The General Service Administration is asking for industry input in creating a database search engine to instantly check prices of commercial and government products. In a request for information, GSA said it wants to create the database to let all federal agencies compare current prices of selected products. The database would search both commercial and [...]

A House caucus advocating for government increasing its use of contractors will launch this week, Federal Times reports. The “Yellow Pages” caucus has drawn interest from 20 possible members and is holding a kickoff event Tuesday at Capital Triangle. The Business Coalition for Fair Competition said in a Facebook announcement that if private businesses listed in the [...]

Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has introduced legislation in favor of directing an additional $11 billion in federal contracting awards to smaller firms, Graves’ office announced Tuesday. Through the Government Efficiency Through Small Business Contracting Act, Graves hopes to increase government agencies’ small business quota from 23 percent to 25 percent. The bill would also lift [...]

The Defense Department is proposing a new rule requiring contracting officers to use an analytics tool when awarding performance-based contracts, according to Monday‘s edition of the Federal Register. The tool is a cash-flow model for evaluating alternative financing arrangements. Contracting officers would use the tool when considering performance-based payments on new fixed-price contract awards. The [...]

Contractors who provide services to the Department of Homeland Security will soon be able to submit bids electronically, Federal Times reports. Rafael Borras, DHS’ management undersecretary, said Thursday the current submission process will be reformed so companies can focus on the bid and save money on paper costs. At a DHS industry day in Washington, [...]

The General Services Administration expects to save around $4 million annually on energy costs by using reverse online auctions, according to Federal News Radio. Robert Zarnetske, the GSA’s New England region administrator, told Federal News Radio the agency initially identifies and collects information on federal government properties in corresponding geographical regions. GSA then bundles similar [...]

The Department of Veterans Affairs launched its program for training wounded veterans to be contracting specialists in a three-year internship, Federal Computer Week reports. The VA Acquisition Academy Acquisition Internship School’s Warriors to Workforce Program started Thursday through which veterans are trained to qualify for acquisition related careers. The program ”leverages a training program that focuses on [...]

The Army is hiring analysts to handle procurement management, policy and oversight, according to a post on USAJobs. The analysts will help develop contracting policy for the Department of the Army and provide guidance for contracting functions. This process will include reviewing current contracting activities in order to assess effectiveness and efficiency. The analysts will serve [...]

The General Services Administration will require vendors to provide information technology security plans detailing how they are meeting federal cyber regulations under a new rule published Friday. GSA said that changes are will apply to IT contracts awarded after Jan. 6, 2012 and that contractors must submit their IT security plans within 30 days of [...]

Although the federal government will increase the importance of price when awarding contracts for goods and services in an upcoming era of tightened budgets, the government’s lead agency for acquiring resources sees this new era as a “sweet spot” for it to get agencies good value for their purchases according to Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner [...]