Friday, March 30, 2012

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 30, 2012


Happy Friday! Get ready for the weekend with today's news. 

Washington Business Journal: Compensation Caps: Recipes for Disaster

Federal Times: OMB guidance expected on measuring insourcing, outsourcing costs

Washington Post: Senate panel examines contractor spending

FCW: Senator knocks government spending on contractors

Federal News Radio: OFPP readying round 2 of Mythbusters 

Washington Post: Senator proposes reforms for Senior Executive Service

Thursday, March 29, 2012

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 29, 2012


Update 11 a.m.: One more story, related to the topic of today's House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on Afghan security.

Washington Post: U.S. to pay more for Afghan security guards, auditor says
http://wapo.st/HkTdcr


Everyday SmartContracting brings you the news intel you may have missed regarding our industry.  

Federal Times: Senators to grill agencies over insourcing, outsourcing practices

FNR: Analysis: Lots of budget talk, no action until lame duck 

Wall Street Journal: Top Military Officer: U.S. Can Stay Global Power Despite Threatened Cuts

FedScoop: GSA Professional Services Solution Gets Business Case Approved

GovExec: Bill would crack down on contractor role in human trafficking






Wednesday, March 28, 2012

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 28, 2012



Everyday SmartContracting brings you the news intel you may have missed regarding our industry.  

Wall Street Journal: Group Backs Simpson-Bowles Plan

Federal Times: Analyst: Obama's FY13 budget would mean 8 percent dip in contract spending

Government Executive: Democratic budget plan doesn’t touch federal pay and benefits

FCW: House Republicans issue answer to Senate cybersecurity bills

Government Executive: The Upside of High Turnover

Washington Technology: NVTC, PSC agree to work together on issues of mutual interest

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 27, 2012


Everyday SmartContracting brings you the news intel you may have missed regarding our industry.  

Washington Post: Subcontractors take contractors to court

Washington Post: House plan envisions partial federal hiring freeze

FCW: Is security the real problem for an intelligence community cloud?

FCW: Congress to overhaul federal cybersecurity laws

AOL Government: White House Cyber Chief Lays Out New Priorities

Monday, March 26, 2012

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 26, 2012

Happy Monday! Today's SmartContracting Daily Intel brings you the news intel you need to get start the week off right.

NextGov: Malicious code in the IT supply chain threatens federal operations

Federal Times: DoD looking for ‘cost-conscious' contractors, Assad says

Federal Times: Experts call for better training of warzone contracting officers

Federal Times: House panel to Defense: Simplify acquisition process

FCW: 5 ways Congress could change small-biz contracting

Friday, March 23, 2012

Happy 40th Birthday PSC!



Forty years ago today, a small group of visionary leaders came together to form what would become the Professional Services Council to serve as their eyes, ears and voice for smart contracting in the federal policy arena. Four decades later and now 350 members stronger, PSC has grown into the largest and most effective advocate and resource for the federal professional services industry. 

Today, we celebrate more than this milestone anniversary. We celebrate the enormously beneficial impact our industry has had, and continues to have, on our government's diverse missions. We can look with pride at the capabilities and people this industry has brought to bear on some of the most difficult and challenging problems facing the government. Even amidst the sometimes harsh rhetoric in the political sphere, and despite the occasional problems and issues that come to light, the record of this industry is impressive. Moreover, it transcends individual agencies and encompasses the totality of the government. 

From supporting our men and women in uniform to supporting our nation's security, from helping to improve internal agency business processes and systems to providing critical citizen interfaces, this industry plays a central role in helping our government partners operate better, smarter and more efficiently. 

We also celebrate our partners in government: the committed civil service professionals with whom we work, to whom we report, and with whom we collaborate every day. They are on the front lines and they too have been in the line of fire far too often. They deserve not only our appreciation but also our support.
But despite a history of exceptional performance and partnership, we can always do better. We can and, in the current fiscal environment, we must continue to look for ways to improve outcomes, reduce costs and do our part to help optimize the taxpayer's dollars. The challenges are many and not all are within our control, but we can and will succeed in the future as we have in the past. 

Throughout the year, we will recognize and celebrate PSC's 40th Anniversary and the contributions of our industry to our nation. Find out more about PSC’s history and the contributions of its membership in the March issue of PSC’s Service Contractor magazine, on our website, or through the timeline below. 

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 23, 2012


Happy Friday! Today's SmartContracting Daily Intel brings you the news intel you need to get ready for the weekend.

Government Executive: Congress votes to curb insider trading, require federal employee disclosure

Washington Technology: Panel: Small businesses to feel crunch as spending declines

Washington Technology: DOD needs simpler contracting processes, lawmakers told

Federal Times: Administration directs agencies to weigh ‘cumulative' burden of regs 

Law360: DOD Waste Singled Out In Hearing On Efficiency Bill (subscription required)

Washington Technology: Collaboration as a past performance evaluation factor? Why not?

Washington Technology: Lessons learned -- or ignored? 


Thursday, March 22, 2012

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 22, 2012


Everyday SmartContracting brings you the news intel you may have missed regarding our industry.  

NextGov: High cyber staff turnover rate is good for government, DARPA chief says

Wall Street Journal: Spending Clash Looms on Election Eve

Government Executive:  Senators mull whether consolidation authority would cure duplication

Government Executive: Analysis: This could be government's finest hour

Law360: Pentagon Faces Stiff Opposition Over Base Closure Plans (subscription required)

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Smart Contracting Daily Intel for March 21, 2012

Everyday SmartContracting brings you the news intel you may have missed regarding our industry.  

