March 26, 2009
Congress has turned directly to the public to solicit advice on reforms to the federal contracting system. Senator Claire McCaskill, chair of the newly formed Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, announced the creation of an on-line discussion forum for members of the public to submit comments on government contracting reforms.
Among the over 150…
March 19, 2009
In his less than two months in office, President Obama has already taken major steps to refocus the contracting system on transparency and accountability. Now, the Administration and Congress appear ready to scale back two Republican-supported contracting policies – Alaskan Native Corporation preferences and competitive sourcing requirements.
Alaskan Native Corporation Preferences
The first…
March 4, 2009
Today the Obama Administration officially laid out its planned reforms for the procurement system – including the Administration’s plan to rein in the use of contractors in the operation of the federal government.
In a memorandum to heads of executive departments and agencies, President Obama asserts:
[t]he line between inherently governmental activities that should not be outsourced…
February 27, 2009
The Obama Administration announced its intent to reform Federal Contracting and Acquisition in the 2010 budget proposal (“Proposal”) released yesterday. Specifically, in an effort to “make sure that taxpayers get the best deal possible for Government expenditures,” the Administration will “review the use of sole source, cost-type contracts.”
The Proposal noted that cost-type contracts are…February 26, 2009
Today, in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report citing several instances of suspended and debarred contractors continuing to receive federal government contracts, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing examining the effectiveness of the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) – the federal database intended to prevent…
February 23, 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA") that President Obama signed on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 sets lofty goals for preventing fraud, waste, and abuse in the award of contracts using stimulus funds, but not all of the stimulus’ legal implications for procurement are crystal clear.
Contracting RequirementsFor starters, the requirements that contracting entities use fixed-price…
February 17, 2009
As all Americans know, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA") into law on February 17, 2009. This legislation undoubtedly offers an excellent opportunity for government contractors.
The ARRA also commits an unprecedented amount of funding for agencies to regulate and oversee how these contracting dollars are spent. Firms interested in obtaining…February 17, 2009
Does the stimulus provide effective mechanisms for the responsible procurement of the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods and services it plans to deliver?
Obviously, the Obama Administration seeks to preserve the integrity of these huge expenditures - hopefully distinguishing this spending from the "emergency" procurements in support of U.S. operations in Iraq and in response…
February 16, 2009
While visiting a Boeing facility today, U.S. Representative John Murtha (D-PA) reiterated his proposalto split the controversial $35 billion Air Force aerial refueling tanker contract between two competing offerors: Boeing and the EADS/Northrop Grumman consortium.
The Air Force originally awarded the contract to EADS/Northrop, but the Government Accountability Office sustained Boeing’s bid protest…
February 3, 2009
Nancy Killefer has withdrawn her nomination to be President Obama’s Chief Performance Officer.
In 2005 Killefer failed to pay District of Columbia unemployment compensation tax for household employees and a $946.69 tax lien was placed on her home. In the wake of the fellow nominees Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner’s well publicized tax snafus, Killefer “just didn’t want to go…
January 16, 2009
Looking at its procurement “to do” list, one of the more pressing priorities of the Obama Administration (especially the new director of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy) will be the recruitment and development of a skilled contracting workforce.
As the size of the federal budget and the number of acquisitions continue to grow, the federal government has been unable to keep up with the…
January 7, 2009
President-Elect Obama today nominated Nancy Killefer as the government's first-ever Chief Performance Officer, a.k.a "Performance Czar."
Killefer, a former assistant secretary in the Clinton Treasury Department and a senior director with McKinsey and Co., will lead the President-Elect's initiative to control federal spending, reform government entitlement programs, and to cut back…
March 26, 2009
Congress has turned directly to the public to solicit advice on reforms to the federal contracting system. Senator Claire McCaskill, chair of the newly formed Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, announced the creation of an on-line discussion forum for members of the public to submit comments on government contracting reforms.
Among the over 150…
March 19, 2009
In his less than two months in office, President Obama has already taken major steps to refocus the contracting system on transparency and accountability. Now, the Administration and Congress appear ready to scale back two Republican-supported contracting policies – Alaskan Native Corporation preferences and competitive sourcing requirements.
Alaskan Native Corporation Preferences
The first…
March 4, 2009
Today the Obama Administration officially laid out its planned reforms for the procurement system – including the Administration’s plan to rein in the use of contractors in the operation of the federal government.
In a memorandum to heads of executive departments and agencies, President Obama asserts:
[t]he line between inherently governmental activities that should not be outsourced…
February 27, 2009
The Obama Administration announced its intent to reform Federal Contracting and Acquisition in the 2010 budget proposal (“Proposal”) released yesterday. Specifically, in an effort to “make sure that taxpayers get the best deal possible for Government expenditures,” the Administration will “review the use of sole source, cost-type contracts.”
The Proposal noted that cost-type contracts are…February 26, 2009
Today, in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report citing several instances of suspended and debarred contractors continuing to receive federal government contracts, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing examining the effectiveness of the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS) – the federal database intended to prevent…
February 23, 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA") that President Obama signed on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 sets lofty goals for preventing fraud, waste, and abuse in the award of contracts using stimulus funds, but not all of the stimulus’ legal implications for procurement are crystal clear.
Contracting RequirementsFor starters, the requirements that contracting entities use fixed-price…
February 17, 2009
As all Americans know, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("ARRA") into law on February 17, 2009. This legislation undoubtedly offers an excellent opportunity for government contractors.
The ARRA also commits an unprecedented amount of funding for agencies to regulate and oversee how these contracting dollars are spent. Firms interested in obtaining…February 17, 2009
Does the stimulus provide effective mechanisms for the responsible procurement of the hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods and services it plans to deliver?
Obviously, the Obama Administration seeks to preserve the integrity of these huge expenditures - hopefully distinguishing this spending from the "emergency" procurements in support of U.S. operations in Iraq and in response…
February 16, 2009
While visiting a Boeing facility today, U.S. Representative John Murtha (D-PA) reiterated his proposalto split the controversial $35 billion Air Force aerial refueling tanker contract between two competing offerors: Boeing and the EADS/Northrop Grumman consortium.
The Air Force originally awarded the contract to EADS/Northrop, but the Government Accountability Office sustained Boeing’s bid protest…
February 3, 2009
Nancy Killefer has withdrawn her nomination to be President Obama’s Chief Performance Officer.
In 2005 Killefer failed to pay District of Columbia unemployment compensation tax for household employees and a $946.69 tax lien was placed on her home. In the wake of the fellow nominees Tom Daschle and Timothy Geithner’s well publicized tax snafus, Killefer “just didn’t want to go…
January 16, 2009
Looking at its procurement “to do” list, one of the more pressing priorities of the Obama Administration (especially the new director of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy) will be the recruitment and development of a skilled contracting workforce.
As the size of the federal budget and the number of acquisitions continue to grow, the federal government has been unable to keep up with the…
January 7, 2009
President-Elect Obama today nominated Nancy Killefer as the government's first-ever Chief Performance Officer, a.k.a "Performance Czar."
Killefer, a former assistant secretary in the Clinton Treasury Department and a senior director with McKinsey and Co., will lead the President-Elect's initiative to control federal spending, reform government entitlement programs, and to cut back…
