Interview transcript:
Terry Gerton: Let’s talk first about the homework assignment that was due on May 19th: The agency’s plans on how they’re going to have GSA support them with consolidated procurement. What are you seeing?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: Back in March, the president signed out an executive order on consolidating procurement, specifically at the General Services Administration. And I think agencies have been very busy trying to meet the deadlines set out in that executive order. One of them, as you mentioned, is a May 19th deadline, where agencies were supposed to submit proposals to GSA to let them know how GSA could conduct what they’re calling “domestic procurement of common goods and services.” The EO, the executive order, does not define what “domestic procurement” is and it doesn’t specifically identify “common goods and services.” In fact, what we are hearing from agencies is that they’re all over the map in terms of what they’re offering up for GSA to procure on their behalf.
Terry Gerton: Once GSA sees these plans, they have another 30 days to consolidate them into their own plan. Is that right?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: That is what we understand, and really what GSA, I believe, is looking at is consolidating procurement so that when companies come to the government, they are dealing with one procuring agency as opposed to multiple customers. And so we’ve seen that in a recent rollout of what they’re calling OneGov at GSA, and that is used to procure software directly from software providers, as opposed to this agency over here having an agreement with a software provider or an integrator and this other one having a different agreement. This is really to help achieve economies of scale. And I think this has been a very long time in coming. If you’ve heard “everything old is new again,” Larry Allen is back at GSA in the chief acquisition officer role and really looking at what they can do to reform the way the government procures common goods and services so that they do achieve those economies of scale and the taxpayer actually saves money at the end of the day.
Terry Gerton: So when this EO first came out, people were a little skeptical, let’s say, that GSA might be able to pull this off. It sounds like you’re seeing some real hints of progress organizationally, capacity-wise, that GSA is really going to be able to get their hands around this.
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: We have seen some pockets of goodness, as we’re calling them here at PSC. And really it’s about can GSA be a good steward of taxpayer money in acquiring goods and services? I think they can, and we are seeing pockets of this goodness here, for example, in OneGov for software. We’ll see if it is replicable across the whole domain. I will mention that there are several large agencies that don’t consider themselves subject to what they’re calling “domestic procurement.” You can think of some large, potentially military folks going, “you know, we procure goods and services for use overseas. Therefore, they don’t fall under domestic procurement.” And so I’m waiting to see how those arguments play out.
Terry Gerton: What about the IT GWACs contracts? These were big multi-year high dollar figure contracts that GSA was going to pull together. How are those coming along and what are you hearing from industry?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: Oh, that’s a great question, Terri. It’s the other big chunk of this executive order that came out in March. In addition to domestic procurement of goods and services, common goods and services, there was the direction that the GSA administrator would be the executive agent for all of these large, government-wide acquisition contracts for information technology, things like COSP3 or COSP4, you can think of T4 and G2 at the Veterans Affairs Department, you could think of some of these really large moving pieces. I understand some of those have migrated over to GSA. I’m hopeful that GSA has the contracting workforce to be able to execute on these contracts. I do understand that some of them may be consolidated themselves, and so we may not see as many GWACs or government-wide acquisition contract vehicles. And so it all remains to be seen. This is a very fast-moving train with a lot of different pieces, and I’m looking forward to engaging with GSA as industry so that we can help them define what right looks like.
Terry Gerton: That’s a great point. Is GSA soliciting feedback from industry, or are industry firms starting to pivot in anticipation of this consolidation?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: I do understand that many of our members are pivoting in anticipation of consolidation of these contracts. I will also mention that it is the agencies that have been reaching out to associations like the Professional Services Council, but also to specific industry players, reaching out specific industry to get their feedback on what makes sense.
Terry Gerton: So Stephanie, there’s another homework assignment that’s due this week and it relates to the SWFT initiative in DOD about accelerating software deployment. Let’s talk about that. What are you expecting in those papers?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: It is the Software Fast Track initiative or SWFT, it was launched just a little while ago and due this week, our industry responses to do three requests for information, one specifically on the tools that are out there for software. And one is about external assessment methodologies. And the third one is, about how to use automation and AI in software development and deployment.
Terry Gerton: So does industry think that these RFIs are necessary or important?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: I would mention that software has been an interesting area to work in for many industry players. You’ve got integrators, you’ve got the software developers themselves. Sometimes when you have a long requirements process, at a time you actually get to the procurement of the tool, it is outdated. And so software is one of those things where you have to keep pace with development in order to deploy the latest and greatest. I think industry generally speaking has welcomed this initiative. It looks like they’re going to roll it out here on June 1st. So, they’re getting responses back from industry on May 20th, that’s a really fast turnaround for any organization, much less the U.S. Government. And so as the Department of Defense moves forward with how they’re thinking through risk in software or intellectual property in software, etc, I think there’s a lot of opportunity for industry to engage in future conversations, not just the one that we’re going through this week.
Terry Gerton: Are your members giving you any insights into what they may be sharing back with DoD on those RFIs?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: They are. So PSC has submitted comments. They are due May 20th this week. And we did not only have an overarching approach to the wisdom behind getting more clarity on software development and deployment, but also we got lots of input from our member companies on the specifics of the tools, the assessment methodologies, and on the use of AI. I think everyone recognizes that artificial intelligence and automation will be the wave of the future if it’s not already hitting us, this wave. And so as we move forward, understanding what it is the government wants, even if it doesn’t quite know the specifics, but the general move that the government is making, I think, will help the industry be more responsive and as it is more responsive to requirements, probably more cost effective. So as we move forward, this is a great area to be working in.
Terry Gerton: So this SWFT initiative is particularly inside DoD and for DoD’s vendors and contractors. Is this a model that you think could apply to the broader civilian agencies?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: A lot of going on in the software. As I mentioned earlier, the General Services Administration is working on something called OneGov, about achieving economies of scale where software is concerned. I think there is a place for this SWFT initiative to work well at the Department of Defense and then expand out to the civilian agencies. You know, we have a lot of cooks in the kitchen right now, but I think they’re all working towards the same recipe, and I appreciate that about what the government is doing here on the software side.
Terry Gerton: I like that metaphor, cooks in the kitchen.
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: As long as it’s the same recipe though, that’s the key part, right? Are they all going towards the same end goal?
Terry Gerton: Well, let’s talk about another kitchen for a minute and let’s talk about HHS, because they’re a huge source of contracts and vendors and there’s been some movement there regarding their connection with industry officials over the last several months. What are you hearing there?
Stephanie Sanok Kostro: So HHS has been an interesting a department to work with and for over the last few months, a lot of the cost savings that the Department of Government Efficiency and some other elements of the government, what they were looking for at HHS, whether it’s at the National Institutes of Health, whether it is the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, et cetera, there has been a real difficulty in interacting with government officials for the industry. There has been what has been called a gag order in terms of not being able to speak to industry from the government side. That slowly has been opening up a little bit more of the aperture in terms of engagement with industry. And I watched with interest the secretary of HHS’s testimony before the Hill last week in terms of defending the budget going forward. I think talking about what it takes to make America healthy again, which is the tagline the department and the government is using, I think is going to be interesting. The role for contractors in that is significant in terms of common sense, cutting edge technologies, and solutions that industry can bring to bear. And we will actually discuss that at the PSC Federal Health Conference later this week, and it’ll happen on Thursday out in Bethesda. And we’ll talk with HHS officials and others in the health community about what does it mean to make America healthy again.
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