Acquisition & Procurement

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 …

The Defense Information Systems Agency has started adopting the “other transaction authority” as a contracting method to facilitate the acquisition process and speed up the delivery of new technology platforms designed to meet warfighters’ requirements. “Many of the companies we’re dealing with are small start-ups,” Scott Stewart, technical director at …

An advisory group that Congress created through the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act has issued a report that calls for the Defense Department to transition from a program-focused management structure to an “enterprise capability portfolio management” framework in order to improve the acquisition system, National Defense reported Thursday. The Section 809 …

Cerner CEO Zane Burke told lawmakers on June 26 that the annual maintenance and operating cost of the electronic health record system his company is providing the Veterans Affairs Department would be lower than that of the existing system’s, which flies north of $1 billion, FCW reported Wednesday. Health information …

Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch Jr., military deputy at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, last week affirmed the service’s commitment to speeding up the procurement process for space technologies in response to criticism from the chairman of the House Armed Services …

The U.S. Air Force expects to award an UH-1N Huey replacement contract later this year and aims to deliver new utility helicopters to multiple bases in the 2020-2032 time frame. USAF said Wednesday it will buy aircraft designed to support nuclear deterrence, test and training, continuation of government operations and survival school support operations. The service branch …

Shay Assad, director of pricing, procurement and acquisition policy at the Defense Department, recently said that the agency will soon release a new policy that would help reduce the lead time for major procurements, Federal News Radio reported Thursday. Under the new policy, which would apply specifically to sole-source acquisitions, …