How to inoculate your agency’s acquisitions against protests
Protests of agency solicitations or contract awards draw protests about two thousand times every year. It’s no fun for either side. But there are things the government can…
Agencies to get more than a dozen new cyber acquisition regs in the coming years
Cybersecurity permeates nearly every conversation in the federal community already. And it’s about to soak in much deeper. The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council is reviewing a dozen different…
The Visible Expert Revolution
This week on Amtower Off Center, host Mark Amtower is joined by Lee Frederiksen of Hinge Marketing to discuss Lee’s new book, The Visible Expert Revolution. Lee Frederiksen,…
NCMA World Congress: A rich knowledge environment
The NCMA World Congress came back last month. Not that the National Contract Management Association’s annual confab ever went away. But the most recent event, at Nashville’s Gaylord…
How to keep new policy from making procurement less efficient
Frontline contracting officers contend with a lot of policy. One thing about policy, it’s always changing. And that can get in the way of basic efficiency and pricing…
60 pages, 3 months of reviews cut from Aberdeen Proving Ground’s acquisition policy
The contract policy guide at the Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground became a lot like a ship which needs to scrape the barnacles off every once…
That Supreme Court affirmative action decision is already affecting federal contracting
When the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action as practiced by Harvard University, it set off a tsunami. One of those giant waves is already washing over federal…
Contractors are also combing through the House and Senate defense authorization bills
The defense authorization bills, while contentious, would do a lot for contractors; from inflation relief to easing greenhouse gas emissions reporting. For a summary, Federal Drive Host Tom…
DoJ’s two big False Claims Act settlements a sign of things to come?
A huge fine for a big name government contractor. A flood of interest for the next great governmentwide acquisition contract. And despite all the challenges with the federal…
The Defense Department clarifies how to use other transaction authority
Other Transaction Authority (OTA) acquisitions have become popular in the Defense Department and other agencies, to the tune of billions of dollars a year. OTA’s have guardrails against…