SmartContracting Daily Intel for Sept. 26, 2012

In today's news...

Government Executive: White House to government contractors: Stop human trafficking 

http://bit.ly/SzXoXO

Related: White House: Executive Order - Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking In Persons In Federal Contracts

http://1.usa.gov/PFWFRc

Washington Post: Purge of consultants beats goal as Obama seeks cuts

http://wapo.st/SlKxmg

Federal News Radio: Contractor chosen for Washington Monument repairs

http://bit.ly/PFWOnR

Government Executive: Defense budget chief: Sequester would have serious impact on civilians

http://bit.ly/SlUDbi

Federal News Radio: Small agencies' sequestration plans build from budget frustrations

http://bit.ly/NR5DwE

Washington Business Journal: Survey: Small businesses scared to expand because of government, uncertainty

http://bit.ly/RYy3Hc

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. 

The Compelling Rappelling Stories of a Government Contractor

They’re at it again. The government contractors who rappelled down the side of the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral to assess the damage from the August earthquake are now scaling the Air Force Memorial to check for cracks and corrosion.

Engineers from the “difficult access team” at engineering firm WJE (not a PSC member) are a shining example of what contracting looks like when it’s done right (which is 99 percent of the time).

These important inspections highlight why government and industry must work in partnership to do great things and why contracting can be smarter than hiring in house staff. In this case, the high cost of keeping a band of rappelling engineers on staff would be prohibitive, especially when one considers the rare and temporary need at hand. Although some who say contractor billing rates are too high would disagree, the duration of the work is an important factor in determining when to hire a contractor and when to hire an employee. It’s far more taxpayer friendly to hire a short-term contractor to do specialized work, like rappelling down the side of a national landmark, than it is to hire that person on permanently and thus making the taxpayers foot the bill for pension and lifelong health care costs, even if the short-term contractor costs are “higher.”

But such smart partnerships are in jeopardy. If Congress chooses to arbitrarily further limit the costs contractors can reimburse for salaries of their best, brightest and bravest employees, it may be impossible for companies to do work with the government, especially when it comes to high-skill or high-risk work.



Photo via nps.gov.

Guest Blog: And the Winners Are…The International Community and American Taxpayers

By Larwrence J. Halloran

Director of PSC's International Development Initiative

The Pulitzers weren’t the only prestigious awards handed out this week. Five PSC member companies were among 40 international development organizations recognized by DevEx as the most innovative in their field.

Results of a survey of thousands of development professionals from around the world honored Abt Associates, AECOM, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte Consulting and Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI) for their application of ground-breaking concepts and approaches against stubborn development challenges.

Great Moments in Contracting History: A Walk on the Moon

What does the company Playtex, maker of bras and baby bottles, have to do with the Apollo 11 moon walk?

Everything.

Without Playtex’s flexible spacesuit design, there would have been no spacesuit for Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to walk on the moon in. Or at least a less mobile one if this video from "Talk of the Nation Science Friday" is any indication.

Just goes to show what a little smart contracting can achieve.

FACT: Communications Between Government and Industry IS Smart Contracting!

Smart contractors know open communications with their customers are the keys to success. And from the looks of this communication, the Office of Management and Budget is looking to adopt that best practice to the government contracting field.

The Feb. 2 document launches OMB’s “Myth Busters” educational campaign to inform agency acquisition officers about the policies and current flexibilities in the Federal Acquisition Regulation that allow them to tap industry expertise throughout the lifecycle of a procurement, including requirements development and other pre-award milestones. But I’ll let OMB do the communicating here:

“Access to current market information is critical for agency program managers as they define requirements and for contracting officers as they develop acquisition strategies, seek opportunities for small businesses, and negotiate contract terms. Our industry partners are often the best source of this information, so productive interactions between federal agencies and our industry partners should be encouraged to ensure that the government clearly understands the marketplace and can award a contract or order for an effective solution at a reasonable price. Early, frequent, and constructive engagement with industry is especially important for complex, high-risk procurements.”

 

OMB ordered federal agencies to develop a high-level vendor communication plan to reduce “unnecessary barriers, publicize communication opportunities and prioritize engagement opportunities for high-risk, complex programs or those that fail to attract new vendors during recompetitions.” Unless otherwise prohibited by law, regulation or ethics standards, all forms of communication should be on the table, OMB said.

Smart Contractors Congratulate Smart Contractors, and Smart Public-Sector Partners too!

