spending-spree/150360/

Former company president settles False Claims Act case related to defective bullet proof vests

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Richard C. Davis, the founder and former president and CEO of Michigan-based Second Chance Body Armor, Inc., recently agreed to resolve claims under the False Claims Act in connection with his role in the sale of defective Zylon bullet-proof vests purchased by the United States for federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, the Justice Department has announced.

Mr. Davis will relinquish his interest in $1.2 million in assets previously frozen by the United States and will pay an additional $125,000 to the United States.  This settlement is based on Mr. Davis’ ability to pay.

Background

Second Chance sold body armor to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies reimbursed by the Department of Justice’s Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) program and to federal agencies under contracts with the General Services Administration. The United States alleged that Second Chance’s vests were defective due to the loss of their ballistic capability when exposed to heat and humidity. The United States also alleged that by 2001, Davis was aware that Second Chance’s Zylon body armor was degrading at what he described as a “disappointing” rate.

The United States further alleged that, rather than using a $6 million payment from Toyobo Co. Ltd., the manufacturer of Zylon fiber, to fix the degradation problem, Second Chance pocketed the money and Davis and other Second Chance owners began meeting with various investment bankers in an effort to sell Second Chance. These efforts to sell the company allegedly stopped after a Forest Hills, Pennsylvania police officer was shot through his Second Chance Zylon vest in June 2003. Second Chance filed for bankruptcy in 2004 and was liquidated.

Subsequent tests by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) of Zylon-containing vests found that more than 50 percent of used vests could not stop bullets that they had been certified to stop. The performance of Second Chance Zylon vests were reported to be among the worst.  The NIJ removed all Zylon-containing vests from its list of compliant products, and Zylon is no longer used in ballistic vests.

Settlement

“The Department of Justice will pursue those who attempt to fraudulently profit at the expense of the United States, particularly when the stakes are life or death,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio.  “Bullet proof vests protect the brave men and women of our nation’s law enforcement community, and those who manufacture and sell these products have a solemn duty to ensure their safety and efficacy.”

The settlement resolves, in part, allegations filed in a lawsuit by Aaron Westrick, Ph.D., a former employee of Second Chance, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private individuals to sue on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery. The Act also allows the government to intervene and take over the action, as it did in this case as to the allegations against Davis. Dr. Westrick will receive $28,750 plus a share of whatever the government ultimately recovers from the previously frozen funds.

This settlement is part of a larger investigation of the body armor industry’s use of Zylon.  The United States has previously recovered over $132 million from 18 corporations and individuals who participated in the sale of Zylon body armor. The Civil Division has transferred over $22 million of these recovered funds to the BVP program to replace BVP funds which had been used to purchase Zylon vests. The funds transferred to the BVP program will be used to fund the purchase of additional ballistic-resistant vests for state, local and tribal law enforcement officers. The United States is continuing to pursue claims against Honeywell International Inc., which allegedly sold a laminated version of Zylon for use in police armor.

The investigation and litigation of this matter were handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch; the General Services Administration, Office of the Inspector General; the Department of Commerce, Office of Inspector General; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command; the Department of the Treasury, Office of Inspector General for Tax Administration; the Air Force Office of Special Investigations; the Department of Energy, Office of the Inspector General; and the Defense Contracting Audit Agency.

The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.  The lawsuit partially resolved by the settlement is captioned United States ex rel. Westrick v. Second Chance Body Armor, et al., No. 04-0280 (PLF) (D.D.C.).

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-second-chance-body-armor-president-settles-false-claims-act-case-related-defective

‘Data + Use = Value’ is the motto for new USASpending.gov

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If there is one thing the USASpending.gov portal always had was data. But what it did not have ever since the Office of Management and Budget launched the site in 2007 was the ability to analyze said data.

That is, until now.

The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal Service is launching a series of new data analysis tools to let citizens, businesses, the media and maybe most importantly, so-called “data geeks” have access to a treasure trove of contracts, grants and other spending information like never before.

“We have a new initiative called data lab where we are posting analytics and visualization to help inspire researchers, data scientists and members of the public to understand what this data is and to think of own use cases for it,” said Justin Marsico, a senior policy analyst with the Bureau of Fiscal Service in an exclusive interview with Federal News Radio. “We also have redesigned the USASpending.gov site to be more accessible, friendly and easy to understand and use for members of the public and for federal agencies.”

