Acquisition

VA launches probe of reverse auctions

Did official sidestep best practices by ordering a halt?

Acquisition

VA halts reverse auctions, citing 'violations' of contract hierarchy

Order comes despite more than $7 million in savings.

Acquisition

What's the most valuable small-business category?

Survey charts various small-biz set-aside categories to find the most valuable.

Acquisition

IG: DOD errs in verifying small businesses' status

More than 30 contracts that should have gone to companies owned by service-disabled veterans might not have, IG finds.

Acquisition

Administration tunes up contracting rules

Rule revisions tackle small business, cost-reimbursement contracts, multiple-award contracts, and small companies owned by women.

People

GSA: Reuse, recycle electronics, and avoid landfills

Federal agencies are banned from disposing of electronics in landfills or incinerators under new policy.

Acquisition

Bill would stifle contractors' responses to past-performance reviews

Proposed legislation would forbid companies from challenging assessments or even correcting errors, critics say.

Acquisition

GSA holds too much fee money, GAO says

GSA’s Schedules program averaged an excess of $62.2 million in revenue over program costs, before contributions to reserves, each fiscal year.

Acquisition

Survey says, contracting officers bow to auditors

Contractors are frustrated by the unwillingness of contracting officers to assert their decision-making authority.

Acquisition

Renfro named director of GSA's GWACs

Renfro has a long history in federal procurement, making her a match for the open director position.

People

Federal contract spending remained flat in 2011

OMB is optimistic that agency efforts to curb spending are the start of a trend, official writes.

Acquisition

Bill could turn contractors into lobbyists

If the Senate's STOCK Act becomes law, the rules under which agencies talk to contractors could be in for some significant changes.

Cybersecurity

IG: DHS improves management for non-competitive contracts

DHS officials completed more reviews of the different aspects of contracts awarded without a full-and-open competition.

Digital Government

Justice CIO heads to Deloitte

Van Hitch will advise agencies on long-term IT investments.

Acquisition

GSA to offer new way to buy complex services

The Integrations contract would address agencies' needs for professional services that span several types of areas that are often difficult to specify or quantify.

Digital Government

Lieberman, Collins have common sense, group says

Industry group says the pair are important players in the operations and management of federal procurement.

Acquisition

DOD wants boost to acquisition workforce fund

Defense Department seeks funds to make its acquisition workforce bigger and smarter.

People

Agencies face mean fitness instructor

Because of a congressional failure to cut funding strategically, agencies face a new weight-loss expert: Sequestration.

Digital Government

Budget encourages contractors' political contribution disclosures

The plan, aimed at preventing pay-to-play contracting, had drawn heavy opposition from Congress.

Acquisition

Budget bans disclosure of contractors' political contributions

The plan, aimed at preventing pay-to-play contracting, had drawn heavy opposition from Congress.