While some say the big winners of 2010 were revealed on Tuesday, smart contractors know that the year’s biggest winners were announced Wednesday night at the much anticipated 2010 Government Contractor Awards!

Nearly 1,000 people turned out to celebrate the industry and learn which companies would claim the title of “Contractor of the Year” and which executives would be crowned “Executive of the Year.”

And the winners are…

Haiti Recovery Spurred by Smart Contracting

Nine months after a devastating earthquake rocked Haiti, there are signs of recovery and a return to normalcy thanks to USAID-funded projects implemented by PSC member companies.

SmartContracting Blog Meets Smart Contracting Caucus, Learns about Cybersecurity Challenges

Speakers from two PSC member companies, SRA and Mircosoft, were on Capitol Hill Sept. 16 to explain the challenges facing the public-private partnership fighting cyber threats. They participated in a special meeting of the House Smart Contracting Caucus (LOVE the name!) hosted by caucus member Rep. Gerry Connolly, VA-11.

 

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, cybersecurity is one of the top threats to our national security. Connolly and the panelists—Patrick Burke, senior vice president for offerings and products with SRA; Jerry Cochran, chief cybersecurity architect for Microsoft Public Sector Services; and Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, partner at Monument Policy Group and member of the CSIS Commission on Cyber Security for the 44th Presidency—were in general agreement that among the top hurdles facing both government and industry in tackling this threat are:

 

• Inadequate information sharing between the sectors to ensure threats are addressed in a timely manner;
• A shortage of public and private sector employees with the skills necessary to stay abreast of the ever-evolving, global threat;
• Undefined leadership roles and responsibilities among agencies and contractors; 
• A lack of a common lexicon regarding cybersecurity terminology and threats; and
• No broad policy for assessing and managing the risk to government and private sector systems.

All agreed that these challenges have long faced both the public and private sector. This Congress has attempted to address these matters through legislation, but none has passed to date. Some of the bills would take important steps to clarify leadership in the executive branch, define the roles and responsibilities of the public and private sectors, and establish compliance reporting structures. According to Connolly, it is unlikely that any of the bills will pass Congress before or after the election.

 

That means the government and private sector will have to start the entire process from scratch in the new Congress. Meanwhile, the cyber threat continues to evolve and the government and private sector continue to fight it as best they can.

PSC Members Honored as 2010 Government Contractor Award Finalists

The brightest lights of the government contracting world shined Tuesday night at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner during the second most anticipated event of the year: the announcement of the finalists for the 8th Annual Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards (aka the GovCon Awards)! PSC member companies are in the running for six of the seven awards, thanks to some pretty smart contracting. The full list of finalists can be found here. The winners will be announced at the most anticipated event of the year: the Nov. 3 GovCon gala dinner!

While we all await the big event to hear who the industry winners are, we can applaud three honorees already named. They are the two public-sector partners honorees—Charlie Williams, the director of the Defense Contract Management Agency, and Soraya Correa, the director of the Office of Procurement Operations at the Homeland Security Department—and this year’s Greater Washington Government Contractor Hall of Fame inductee—Clifford Kendall, founder of Computer Data Systems, Inc.

Contractors Help CDC Prevent Flu Contraction

Pres. Obama receives his H1N1 flu shot
during the height of the crisis.

The public spotlight on H1N1 may have faded, but the matter is still a spotlight issue for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC hired PSC member Abt Associates last year to help the agency study the effectiveness of the H1N1 flu vaccine. Since December, Abt experts have worked closely with CDC officials to develop research protocols and operations procedures for these studies, which will track the effectiveness of this upcoming flu season’s combination H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccine in preventing flu in pregnant women, children, and health care providers.

Smart Contracting leads to Freedom from FAFSA Fear

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a government form with a reputation for striking fear in the heart of every college student on an annual basis. Students and their parents know – or soon find out – that a student’s entire aid package (even the non-federal aid offered by educational institutions) hinges on how they answer the 107 questions required by the Education Department. And one mistake could cost more than a student loan.

So it’s no wonder that the Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid was one of the three winners in the Third Annual Citizen Services Awards for an online support tool to assist FAFSA applicants with their submissions in real time. The tool was implemented by Vangent, Inc. of Arlington, a Professional Services Council member and, as the award attests, one smart contractor.

