Modernization
How VA's $36 million move to the cloud evaporated
The Department of Veterans Affairs IT shop scuttled a long-planned cloud deal because of worries about email retention and security concerns.
Acquisition
Pentagon running behind on contracting database
Though the contracting system is relatively low-tech -- its underlying application cost less than $1 million -- it could have profound implications for DOD policy planning.
Acquisition
Sequestration gummed up IT plans
Budget cuts caused several agencies to rework plans for funding IT projects or dispense with them altogether, says a GAO report.
Acquisition
Contractors buoyant about fiscal 2015
With a year of fiscal calm on the horizon, federal contractors are forecasting a jump in revenue, according to a Deltek survey.
Acquisition
Feds doing a better job of sorting out bad contractors
GAO says suspension and debarment actions have more than doubled over the past four years.
Acquisition
GSA stands by for OASIS protests
An industry analyst said the agency virtually guaranteed protests by using written debriefings instead of face-to-face meetings with unsuccessful vendors.
Acquisition
Spreading the OASIS wealth
GSA has awarded contracts to 74 companies under the One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services program.
Acquisition
How feds really view their vendors
Highlights from Washington Technology's survey on the state of agency/industry relationships.
Acquisition
News and notes from day 3 at FOSE
Women in STEM, paper-based thinking, GWAC updates and a framework for cybersecurity hiring.
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
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