Foreign Policy: Ryan budget contains huge cuts for diplomacy and development

Government Executive: House Small Business panel prepares to mark up contractor bills

Federal Times: No more than 20 vendors to get initial cloud security assessments

Bloomberg Government: Contract Awards by U.S. Drop for Neediest Areas (subscription required)

Chicago Tribune: Military rapidly boosting cyber abilities: general

Monday, March 19, 2012

SmartContracting Daily Intel for March 19, 2012


Everyday SmartContracting brings you the news intel you may have missed regarding our industry. 

A related interview with PSC's Stan Soloway appeared on BBC Radio4's "The World This Weekend." His segment regarding the impacts of the switch to the Afghan Public Protection Force starts at the 11 minute mark.  
Washington Post/Capital Business: Government adds rule for acquisitions



Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A Video Message From Stan Soloway..."The New Inflection Point"


In the first in a series of videos on our new YouTube channel, PSC's President & CEO Stan Soloway introduces the key themes and challenges our industry faces in 2012. From budget and sequestration challenges to new government contract compliance requirements, insourcing, trends in suspension and debarment usage, the drive for innovation and the use of low-price purchasing mechanisms, “The New Inflection Point” explains how PSC members can stay abreast of the issues through involvement in PSC committees, meetings and events.


Daily News Round Up for Tuesday, March 13, 2012



SmartContracting Blog's daily harvest of news and opinion articles on topics of interest to our industry. 
(Note: Opinion pieces do not necessarily represent the opinions of PSC, but are interesting nonetheless.)




Monday, March 12, 2012

Daily News Roundup for Monday, March 12, 2012



Today, PSC's SmartContracting Blog launches a new feature to bring you the news you need to know by posting links to news articles on topics of interest to our industry. 

Here are the links to today’s top stories: 

By: Matthew Rosenberg and Graham Bowley, New York Times Staff

By: Paul M. Krawzak and Kerry Young, CQ Staff

By: Danielle Ivory, Bloomberg News Staff

By Marjorie Censer, Washington Post Staff

By: John P. Holdren, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy


Friday, March 9, 2012

Getting to Smart Contingency Contracting

When it comes to overseas contingency contracting there are a few truisms that must be institutionalized into the government mindset.
  1. Contractor roles must be considered up front as part of the force planning process or risk failure to fully support the troops on the ground.
  2.  Contracting officials must be trained and well versed in the complexities of contracting in a fluid environment.
  3. Contracting officials must be afforded the flexibility to respond to that fluid environment.
The Comprehensive Contingency Contracting Reform Act of 2012 (S. 2139), introduced Feb. 29 by Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Jim Webb, D-Va., appears to succeed on the first two points, but falls woefully short on the third. 

Let’s start with the positive aspects of the bill, which are based on the final recommendations of the Commission on Wartime Contracting

The Senators are absolutely right to include mandates for the three main overseas responders—the Defense Department, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development—to include contract support considerations from the start of their planning for contingency operations. Time and again during the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was clear that upfront planning for the use of contractors would have improved delivery and outcomes, as well as controlled cost.    

The Senators also included provisions in the bill to strengthen the acquisition workforce and its ability to contract for contingencies. An inexperienced or under-resourced acquisition workforce was a key contributing factor to many of the contracting problems encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Attention to these issues through legislation could help make the culture changes needed in future contingency operations planning. 

Despite these positive reforms included in the bill, there are unfortunately a handful of provisions that, if adopted, would actually restrict the government’s ability to respond to future contingency situations overseas and would increase contingency contracting challenges for government and contractors.  These proposals simply run contrary to smart government and smart contracting practices, laying waste to due process, fairness and transparency. Here’s how:


1. Denial of due process
  • The bill would require the automatic suspension of a company on the basis of undocumented allegations of any wrongdoing by any employee and would deny companies the basic tenets of due process. The Wartime Contracting Commission rescinded a similar preliminary recommendation when it made its final report. Further, the Obama administration and government suspension and debarment officials have strongly opposed this proposal as unfair, unwise and potentially detrimental to the government. 
  • The bill unfairly terminates a contractor’s right to respond to past performance evaluations and to have that response entered into the record. This provision goes well beyond what the Wartime Contracting Commission recommended and represents a stunning reversal of the longstanding tenets
    of fairness that underpin the government's past performance reporting process. 
2. Inflexibility
  • The bill would limit subcontracts to one tier, which is unrealistic and would make it nearly impossible for the government to rapidly obtain the goods and services they need to support warfighters, aid workers, diplomats and others responding to a crisis overseas.
  • The bill establishes arbitrary limits on periods of contract performance that add unnecessary levels of uncertainty, risk and cost in an already dynamic contracting and performance environment.
So what should be done to ensure the right types of contingency contracting reforms are adopted? First, eliminate the provisions that hamper flexibilities and rob parties of due process to ensure all parties are protected. Second, increase the focus on the perennial issues present in every contingency contracting event, such as professionalizing the workforce and improving upfront planning. Such thoughtful and balanced proposals will enhance and improve the ability of both government and industry to support our troops and others supporting our government’s missions in a warzone.