ITT Systems Employees in Iraq Team Up With U.S. Military to Provide Local Children with School Supplies

For safety reasons, ITT Corporation employees working on the Global Maintenance and Supply Services (GMASS) program at Joint Base Balad, Iraq can’t freely venture outside of the military base where they maintain and upgrade vehicles, but that doesn’t keep them from equipping local Iraqi children to succeed in school.

ITT Systems Division staff at Balad organized a fundraising competition, with a pizza party going to the winning team, as part of an effort to purchase backpacks and school supplies. In just two weeks, they raised $3,700 to purchase colorful school backpacks and partnered with the U.S. Army’s 1-402nd Field Support Brigade and 37th Engineer Battalion to provide paper, pencils, paints, a toy and some candy to fill the backpacks.

Once the materials were purchased, ITT employees, working during their off-duty hours, stuffed the packs with the supplies and turned them over to U.S. Army personnel at Joint Base Balad for distribution to children at a school about 10km from the base. Since the ITT Balad team ended up exceeding their original fundraising goal, they are already working to prepare a second batch of supplies for schoolchildren in another local Iraqi town.

“Hopefully our efforts will help the military build relations in the surrounding area, encourage the local children, and make the area safer for soldiers, civilians and Iraqis in the long run,” said ITT Systems Program Manager Jeff Meo.

Bringing Job Growth to Rural Virginia: CGI’s Southwest Virginia Technology Center of Excellence

When he was campaigning for president, candidate Barack Obama made a stop in Lebanon, Virginia to talk about creating more high technology jobs. He singled out CGI, a global information technology and business process services provider, for bringing over 300 high tech jobs to a rural area of the state.

Encouraged in part by Virginia’s business-friendly orientation and the state’s aggressive effort to build out high-speed broadband technology, CGI decided to locate one of its 13 Centers of Excellence in Lebanon.

The Center expands CGI’s capacity to provide its government and private sector clients with a broad range of IT services at competitive rates. Locating a center in a rural area provided the additional benefit of spurring economic development in a region anxious to attract employers.

CGI, which has operations in 16 countries, has its U.S. headquarters in Fairfax, Va. The company is a leader in IT and business processes that reduce costs, improve efficiency and help clients solve difficult business challenges. In deciding to locate in Russell County, Va, the company recognized the availability of a well educated, skilled workforce and its proximity to leading universities and colleges in the region. “With the Southwest Virginia Center, we were able to address a long-standing economic and social issue across the US—the exodus of jobs as well as young people from smaller, rural communities in favor of larger, metropolitan cities,” says Donna Morea, President, CGI United States.

Recycling, Reusing and Going Green: BAE Systems Helps Government Save Millions

Recycling, Reusing and Going Green: BAE Systems Helps Government Save Millions

With $235,000 in seed money, one man’s plan for recycling and reusing outdated equipment at a munitions plant has turned into a $2.5 million return on investment for the Army.

Built during World War II, the Holston Army Ammunition plant in Kingsport, Tenn., manufactures explosives for the military. Within the plant are outdated pieces of equipment and machinery and hazardous materials that required safe disposal.

Eric Fugate, the plant manager and an employee of BAE Systems, which operates the plant for the Army, had an idea. Knowing the value of the stainless steel, copper and silver that comprise the various pieces of old unused equipment, Fugate developed a plan to use the value of the metals to carry out a self-funded demolition project. The project would ultimately improve business performance, dispose of redundant equipment and remove hazardous materials—all at no net cost to the government.

When Fugate presented his plan to the senior government civilian, Commander’s Representative Bob Ragan, Ragan immediately saw the potential and jumped at the opportunity to get the project briefed to his higher headquarters. “This idea was pure thinking outside-the-box, especially in light of the current funding stream that plants like Holston live with on a daily basis. Truly BAE is looking out for their customer,” said Ragan.

“I just kept the Army’s long-term needs in mind. Sometimes we can help show them a better way to accomplish their mission. Doing what our customers need, and saving money while doing it, is what we should all try to do. After all, I’m a taxpayer too,” Fugate said.

Fugate presented his plan to the Army, which provided $235,000 in initial seed money. This funding was required in part to remove the asbestos from a portion of the plant. The valuable metals contained in the equipment were then removed and sold to generate the money to pay for the demolition work.

Fugate’s out-of-the-box idea is coming to fruition. The disposal of the redundant equipment is on schedule and will be completed over the next 18 to 24 months and will generate more than $2.5 million from the sale of the valuable metals.