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsradio.com/big-data/2018/04/data-usevalue-is-the-motto-for-new-usaspending-gov/

Japanese manufacturer to pay $66 million settlement for supplying defective bullet proof vests

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Toyobo Co. Ltd. of Japan and its American subsidiary, Toyobo U.S.A. Inc., f/k/a Toyobo America Inc. (collectively, Toyobo), have agreed to pay $66 million to resolve claims under the False Claims Act that they sold defective Zylon fiber used in bullet proof vests that the United States purchased for federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, the Justice Department has announced.

The settlement resolves allegations that between at least 2001 and 2005, Toyobo, the sole manufacturer of Zylon fiber, knew that Zylon degraded quickly in normal heat and humidity, and that this degradation rendered bullet proof vests containing Zylon unfit for use.  It was further alleged that Toyobo nonetheless actively marketed Zylon fiber for bullet proof vests, published misleading degradation data that understated the degradation problem, and when Second Chance Body Armor recalled some of its Zylon-containing vests in late 2003, started a public relations campaign designed to influence other body armor manufacturers to keep selling Zylon-containing vests.

According to the government, Toyobo’s actions delayed by several years efforts to determine the true extent of Zylon degradation.  Finally, in August 2005, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) completed a study of Zylon-containing vests and found that more than 50 percent of used vests could not stop bullets that they had been certified to stop.  Thereafter, the NIJ decertified all Zylon-containing vests.

This settlement is part of a larger investigation undertaken by the Justice Department’s Civil Division of the body armor industry’s use of Zylon in body armor.  The Civil Division previously recovered more than $66 million from 16 entities involved in the manufacture, distribution or sale of Zylon vests, including body armor manufacturers, weavers, international trading companies, and five individuals.  The settlement announced on March 15th brings the Division’s overall recoveries to over $132 million.  The United States still has lawsuits pending against Richard Davis, the former chief executive of Second Chance, and Honeywell International Inc.

The latest settlement resolves allegations filed in two lawsuits, one brought by the United States and the other filed by Aaron Westrick, Ph.D., a law enforcement officer formerly employed by Second Chance who is now a Criminal Justice professor at Lake Superior University.  Dr. Westrick’s lawsuit was filed under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private individuals to sue on behalf of the government for false claims and to share in any recovery.  The Act also allows the government to intervene and take over the action, as it did in 2005 in Dr. Westrick’s case.  Dr. Westrick will receive $5,775,000.

This case was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division, along with the General Services Administration, Office of the Inspector General; the Department of Commerce, Office of Inspector General; the Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the U.S. Army Criminal Investigative Command; the Department of the Treasury, Office of Inspector General for Tax Administration; the Air Force Office of Special Investigations; the Department of Energy, Office of the Inspector General; and the Defense Contracting Audit Agency.

The claims settled by this agreement are allegations only; there has been no determination of liability.  The lawsuits resolved by the settlement are captioned United States ex rel. Westrick v. Second Chance Body Armor, et al., No. 04-0280 (PLF) (D.D.C.) and United States v. Toyobo Co. Ltd., et al., No. 07-1144 (PLF) (D.D.C.).

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/japanese-fiber-manufacturer-pay-66-million-alleged-false-claims-related-defective-bullet

 

Counterintelligence chief: Contractors ‘kicking butt’ in combating insider threats

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Though some of the most damaging exposures of classified material have come from companies working for the federal government in recent years, the intelligence community’s 100,000 contractors overall “are kicking butt” in helping agencies head off insider threats, the nation’s top counterintelligence chief said on Monday.

Anticipating threats “is a team sport,” Bill Evanina, the government’s national counterintelligence executive, told a gathering of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a nonprofit group made up of contractors and former intelligence officials. “The only way to win is a partnership, a whole-of-government, whole-of-country approach” that includes contractors and the news media as well.

“We have to get back to patriotism,” he said.

Despite incidents involving National Security Agency contractors such as Edward Snowden and Howard Martin, “we need to eliminate with urgency the idea that most insider threats are contractors,” Evanina said. “There’s no evidence” either for that, he said, or for the common notion that “millennials want to be leakers.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/defense/2017/04/counterterrorism-chief-contractors-kicking-butt-combating-insider-threats/136904

Is Trump’s budget an opportunity for contractors?

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Click on image above to see the FY18 White House budget proposal.

