Acquisition

CBP offers 'explanation plus' to losing bidders

The plan is to tell vendors who fail to win a contract why they lost, within the constraints of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, rather than just telling them that they did.

Acquisition

News and notes from FOSE

Highlights from the first day at the FOSE conference.

Acquisition

OMB plans Digital Service to improve IT delivery

Tech professionals would serve in government for two- to four-year rotations on a full-time basis, possibly supplemented with private sector professionals pitching in a given project for a month at a time.

Modernization

NIH readies new IT contract

The $20 billion solicitation will give agencies access to commodities and solutions related to a variety of IT initiatives, Washington Technology reports.

Acquisition

NIST eyes IT asset management for financial services industry

The agency and its partner, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, are looking for collaborators on a model system to guard against cyberattacks.

Acquisition

FAR Part 1: 'If it's not prohibited, it's allowed'

Steve Kelman reflects on what could be the most important sentence in the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

Acquisition

Balderson to lead Northrop Grumman contracting

Diane Balderson was most recently head of contracting for the Naval Air Systems Command.

Modernization

Industry group challenges GSA's telecom services strategy

Some requirements in the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions RFI could "unduly restrict competition," argues the Coalition for Government Procurement's Roger Waldron.

Acquisition

Improved Pentagon acquisition requires tolerance of risk

Overhauling the defense acquisition process is a national security imperative in tight budget times, argues a consultant and former Marine major general.

Acquisition

Industry, agencies talk small business obstacles

Programs aimed at cutting through the weeds of the procurement process can help, but many small vendors feel other federal efforts are stacked against them.

Acquisition

IBM gears up for Pentagon health push

With a major electronic health records procurement looming, IBM is growing its federal health IT footprint.

Acquisition

HealthCare.gov -- more agile, please

Draft requirements for the site's next contract stress open source, iterative development and maintaining the financial back-end platform.

Acquisition

Masiello talks pricing, LPTA and long-term contracts

The Air Force general told an AFCEA audience what vendors can expect on future acquisition efforts.

Acquisition

GSA touts new mobile management resource

Mobile Lifecycle & Expense Management can save 25 percent or more, GSA says.

Acquisition

How can we improve the use of past performance in contracting?

Steve Kelman responds to Jaime Gracia's comments on problems with the current system.

Modernization

Common-sense techniques to save taxpayer dollars

Basic business concepts such as price transparency can drive big savings. We need to apply them more broadly.

Modernization

GSA seeks industry input on NS2020

Recent request for information sheds light on the acquisition vehicle that will replace Networx.

Modernization

GSA's Hashmi goes to GitHub to talk IT trends and strategies

In an April 11 GitChat, GSA's acting CIO stresses agile development, open source and modular contracts as priorities for his agency.

Acquisition

Why past performance must be part of acquisition reform

Past performance is one of the most important factors in contractor selection, and the government should do more to ensure that such information is accurate and objective.

Acquisition

GSA moves toward category management

The agency is using its experience with the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative to adopt targeted buying practices similar to those used in the private sector.