Acquisition & Procurement

Tiffany Hixson, assistant commissioner of the office of professional and human capital services at the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service, has said she believes the government should adopt a performance-based approach when it comes to services procurement, Federal News Radio reported Friday. “Traditional strategic sourcing proposals based on price …

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Defense and Aerospace Export Council has expressed support for the Trump administration’s implementation plan for a new policy governing U.S. arms transfer processes. Keith Webster, president of DAEC and vice president at Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement released Thursday implementing the Conventional Arms Transfer policy will …

A technology trade association has called on House and Senate conferees to retain in the final fiscal 2019 defense policy bill a provision that would restrict the use of “lowest price technically acceptable” contracting method in government-wide procurements of information technology and cyber security platforms. BSA | The Software Alliance wrote …

The Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration have launched efforts to advance the use of “commercial solutions opening” method to speed up the acquisition of innovative platforms and services, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. DHS released in June its guidelines for the CSO contracting method, while GSA unveiled in …

The Defense Department has released a memorandum that would authorize contracting officers to use a competitive procedure to procure “innovative” commercial technologies and services as part of a four-year pilot program in a move to encourage participation from non-traditional contractors, Federal News Radio reported Tuesday. DoD’s acquisition officials will release …

The U.S. Air Force’s security and protection category council has implemented the category management approach to help the service streamline its procurement processes and achieve cost savings. Scott Heise, council director at the Air Force Security Forces Center, said in a statement published Thursday a five-year contract the service awarded to …

Federal agencies obligated $8.56 billion for competitively awarded contracts during fiscal 2017 through a program that is set aside for socially disadvantaged businesses, Bloomberg Government reported Monday. The figure reflects a 24 percent increase in competitive awards under the 8(a) program since fiscal 2011, according to the report. Contracts awarded …

The U.S. Air Force has initiated steps to pursue the source selection process for a contract to support the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System recapitalization program amid plans to cancel the initiative, Defense News reported Friday. Major Emily Grabowski, a spokeswoman for the Air Force, told the publication in …

The General Services Administration has begun implementing an initiative that seeks to authorize government agencies to purchase order-level materials through the Multiple Award Schedules program. OLMs are supplies or services procured in support of a delivery or task order that are not determined at the time of a contract award. GSA started …

Defense Department Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy will head the Pentagon’s efforts to procure an enterprise-wide cloud computing system from the private sector, FedScoop reported Thursday. Defense Deputy Secretary Patrick Shanahan, in a June 22 internal memo, tasked “the DoD Chief Management Officer [Jay Gibson], in conjunction with the DoD …