The White House revealed its $1.1 trillion skinny budget Thursday, slashing funding for many federal technology research and grant programs, including the Energy Department’s R&D unit, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

It’s less clear how the administration plans to address the federal government’s internal information technology challenges. In the last Congress, lawmakers proposed legislation that would create working capital funds at agencies for IT modernization programs, but the White House’s budget blueprint is light on details about IT spending.

It mentions information technology just a handful of times: pledging to build up the Veterans Affairs Department’s IT system to “improve the efficiency and efficacy” of its services; committing to “strategically enhance” the Treasury Department’s security systems and “preempt fragmentation” of its IT management to prevent cyberattack; and allotting an additional $100 million to the Census Bureau, some of which would be used to fortify its internal IT to support the 2020 Census.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/03/trumps-budget-opportunity-contractors/136277

IRS falls short in tracking tax-delinquent contractors

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Pay TaxesDespite past admonitions, the Internal Revenue Service still has a ways to go in preventing the award of agency contracts to firms that owe back taxes, an agency watchdog has found.

“The IRS tax check process was not effective in identifying tax-delinquent contractors,” wrote the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in a report dated July 20, 2016 but released last week. The IG called for “significant improvements” to the process.

In a sampling of 73 awards among 336 contracts of $250,000 or more from September 2012 through August 2014, auditors found that 21, or 29 percent, “did not have evidence that the contracting officer performed the required tax check on the winning bidders.” What’s more, contracting officers handling all 73 contracts documented no tax checks on competing bidders.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2016/08/irs-falls-short-tracking-tax-delinquent-contractors/130723

Offeror loses protest when spam filter blocked proposal delivery

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Treasury Dept.An agency’s spam filter prevented an offeror’s proposal from reaching the Contracting Officer in time to be considered for award–and the GAO denied the offeror’s protest of its exclusion.

A recent GAO bid protest decision demonstrates the importance of confirming that a procuring agency has received an electronically submitted proposal because even if the proposal is blocked by the agency’s own spam filter, the agency might not be required to consider it.

GAO’s decision in Blue Glacier Management Group, Inc., B-412897 (June 30, 2016) involved a Treasury Department RFQ for cybersecurity defense services. The RFQ was issued as a small business set-aside under GSA Schedule 70.

Keep reading this article at: http://smallgovcon.com/gaobidprotests/agency-spam-filter-excludes-proposal-offeror-loses-protest/

USASpending.gov revamp might be bumpy

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USASpending shows 2,681 federal contracts were awarded in the state of Georgia since Oct. 1, 2015, the beginning of FY16.
USASpending shows 2,681 federal contracts were awarded in the state of Georgia since Oct. 1, 2015, the beginning of FY16.

The Treasury Department’s online federal spending tracker might still have some kinks by May 2017, by which time the department is expected to unveil a final version.

During a keynote speech at AFCEA Bethesda on Thursday, Christina Ho, Treasury’s deputy assistant secretary for accounting policy and financial transparency, said she didn’t know “exactly what the outcome will be” for the USASpending.gov revamp. A beta version of the site, which launched early last month, still faces challenges, she said. Treasury is still collecting public feedback and reviews.

“We will get there even if we don’t do all the things that we thought we [could] do by May 2017,” she said. “I can guarantee you where we will be in May 2017 is going to be a lot better than what we have been able to do.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2015/12/treasury-official-federal-spending-data-should-be-portable/124177

FAR change proposed that would eliminate DUNS® requirement

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Federal RegisterIn the Nov. 18, 2015 edition of the Federal Register, there’s a proposal to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to re-designate the terminology for unique identification of entities receiving Federal awards. The change to the FAR would remove the proprietary standard or number; in this case, the the proprietary Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS®) number from Dun and Bradstreet.

The rule proposes to provide references to a web site where information on the unique entity identifier used for Federal contractors will be located.  The process for exploring non-proprietary alternatives to DUNS® will be led by the Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury Department, assisted by GSA and the Award Committee for E-Government.

“Although the government is not currently in a position to move away from use of the DUNS® number in the short term,” the notice states, “elimination of regulatory references to a proprietary entity identifier will provide opportunities for future competition that can reduce costs to taxpayers. The current requirement limits competition by using a proprietary number and organization to meet the identification need as well as the need for other business information associated with that number.”

Comments on the proposal are due January 19, 2016.  The proposed rule can be found at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-11-18/pdf/2015-29414.pdf

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