28 January 2009
Senate stimulus bill packed with IT spending
The $365 billion stimulus bill the Senate Finance Committee approved on Jan. 27 is packed with IT spending, including incentives to encourage health information technology, expansion of broadband services and funds for modernization projects at numerous agencies.
19 January 2009
GSA works to improve Schedule 70 operations
The General Services Administration is cleaning up the operations of its $16 billion information technology schedule contract, an official said Jan. 14.
15 January 2009
GSA considers launching STARS II
The General Services Administration plans to launch a second version of its governmentwide technology contract set aside for small businesses, an agency official said yesterday.
6 January 2009
More businesses turning to the government market in 2009
While the economic news in the private sector over the past few years has been consistently grim, government agencies continue to buy goods and services at a steady pace and savvy vendors are adjusting their sales and marketing strategies accordingly.
18 December 2008
GSA
awards 72 small business Alliant contracts
The General Services Administration awarded 72 small businesses spots
on the Alliant Small Business contract 10 more companies than in the
initial award, the agency announced today.
8 December 2008
GSA bumps $50B Alliant awards to 2009
The General Services Administration plans to award the Alliant Small
Business telecommunications contract this month, as it seeks to further
evaluate bids on the much larger Alliant contract, agency officials
said today.
2 December 2008
GSA gets new congressional affairs leader
Brian Mabry, a deputy associate administrator at the General Services
Administration's Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs,
will become associate administrator and take charge of the office Dec.
6, GSA announced today.
26 November 2008 GSA
Steps Newsletter, Issue No. 20
This issue contains interesting articles on the new Multiple Award
Schedule Program Office, a number of articles on issues impacting
Global Supply industry partners, and more.
30 November 2008
GSA
gets tough with IT vendors over pricing
Government contract negotiators are taking a harder line with many
information technology vendors amid growing concerns by auditors and
investigators that companies are overpricing.
21 November 2008
Burton:
Contractors will get more accountability
The responsibility for accountability will continue to shift during the
coming years to federal contractors, a former top procurement official
said today.
20 November 2008
Acting
GSA administrator backs broad cooperative purchasing plan
The General Services Administration should open up all its supply
schedules to state and local governments, the head of the agency said
on Thursday.
29 October 2008
GSA
creates contract for 'green' support services
GSA creates contract for 'green' support services.
24 October 2008
GSA
creates private network for transition teams
Although the president-elect's transition team will not have immediate
access to government systems, due to security regulations, they will
have computers and key applications via a secure network, a government
official said Friday.
21 October 2008
GSA
Varnado: GSA must prove its contracts' value
Tyree Varnado, acting commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service,
said today the General Services Administration hopes to show value to
its customers to lead them away from using in-house contracts.
9 October 2008
GSA
sees agencies buying more via online shops
As procurement experts consider the General Services Administrations
online shopping centers vital to checking prices on the Multiple Award
Schedules program, agencies spent more money last year via those shops.
6 October 2008 Panel
to recommend rolling back pricing clause
The Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel today agreed to recommend
that officials remove the price reduction clause regarding products
sold on the MAS programs contracts.
1 October 2008
New
office will manage schedules contracts
The General Services Administration today announced that a new office
will oversee its Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) program, a major
program in the procurement agency.
29 September 2008
Going
through the motions
The Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel, which is reviewing various
parts of the MAS program, approved seven recommendations at its Sept.
19 and 22 meetings. The recommendations focus on professional services
sold through MAS contracts. At its October meetings, the panel will
discuss issues related to products. The panel will send its recommended
changes to the program to the General Services Administrations
administrator.
29 September 2008
GSAs
consolidation 2.0 project
Agency looks to a shared services model to eliminate costly
redundancies in the procurement system
A General Services Administration-managed e-government project with a
history of consolidating federal acquisition systems needs
streamlining, according to GSA officials.
20 August 2008
Senator
upset by Williams appointment
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has said he is disappointed with
President Bush for naming Jim Williams acting administrator of the
General Services Administration.
19 August 2008
GSA
signs agreement on veterans' businesses
The General Services Administration and an organization that promotes
veteran-owned businesses signed an agreement today to increase the
amount of money GSA sends to service-disabled veterans, the agency said.
August 15 2008
GSA
extends deadline for TIC proposals
Vendors working on responses to a statement of work for Trusted
Internet Connections services now have until Sept. 10 to complete them,
an extension from the original Aug. 18 deadline.
August 12 2008 GSA's
still resolving Mobile Armor case
The General Services Administration is still trying to find the right
course of action to take about a vendor whose marketing materials
falsely implied the government had found its products to be the best,
according to GSA officials.
1 August 2008 Williams
GSA nomination blocked; options weighed
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) put an unexpected brake on Jim Williams
path to head the General Services Administration last week, but the
Bush administration does have some options to get around it, according
to observers.
28 July 2008 Buzz
of the Week: Procurement deja vu
Procurement deja vu
If Rip Van Winkle had fallen asleep last year and awakened last week,
he surely would have felt the deja vu. The big issues of the week ended
up being retreads of ones that have been much discussed foryears.
25 July 2008
Senate
panel set to vote on Williams this week
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will
consider Jim Williams nomination to head the General Services
Administration July 30 at a committee markup, the panels chairman said.
25 July 2008 Poised
to lead GSA, Williams answers Congress
Jim Williams, the nominee to be the next administrator of the General
Services Administration, shared his views with the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in a 41-page questionnaire,
which addresses a range of issues: energy efficiency, interagency
contracts, the Alliant contract and former GSA administrator Lurita
Doan.
