Author Archive

Nick Wakeman

Editor-in-Chief, Washington Technology

Nick Wakeman
Nick Wakeman is the editor-in-chief of Washington Technology and joined the publication in 1996 as a staff writer. He's a graduate of Bridgewater College and earned a masters degree from American University. When he isn't writing about government contractors, he's thinking of cooking large pieces of meat over fire and dreaming of ways to embarrass his two sons. Follow him on Twitter: @nick_wakeman
Acquisition

T4NG2 protests grow to 14 with more possible

A dozen companies have gone to the court with questions over how the Veterans Affairs Department evaluated proposals for the $61 billion technology modernization contract vehicle.

Cybersecurity

Nearly 300 comment on proposed CMMC rule

The Defense Department now has to process and respond to the comments before it issues the final version of the industry-wide rule in the fall.

Acquisition

CIO-SP4 faces more court challenges

In the meantime, the National Institutes of Health's IT acquisition arm has extended the current contract into the fall.

Acquisition

Veterans Affairs to again rethink $400M file conversion contract

GovCIO continues to challenge VA's choice of General Dynamics IT and the department has opted to look at the award again.

Acquisition

Protests restart over CIO-SP4

ANALYSIS | Just like last year, companies are complaining about the self-scoring methodology being used to eliminate them from the competition.

Acquisition

FBI to rethink troubled IT services contract

After several rounds of protests and amendments, the FBI is reworking parts of the solicitation for a group of blanket purchase agreements.

Acquisition

Protest over OASIS+ pricing data access falls short

ANALYSIS | Boston Consulting Group claimed it did not need to provide that information on certain items in its bid for the government-wide professional services vehicle.

Acquisition

Protests persist for FBI's long-delayed $5B IT contract

ANALYSIS | History looks to be repeating itself as the FBI keeps facing protests after each downselect phase and elimination of bidders.

Acquisition

CIO-SP4 drove spike in bid protests

ANALYSIS | Unhappiness with the National Institutes of Health's main IT contract vehicle contributed to a 22% increase in protests during the government's 2023 fiscal year.

Acquisition

Google centers public sector strategy on alliances with integrators

This global tech giant's relationships with Accenture's federal subsidiary and Deloitte help show how partnering strategies are evolving in the government market.

Modernization

OPM puts data at the center of human capital modernization

Contractors should focus on data standards as they develop solutions, a senior Office of Personnel Management official says.

Acquisition

Company claims eBuy glitch nixed its bid for $450M DHS competition

One protester is alleging the glitch caused a special character to become part of a file name, making its submission inaccessible.

Cybersecurity

Deal for Splunk brings new capabilities and competitors to Cisco

COMMENTARY | There is little to no overlap between the two but Cisco picks up more software based solutions that should strengthen its core.

Acquisition

Last CIO-SP4 protest resolved

Re-evaluations are now underway ahead of another attempt at awards for this potential $50 billion government-wide IT vehicle.

Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft enters partnership to build AI for large datasets

The global software giant is offering Synthetiac up to 1 million hours of cloud computing resources to accelerate the development of new tools for searching massive amounts of unstructured data.

Acquisition

Army makes 3 awards in ERP revamp

IBM, Accenture and Groundswell are building prototypes for a new Army enterprise resource planning system to consolidate and reengineer processes for finance, human resources and other business functions.

Acquisition

DHA to reconsider decisions surrounding $2.5B IT contract

The Defense Health Agency has changed its mind on discussions with bidders it rejected, which means more companies may get awards on the global IT services vehicle.

Acquisition

DHA faces legal challenges to how it conducted $2.5B procurement

Protesters are alleging the Defense Health Agency used "phantom award restrictions" to limit the number of companies that could qualify for this global IT services contract.

Cybersecurity

DOD, OMB expect September release of proposed CMMC rule

The rule that details the defense industrial base's new cybersecurity standard appears ready for review at the Office of Management and Budget.

Acquisition

CIO-SP4 protests move toward final decision

No action appears likely to resolve the 130-plus protests involving this $50 billion IT vehicle, which indicates the Government Accountability Office will decide on the contract's next steps.