The
Department of Defense should consider replacing commercial buying and existing
simplified acquisition procedures with simplified, readily available procedures
for procuring readily available products and services. This is among the recommendations made by the
DOD Section 809 panel in its “Volume 3” report released earlier this week. This recommendation, number 35 in the full
report, seems to suggest that DOD cease using existing IDIQ contracts, like GSA
Schedule contracts, but it does not come right out and say so. Schedule contracts, arguably, are simplified
acquisition procedures and, additional Panel recommendations can be read
as making these contracts easier to use.
Recommendations 74 & 75, for example, call for the elimination of
redundant documentation requirements or superfluous approvals that add no value
to the acquisition process. This would
seem to embrace recommendations made by Booz Allen Hamilton, and others, to
streamline the Justification and Approval process so that blanket
approvals can be given for the use of non-DOD contracts.
Overall, the report recommends that DOD embrace a
three-tiered “Dynamic Marketplace Framework” for acquisition. The first bucket would be items that are
readily available and require no customization. Rules and regulations would be minimized for
the acquisition of such solutions. The
second bucket would hold solutions that are readily available, but require some
customization. Simplified
procedures would also be used to acquire these solutions, but a few more steps
would be required. Defense-unique solutions would be
in the third bucket. The
acquisition of these solutions would face a more formal process, but even here
the Section 809 panel recommends new rapid acquisition authorities and other
flexible approaches.
For
IT acquisition, the Volume 3 report recommends that DOD adopt
rules to allow for the more flexible acquisition of IT on consumption-based
solutions. Such guidelines could
make it easier for DOD entities to buy “as-a-service” solutions. Recognizing the IT brain-drain in DOD, the
Panel also calls for DOD to create a pilot program where it would be able to
get assistance from technology consultants via an on-line talent marketplace.
Additional recommendations would limit protests under
certain circumstances, with recommendation 67 eliminating the ability of
a contractor to file a protest at the COFC after filing with GAO. Similar recommendations deal with dollar
levels for protests and timelines for protest resolution.
Panel Chairman David Drabkin called the Volume 3
report, “the one with the bold ideas” at a recent gathering at George
Washington University Law School. It is
expected to be the final report of the Section 809 panel. The House and Senate Armed Services
Committees, along with DOD and other interested parties, will now sift through
the recommendations to see which ones make into future Defense Authorization
measures or DOD policy directives. This
will likely be a multi-year process.
In the meantime, the Panel has published an Executive Summary of the Volume 3
report, available here for those who want to take a more complete look: https://section809panel.org/volume-3-report/
The IRS is bringing
back over half of its furloughed workforce to process tax refunds while, at
the same time, US Courts may shutter most of their civil operations
after January 25th if no additional funds are provided by
Congress. These are just two examples of
the shifting sands of federal business during a partial government
shut-down. The person you were speaking
with today, may not be their next week. Re-called
workers, though, are unlikely to be available for industry meetings except when
they are directly related to immediate, mission critical performance. Indeed,
meetings and travel are among the top agency activities to be curtailed as a
result of the partial shut-down. Agencies
like GSA that are operating from fee-based money are even curtailing travel to
ensure that funds for core operations are available for as long as possible.
All of this spells increased frustration for
contractors. Planned projects
sit idly, invoices pile up, and key opportunities for communication
evaporate. The longer the partial shut-down
continues, the longer it will take to unravel when everyone goes back to work,
too. No one can assume that
federal business will be “business as usual” with currently closed agencies for
some time.
Dedicated reader M. Obama of Washington D.C. writes, “My
new company sells to state governments in addition to our federal business. Our state prices are all over the map. Could this impact our GSA federal business?” Indeed they can, M. Making it worse is that state reps can fail
to understand why their business is your business. When a company obtains a GSA Schedule contract
it must usually tell GSA about its discounting practices, including those to
state governments. While prices
that are “all over the map” can pose a challenge, taking the time to accurately
tell GSA about your standard and non-standard discounts practices can mitigate
that risk. Further, your company may want to
recommend a Basis of Award customer class that is not state governments
for purposes of complying with the Schedules Price Reductions Clause. Trying to
keep track of unfettered discounting for Price Reduction Clause compliance is a
nightmare and puts you at a high risk for fines and penalties from
non-compliance. Your senior management
should insist on regular, thorough communication inside your company so that the GSA
Schedule contracts manager knows about all of your current discounting
practices, state or otherwise.
It should also be clear that fines your company pays for non-compliance
will be borne equally by the federal team and whatever division caused the
miscommunication. GSA Schedule compliance is
everyone’s business.
Allen
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The
breakdown in talks between the White House and Congressional leaders last week
has left many senior Congressional members believing that the partial
government shutdown could be with us for several weeks. Both political parties seem to have
substantial unity for their respective positions – at least for now. While the House has voted on passage of
individual agency spending bills, Senate leaders have said that they will not
consider any measure to re-open the government until a bi-partisan deal has
been worked out with the White House. For
contractors, this means that the payment on invoices already sent to closed
agencies will continue to be delayed, closed agencies will not be able to have
their employees travel or meet with industry, and, importantly, that employees
that work on federal sites that are now closed, will not be paid via their
usual charge numbers. It is
highly unlikely that contractors will receive “back pay” when closed agencies
eventually re-open. Additionally, agencies that are closed, with only essential
employees at work, are highly unlikely to take meetings with contractors for
business development purposes. The
situation continues to shift in some “closed” agencies as well. Those that generate their own user fees, such
as the Interior Business Center, are at least somewhat open, for now. When user-fee money is spent, however, some
of those agencies may shift to closed, or reduce operations from what
they are currently. The US Courts office
has announced that this is the course they are likely to follow. Some contractors have also reported
disruptions in offices that should be open as they have their FY’19 funding.
Allen
Federal continues to predict that the partial shut-down will last at least until
the end of January.
Financial markets, contractors, federal employees, and – importantly –
those who depend on government programs such as SNAP, will begin to be
seriously impacted after that time. Once
that happens, pressure will only grow on Congress to develop its own solution,
with or without White House support.