From Paper to Paperless: Transforming the Nation’s Financial Aid Process

Each year, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) administers programs that disburse more than $70 billion in financial aid to help students pay for college. Just a decade ago, the 13 million students applying for federal student aid had to use a cumbersome, complicated and sometimes confounding paper-based process. Now, with help from Vangent, a leading global information management company, FSA has a modern, almost paperless system—making life easier for students, cutting costs, streamlining a cumbersome process, and increasing efficiency and accuracy.

When FSA turned to Vangent as a private sector partner, it got results. The online system they designed, built, and continue to operate allows students and parents to apply for federal student aid via a secure, user-friendly web site, thereby nearly eliminating the complex, paper-based form that required considerable time to complete and a costly, labor-intensive data collection system to process.

IBM and US State Department Lead Telemedicine Project in Pakistan

Sick patients in remote Pakistani villages can now get high quality medical services that were previously lacking or absent via an Internet-based program provided by the U.S. Department of State and IBM, its private sector partner. The Pakistan Telemedicine Project provides an extensive array of healthcare consultation and education via the Internet. The subject areas include: pre-operative planning and follow-up; cardiac assessment; ophthalmology, dermatology, radiology, infectious disease, and pre-natal evaluations; and medical triage for traumas and acute illnesses.

Modernizing America’s Child Welfare Data Collection System

Keeping track of the services received by the more than 500,000 children in America’s child welfare system is a daunting task. So too is the state-by-state assessment and evaluation process--the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs)--which is conducted by the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Until recently, the data collection system had been paper-based, which made data analysis tedious, time-consuming, and difficult.

Under a contract with the Children’s Bureau, JBS International, Inc., an award-winning, women-owned business based in Bethesda, Maryland, converted the outmoded paper-based system to an automated, state-of-the-art data management system. The new automated system enables HHS reviewers working on site in each state to collect and upload raw review data instantly to a central server. Further, the system presents the data in user-friendly formats and generates automated reports that the Children’s Bureau uses to analyze the results.

For this work, JBS received an award from HHS’s Assistant Secretary, who noted the process that JBS developed “greatly improved the accuracy, consistency, and usefulness of the review information in all states.”

The new system greatly enhances the federal government’s ability to help states improve the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families in their child welfare programs. Analysis of the results provides an opportunity for states to improve the future outcomes of the children in their care and the services available to them and their families.

“Knowing that our work is improving the delivery of vital services to children in need is personally and professionally gratifying,” said Jerri Shaw, President of JBS. “As a company with expertise in social and health policy programs and the application of information technology, designing this system for the Children’s Bureau was a perfect fit.”

JBS’s new comprehensive information and learning system is Web-based and provides a single source for information on reviews and e-training as well as updates, tutorials, video, and information on the history and context of the CFSR process. The new web portal also enables participants to learn about and practice using the data management system before participating in a review. The password-protected portal was developed in collaboration with the Children’s Bureau and JBS’s child welfare, training, and curriculum professionals; information technology staff; and content editors.

Simulation Training Saves Lives on the Battlefield

One of the major challenges the U.S. Army faces in Afghanistan and Iraq is reducing the number of soldiers dying on the battlefield. To reduce the mortality rate, the Army needed to obtain a standardized, state-of-the-art simulation training program not just for medics, but for any soldier who could give critical first aid to comrades wounded in the immediate aftermath of a roadside bombing, an ambush or full-scale battle.

CSC, a world leader in applying information technology to solve critical problems, was awarded a competitive three-year, GSA indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract to run the Army’s Medical Simulation Training Centers (MTSC). For the Army, CSC created a comprehensive program that provides training, lesson planning, and development of course materials; cognitive and psychomotor assessment skills for professional and non-professional certifications; and simulated war scenarios as realistic as life. In May 2008, as a team member of the Raytheon-led Warfighter Training Alliance on the Warfighter FOCUS contract, CSC was awarded a 10-year fixed-price award fee and time and materials contract to continue its support to the MSTCs until April 2017.

Reducing the Gap between Cancer Research and Treatment

A breakthrough project is creating a community of experts and organizations to share critical information on cancer research which many believe has the potential to help transform cancer into a chronic, manageable disease within a decade. The project was funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is managed by Booz Allen Hamilton, a leader in healthcare consulting for the federal government.

The effort—called the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid, or caBIG—is a virtual infrastructure that connects data, research tools, standards, scientists, and organizations to form "a World Wide Web of research" that is accelerating all aspects of cancer prevention, detection, and care by reducing technical and collaborative barriers.