Digital Government
It is time for continuous improvement
This past winter, the press published numerous reports that said the Defense Department paid higher prices than in the past for solesource aerospace spare parts, which were classified as commercial items and bought without certified cost data, pursuant to recent procurement reforms [FCW, April 13
Digital Government
Agencies should jump on PMAT wagon
In the book I wrote in the late 1980s about the problems with federal information technology procurement, I made a recommendation to partly base the performance evaluation of procurement on surveys of how satisfied IT and program customers were with the service they had received from contracting fo
Digital Government
Tech-deficient managers, new work force
At a recent conference, I ran into Ken Hoffman, a savvy longtime information technology manager at a major federal agency. We are more or less the same age (at least to judge from appearances), but as a techie, Ken is much better than I at having a feel for how IT is changing our lives. Ken noted t
Digital Government
Due diligence at cutting edge of contracting
You're convinced that performancebased contracting will save money for your mission and result in better vendor performance. And you're thinking big. You have a major systems development project that is going to modernize the way your organization does business. Or you're recompeting a contract to
Digital Government
Commerce procurement reinvention shows the way
The Commerce Department recently conducted its third annual joint training conference for information technology and procurement professionals. The conference, which was held in Williamsburg, Va., illustrates how times have changed. A decade ago, many government IT professionals would rather have spent time with their dentist than with their counterparts in the procurement profession.
Digital Government
Making the case for performance-based service contracting
The same day back in 1994 when President Clinton signed the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, senior agency officials gathered in a meeting room nearby to sign a pledge for a pilot program on performancebased service contracting (PBSC). Almost four years later, the results are in: PBSC is a wi
Digital Government
Future of procurement reform looks to past performance
When reading a recent issue of FCW I was struck by three articles that dramatically illustrate the revolution in the government/vendor relationship over the past few years. The first was a frontpage story headlined 'Raytheon backs off plan to sell AF IDIQ contracts.' Raytheon, the new owner of Hug
Digital Government
In blame game, our leaders aren't running for cover
During my years in Washington, D.C., the single most common question I was asked by government procurement personnel particularly in the Defense Department went something like this: 'What happens when we use our best judgment and the inspector general comes in afterward and criticizes us for ma
Digital Government
Time to put competition back in task-order contracts
The Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act gave us all a great victory by recognizing in a statute a new contract vehicle the multipleaward taskorder contract. FASA further helped by allowing the executive branch to establish simplified procedures for competing individual task orders or, as the
Digital Government
Let me introduce you to the next-generation public servant
Despite many recent stories in the press chronicling the government's difficulties in attracting and retaining information technology professionals, my return to teaching has shown me that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Since the beginning of February, I've been teaching one section of a
Digital Government
Spare-parts problems threaten commercial buying gains
Dramatic congressional testimony from the Defense Department's inspector general on overpayments in DOD spareparts purchasing last month made national headlines and the network news. For most of the public, this is DOD conducting 'business as usual.' Some, though, have noticed that the problem is
Digital Government
New team good news for procurement reinvention forces
The Clinton administration's new acquisition reform leadership team is coming into place. The president recently nominated Deidre 'Dee' Lee, senior procurement executive at NASA, for administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. Stan Soloway, a consultant for the Contract Services Asso
Digital Government
Government, industry must hammer out rules of engagement
Outsourcing is back in the news. A new bill, offered up by Rep. Steve Horn (RCalif.), could result in a dramatic increase in the outsourcing of federal activities. Sooner or later, the federal government will go the way of private industry, and outsourcing will catch on. But the politics of the tr
Digital Government
Bid protests reappear, but decisions should not cause alarm
After a brief hiatus, bid protests are back in the news. Two years ago, the bid protest jurisdiction of the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals disappeared. Like East Germans with regard to the Berlin Wall, one strains to remember that the GSBCA, once such a towering presenc
Digital Government
Pendulum metaphor need not dictate our destinies
One of the nice features of returning to academia is the opportunity to read significantly more books than I was allowed to while in government. Recently I read a book that is moderately renowned in academic circles, and that I, in fact, had on my bookshelf before going to Washington but had never
Digital Government
Data center consolidation: (Past) time to get moving
Citing possible operational savings of 30 to 50 percent, the Office of Management and Budget in October 1995 issued a bulletin directing agencies to inventory existing data centers and to produce by September 1996 a consolidation plan, with work due to be completed in early 1998. Well, early l998 h
Digital Government
Taking advantage of the hidden gold in the new FAR 15
The new Federal Acquisition Regulation Part l5 which deals with large fullandopen competition procurements went into effect New Year's Day. A number of changes included in the FAR 15 rewrite already have received considerable attention such as the more aggressive standard for eliminating proposal
Digital Government
Advice to ex-feds: Don't forget where you came from
The federal IT universe is heavily, and increasingly, populated by ex-feds -- people who've taken buyouts or been the victim of downsizing or just deserted for the greener pastures often available in the private sector. Because I'm now an ex-fed as well, I am hardly in a position to complain or to moralize, although I hope that the Jim Flyziks and the many hundreds of other good folks in the federal IT work force stick it out with the government as long as possible. We need good people in the federal government's IT talent base in an era where the need for IT talent has not diminished but where public-private salary gaps are wider than ever. I feel a real sense of admiration for those manning the forts in the government.
Digital Government
INS scores points for innovative contracting techniques
During the next few years the success of efforts in information technology procurement reform and of achieving better returns on the government's IT investments will depend mostly on the actions of hundreds of career people in IT and contracting shops throughout federal agencies. Much of the statut
Digital Government