Acquisition

Purchasing in Internet time

Of all the influences transforming the information technology buying process for state and local government officials, a key yet frequently overlooked factor is the sharply increased speed at which most IT service vendors are now accustomed to doing business.

Acquisition

Guidance coming on FSS services

Two years after information technology services became available to agencies on the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service schedule contracts, GSA is moving to provide regulatory guidance on how to buy those services.

Acquisition

Customs primed for contractor

The Customs Service expects to seek a prime contractor within the next six months for its $1.4 billion modernization program, the agency's CIO says

Acquisition

Letters to the Editor

That Steve Kelman should toe the contractor line comes as no surprise ('TRAC should be derailed,' Federal Computer Week, Nov. 6, 2000). After all, he testified in 1998 in favor of the infamous Freedom from Government Competition Act, which would have competed 1.4 million federal employee jobs over five years under a manifestly procontractor system.

Acquisition

CDW-G adds Apple to its cart

CDWG has added Apple's entire line of products to its General Services Administration schedule

Digital Government

Partnership America goes wireless

Partnership America, which brings valueadded resellers together with government and education buyers, can now be accessed via wireless phones

People

FDIC pilots online auction

Following a successful pilot, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. may be near the end of the line with its traditional method of selling loan pools through sealedbid, offline auctions.

People

Commercial push renewed

The Pentagon's Nov. 6 announcement that it is revising regulations governing the purchase of commercial products for information systems doesn't break new ground so much as confirm trends in procurement, according to military officials.

Acquisition

For rent: Agency systems

Two agencies have signed contracts to rent enterprise application services from USinternetworking Inc.

Acquisition

Tracking DOD

The fiscal 2001 Defense Authorization Act requires the Pentagon to track contract actions

Acquisition

Plans afoot to better track agency purchasing

Congress and the Clinton administration are moving forward with initiatives to improve federal agencies' ability to track what they buy, how much they pay and where the products or services are used.

Acquisition

NIH builds online commerce mall

The National Institutes of Health is creating a virtual library to give large and small companies an edge in doing business both inside and outside government.

Acquisition

Virginia getting comfortable with seat

State agency heads learn do's and don'ts about purchasing under the state's new seat management contract

Acquisition

SBA gives agencies more 8(a) buying power

The Small Business Administration wants to streamline the way agencies award contracts to socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses

Acquisition

Playing by the rules

Deidre Lee, a top government procurement official, is pleased that so many companies are offering electronic procurement solutions. But in the move to egovernment, she doesn't want to leave government contracting rules in the dust.

Acquisition

B2G, take two

Earlier this year, Tony Bansal had maneuvered his business-to- government e-commerce company into what seemed to be the perfect position. Not long after, the company's can't-miss strategy was a little off the mark.

Acquisition

Reverse the course

The second experiment in reverse auctions at the General Services Administration is scheduled for Nov. 16. The U.S. Coast Guard's Aircraft Repair and Supply Center will use the auction to buy Falcon Jet aircraft parts and plans to make an award two weeks after the auction date.

Acquisition

Coast Guard on deck with auction

The General Services Administration is taking reverse auctions for a second test flight on Nov. 16

People

Pentagon commands commercial solutions

DOD has rewritten an acquisition regulation to speed up procurements of weapons and information systems

Acquisition

FDIC online auction pilot soars

Bid4Assets has completed a $12 million loan sale for the FDIC, its largest online transaction for a federal customer