Acquisition

New rule puts $15 minimum wage for federal contractors in place next year

Employees working on federal contracts will have a $15 minimum wage starting on Jan. 30, 2022, per a new rule issued by the Labor Department on Monday.

Acquisition

Analysis: Are better debriefings driving down protests?

Beginning 2018, the Defense Department started conducting what are called "enhanced" debriefings that allow for more dialogue with companies after they've lost a contract. That means unsuccessful bidders get more information on where their bid fell short without filing a protest.

Acquisition

IT controls still a pain point, DOD audit finds

The Defense Department failed to get a clean opinion in its fourth annual financial audit, highlighting ongoing struggles to accurately account for IT systems.

Acquisition

Speed bumps for VA's new scheduling system

A watchdog report identified gaps in training and oversight for the new scheduling system being implemented at VA medical facilities.

Acquisition

Who's going to volunteer for the new CMMC?

The Defense Department is looking for contractors to test out its revamped cybersecurity standard to protect unclassified but sensitive data.

Acquisition

Funding challenges hamper cyber EO compliance, CIOs say

A group of agency CIOs shared their biggest obstacles in meeting a series of aggressive deadlines and modernization goals of the Biden administration's sweeping cybersecurity executive order.

Acquisition

Labor Department rolls back Trump-era religious exemption for contractors

DOL announced it would undo a rule that was criticized by civil rights activists as easing the ability of some federal contractors to discriminate when making hiring decisions.

Acquisition

Why DOD is so bad at buying software

The Defense Department wants to acquire emerging technology faster and more efficiently. But will its latest attempts to streamline its processes be enough?

Acquisition

DIU director: Look beyond reform to keep the technological edge

Mike Brown, the director of the Defense Innovation Unit, said the acquisition reform is needed for the requirements, budgeting processes.

Acquisition

White House extends vaccine deadline for contractors

Federal contractors have until Jan. 4, 2022 to comply with White House vaccination requirements.

Acquisition

Morale plunges at site of VA's new electronic health record

A survey conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs found plummeting morale at the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center arising from the adoption of a new electronic health record system.

Acquisition

Details on discipline emerge as contractor vaccination deadline looms

Federal contracting firms will decide for themselves on how to manage employees who decline COVID-19 vaccinations but agencies can restrict unvaccinated workers from federal facilities.

Acquisition

GAO backs Microsoft's protest of $10 billion NSA cloud award to AWS

The Government Accountability Office agreed that aspects of the National Security Agency's evaluation of a major cloud award were "unreasonable."

Acquisition

White House: 'There's not a cliff here' when it comes to vaccine deadlines

For federal employees and contractors who don't hit vaccination deadlines, processes for remediation will kick in before more serious enforcement measure are taken, White House coronavirus coordinator Jeffrey Zients said.

Acquisition

IRS tech, CISA funding in Build Back Better

An effort to put $3.5 billion into key governmentwide tech modernization accounts appears to have come up short in the Build Back Better bill, but there's still a lot of technology spending on the table.

Acquisition

Thrift Savings Plan to launch mobile app next year

The move is part of a $3.3 billion contract to consolidate multiple service contracts at the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

Acquisition

State Department offers glimpse of $8B IT services contract

The multiple-award contract dubbed "Evolve" is the successor to the Vanguard contract held by Science Applications International Corp. since 2010.

Acquisition

Federal watchdog calls out transparency issues in pandemic spending

A committee established to ensure transparency around government spending related to COVID-19 found that federal agencies failed to provide clear reporting on how they were spending billions of dollars.