Cyber diplomacy is becoming the new discipline to establish cooperation among nation states.
The threat now posed by acts of aggression in cyber space has caused governments to establish a position to deal with the establishment of agreements of cooperation and coordination of government activities in cyber space. The new position has been dubbed “cyber diplomat.” At this point, the cyber diplomat is charged with practicing the art and science of cyber diplomacy. Keep reading →
This commentary was adapted from a White House blog posted by Office of Federal Procurement Administrator Daniel Gordon.
As part of the administration’s campaign to cut waste, OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) released guidance (Sept. 29) to reduce wasteful duplication in federal contracting.
Too often in the past, agency spending for many commonly-used items was fragmented across multiple departments, programs, and components, which means that agencies often spent time writing hundreds of separate contracts, with pricing that varies widely. The result is a waste of limited staff time and energy, and prices that are not as good as they should be.
At a cabinet meeting earlier this month, Vice President Biden pointed out that by leveraging their purchasing power agencies can save taxpayer dollars. He directed each agency leader to conduct a waste and efficiency review, targeting unnecessary or inefficient spending in areas like contracting.
Doing this kind of due diligence and comparison-shopping is something that many families across the country do, and it is especially important that the Federal government weigh all the options before entering into large contracts and agreements whose scope would overlap contracts that already exist. In the business case, agencies are required to balance the value of creating a new contract against the benefit of using an existing one, and whether the expected return from investment in the proposed contract is worth the taxpayer resources. Insisting on that cost/benefit analysis in the business cases should go a long way to avoiding duplicative contracts.
The progress we’ve made in this area is a key reason why we think GAO should take interagency contracting off its ‘high risk’ list.” Keep reading →
The White House has informed government procurement executives they must take new steps to avoid establishing or renewing certain types of procurement contracts that potentially duplicate existing contracts for goods and services agencies commonly buy.
The memo, issued by Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Dan Gordon Sept. 29, takes aim at missed opportunities by agencies to leverage the government’s buying power.
It also is intended to curtail what many regard as the wasteful practice of establishing new contracts that overlap or duplicate existing contracts for billions of dollars of supplies and services.
“For too long, each agency was on its own in contracting,” said Gordon, in a White House blog post also released Sept. 29.
The action by OFPP was generally welcomed by the contracting community.
“The number of GWACs has declined in the past few years while agency-specific contract vehicles are increasing; it seems that everyone likes to have their own contracts,” said Steve Charles, co-founder and executive vice president, immixGroup (and a contributor to Breaking Gov.)
“So with no intervention like this from OFPP, interagency contracting would eventually wither along with all the benefits. It was high time for OFPP to act,” he said, “but look for a short-term surge of agency-specific vehicles between now and 2014. Then the pendulum will swing and I predict interagency contracting will surge again around 2017,” he said.
Under the new guidance, agencies planning solicitations for new acquisitions will be responsible for developing a business case to support the establishment or renewal of three types of acquisition contracts:
Governmentwide acquistion contracts, which are multiple award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contracts often used for buying technology systems and services. Starting after Dec. 31, 2011, business cases are required for all GWACs regardless of estimated value.
Multi-agency contracts, which provide a wide variety of supplies and services to agencies, managed by the General Services Administration. In cases where interagency use is expected to be significant (exceeding 25% or more of total obligations over the life of the contract), agencies will also have to make a business case beginning in 2012.
Agency-specific contracts or blanket purchase agreements. In cases where a contract or BPA would create a significant overlap (where more than 25% of the total obligations over the life of the contract would include supplies or services covered by the government’s SmartBUY program and Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiatve), agencies would again have to make a business case beginning in2012.
“Business cases shall be approved by an authority no lower than the agency’s senior procurement executive (SPE) or equivalent official,” the memo said.
“In the business case, agencies are required to balance the value of creating a new contract against the benefit of using an existing one, and whether the expected return from investment in the proposed contract is worth the taxpayer resources,” Gordon said in his blog.
“Insisting on that cost/benefit analysis in the business cases should go a long way to avoiding duplicative contracts,” he said.
Gordon also said the new guidance should increase information-sharing among agencies.
“There have been some who have said that interagency contracts are a problem. We disagree. We have seen firsthand that interagency contracting – done intelligently, and in a way that reduces duplication – can help us leverage the federal government’s buying power to get better prices,” he said.
“The progress we’ve made in this area is a key reason why we think GAO should take interagency contracting off its ‘high risk’ list,” he added.
Keep reading →
This column originally appeared at GovWin.com.
On September 14, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Jacob Lew issued a formal memorandum to all government agencies to speed up payments to their vendors. This measure, as part of the Prompt Payment Act (PPA), is helpful even though it appears on the surface to be targeted toward helping the struggling economy. Keep reading →
There are a lot of ideas on how to address the looming crisis of trillion dollar annual deficits and a $14 trillion national debt. Congress has ideas and so does the President. All of the ideas involve choosing winners and losers, who will be taxed or receive tax breaks. Given the deep political and economic divisions in the country right now, a starting point for progress is voluntary measures.
There are people, even in this terrible economy, who would volunteer their income to help solve the fiscal crisis. Warren Buffett and former President Clinton are not alone in wanting to be asked to do more. Under a couple of conditions, many people with far less resources than Buffett or Clinton would invest in the future of the country. Keep reading →
I’ve watched a lot of football games over the years, but it wasn’t until this weekend that I fully realized just how obsessed we are with the highlight reels of acrobatic catches, elusive runs and bone-jarring tackles.
Too bad the same recognition can’t be bestowed on federal workers and the big plays they make every day. Keep reading →
A recent story tried to answer this question as follows: If the committee process fails to produce a debt reduction plan, as much as $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts would kick in — evenly divided between defense and non-defense spending.
Almost all men — they are the 12-member panel charged with finding an additional $1.5 trillion in debt savings over a ten-year period.
It will be tough work and will likely require political sacrifice on issues like taxes and entitlements if meaningful progress is to be made toward stabilizing the national debt
The members have a range of political experience — from novice to veteran. They are experts in taxes and the budget process. They hail from states as disparate as Texas, Michigan and Arizona. Keep reading →
The Veterans Affairs Department is expected to launch a test program next week that would permit as many as 1,000 VA employees to use mobile smartphone and tablet devices to access the VA’s information network, according to comments made by VA’s Roger Baker, reported by Federal News Radio.
Baker, VA’s assistant secretary for information technology and chief information officer, explained that employees will have to demonstrate a genuine business need for the mobile devices. Keep reading →
This is the last of a series of profiles on the nine standout public servants who received Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals (Sammies) honoring their high-impact contributions to the health, safety and well-being of Americans at a Washington, D.C. gala September 15. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, are among the most prestigious honors given to America’s civil servants. This profile features the winner of the national science and environmental medal, Dr. William Gahl.
As the founding director of the Undiagnosed Diseases Program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. William Gahl has brought together a unique combination of elite medical specialists, researchers and federal resources to solve baffling illnesses and provide desperate patients with information and possible solutions for their often life-threatening ailments. Keep reading →