Modernization

U.S. West lands telecom deal

U.S. West has snagged its first major telecom contract from the federal government a $60 million deal that it will split with Winstar Communications

Acquisition

NASA pact attracts dot-coms

The upcoming followon to NASA's popular Science and Engineering Workstation Procurement is already attracting a new breed of potential competitors: dotcom startups that hope to take electronic procurement to the next level.

Acquisition

Not so 'reverse' auctions

I've been hearing a lot about the government's various experiments with 'reverse auction' purchasing techniques. In reverse auctions, sellers 'bid' against one another for specific orders by offering successively lower prices until a winner is declared.

Acquisition

Online selling can get complicated

FCW's DotGov Thursday column offers guidance for creating binding contracts that will be executed over the Internet

Acquisition

NIH to open bidding on major IT contracts

Bidding opens July 3 for CIOSP 2, a $10 billion program, and Image World, a $15 billion program

Acquisition

NASA dishing up SEWP III

NASA plans to release a draft solicitation by the end of June for a second followon to its popular Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement contract

People

Get ready for the transition

It is a pleasure to find myself postY2K with the opportunity to communicate monthly with my former coworkers in the federal government and those in industry who support them. I write this from Tokyo, where, as in Washington and Ottawa, the government has set a goal of putting all its transactions online by 2003. This is the traditional approach to egovernment.

People

Pentagon racing to reform procurement

New acquisition process will provide contractors with greater flexibility and enable DOD to field systems before they become obsolete

People

Navy merges paperless initiatives

The Navy has taken a major step toward simplifying its electronic procurement process by combining the efforts of two major paperless contracting programs

Acquisition

Learn to share

Almost anyone can talk the talk, but the General Services Administration and other agencies are walking the walk with shareinsavings contracting pilots.

Acquisition

Online market set to go

FedBid.com, which combines online credit card purchasing and reverse auction technology to give agencies a new way to make small purchases, opens for business today.

Acquisition

Agencies embrace credit cards

Agencies' use of government credit cards is on the rise, with sales estimated to exceed $16 billion this fiscal year

Acquisition

Small-biz goals easier to reach

Agencies that do business with 8(a) companies on the GSA schedule now can get automatic credit toward meeting their 8(a) goals

People

DOD: SPS makes headway

The Defense Department is making progress in moving its users to its new Standard Procurement System, which is designed to eliminate the paper from the department's contracting process.

Acquisition

Making 'mandatory' work

One of the characteristic features of the old order prior to procurement reform was the frequent requirement to buy computers from mandatory sources, such as the General Services Administration.

People

DOD: SPS makes headway

The Defense Department is making progress in moving its users to its new Standard Procurement System, which is designed to eliminate the paper from the department's contracting process

People

Procurement portal gathers support

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is garnering support for its proposal to make the Electronic Posting System the single point of electronic entry to government business opportunities.

People

OFPP legislative changes

* Require that all notices over $25,000 be submitted to EPS.

Acquisition

GSA makes auction bid

The General Services Administration is testing the power of the marketplace with a reverse auction pilot that will allow government buyers to drive down the prices of goods by purchasing them online.

Acquisition

Conn. simplifies tech buying

Whether they're dealing with the most tech-savvy buyers or an uninitiated first-time vendor seeking to learn how the IT procurement process works, the recurring theme of new programs launched by Connecticut's Department of Information Technology (DOIT) is to make IT buying easier.