24 July 2008 Waxman
questions need for Schedules panel
The panel created to evaluate and possibly change the General Services
Administration's schedule progam may not be needed, according to Rep.
Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman hof the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee.
18 July 2008
GSA
to add TIC to Networx contracts
Agencies trying to reduce their number of Internet gateways will soon
be able to turn to the General Services Administration's Networx
program for help. GSA is adding services associated with the Trusted
Internet Connections (TIC) initiative to the contracts.
10 July 2008 FCW
Insider: Williams to get his hearing
It isn't totally official yet, but Jim Williams, commissioner of GSA's
Federal Acquisition Service and the Bush administration's nominee to be
GSA administrator, has his confirmation hearing.
7 July 2008
Editorial:
Right man, bad timing?
We wholeheartedly and enthusiastically endorse the nomination of Jim
Williams to be administrator of the General Services Administration.
Former GSA Administrator Lurita Doan hired him to be the first
commissioner of GSAs Federal Technology Service, and nominating him for
the top post is a masterful move on the Bush administrations part.
Williams is like a grown-up Boy Scout somebody we trust to put the
interests of the government above his own.
11 June 2008
Senate
passes purchasing bill
The Senate has passed legislation to open to state and local
governments the General Services Administration's contract for homeland
security and law enforcement products and services.
26 June 2008
New
law opens some GSA contracts to state, local agencies
President Bush today signed a bill that opens some of the General
Services Administrations contracts to state and local governments to
make some purchases.
25 June 2008
Williams
nominated as GSA administrator
Jim Williams, the commissioner of the General Services Administrations
Federal Acquisition Service, has been nominated to be GSA"s
administrator, the White House announced today.
16 June 2008
GSA
expects schedules office by July
The General Services Administration could set up a new office as early
as July to oversee its multiple-award schedule contracts, a GSA
official said today.
11 June 2008
Senate
passes purchasing bill
The Senate has passed legislation to open to state and local
governments the General Services Administration's contract for homeland
security and law enforcement products and services.
10 June 2008
GSA:
Congress should broaden state, local access to GSA contracts
As the Senate considers legislation that would open several General
Services Administration contracts to state and local agencies, a top
GSA official said today that the measure should include more
opportunities.
8 June 2008
Price
clause spurs more questions
What does the price reduction clause mean? Contractors and government
procurement officials say they often are confused about what it means,
which is why the General Services Administration created a panel to
study that and other questions related to its schedule contracts.
20 May 2008
Outside
IG disputes Doan's interference claims
Claims that the General Services Administration's inspector general
pressured GSA contracting officers during contract negotiations with
Sun Microsystems are baseless, according to a report by the U.S. Postal
Service's IG.
19 May 2008
Balutis:
Finding a new administrator
The General Services Administration is one of the major administrative
management arms of the government. It provides services, supplies,
solutions and policies not only for information technology and
acquisition but also for building and office space management, motor
vehicles and fleets, personal property, telework, and green
initiatives, among other things. It manages access to the governments
Web portal, USA.gov, in addition to print publications mailed from
Pueblo, Colo., and telephone assistance through the National Contact
Center at 1-800-FedInfo. When we talk about the so-called business of
government, GSA is at the heart of finding newer, smarter and cheaper
ways to deliver services to people and government itself.
12 May 2008
Soloway:
Challenges are opportunities
The resignation of an agency head always produces its share of drama.
But those departures, regardless of the circumstances, are common and
generally less important than the agencys overall condition and the
leadership that remains.
5 May 2008
Amtower:
A drop in the bucket: Frenzy about abuses of GSAs small-purchase credit
card program ignores its ample value
A recent study by the Government Accountability Office requested by
Sens. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) and Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has once again
created a minor media furor over SmartPay, the small-purchase credit
card program managed by the General Services Administration. Details
about the program appeared on the front page of the Washington Post
April 9. The story ran above the fold with a headline, Federal Credit
Cards Misused.
5 May 2008
Post-Doan
GSA to focus on customers
Lurita Doan, former administrator of the General Services
Administration, set out to restore GSAs reputation for customer
service. But some procurement experts say she pulled the agency off
course in her nearly two years as chief and failed to achieve her goals.
30 April 2008 Government-Contract
Head Resigns Post After Months of Controversy
WASHINGTON -- The head of the agency that administers federal contracts
has resigned amid allegations of engaging in illegal political
activities and doling out no-bid awards.
23 April 2008
GSA
releases FAR changes for comment
The General Services Administration is seeking public comment on
proposed changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulation that would place
greater emphasis on government contractors past performance when they
bid on new awards.
21 April 2008
GSA
pricing policy could get the boot
A new advisory panel will evaluate the relevance of a price reduction
clause that requires companies on General Services Administration
schedule contracts to offer the government their most deeply discounted
prices.
17 April 2008
Doan
seeks advice on schedule program
A new advisory panel will begin an in-depth review of the General
Services Administrations policies and regulations for schedule
contracts, the agency announced today.
14 April 2008
Contractors
are here to stay
When presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) declared in
2007 that she would eliminate 500,000 federal contractors if elected
president, some policy experts said she couldnt do it. One of those
experts was Steven Schooner, senior associate dean of academic affairs
and associate professor of law at George Washington University.
7 April 2008
Waldron:
Restoring balance-GSA has an opportunity to fix problems created by a
thorny price reductions clause
The General Services Administration should examine the contradiction
between the competitive task-order process and the noncompetitive
pricing terms and conditions inherent in multiple-award schedule (MAS)
contracts.
2 April 2008
GSA
memo clarifies terms of IBM suspension
A government document obtained today confirms that the Environmental
Protection Agencys March 27 suspension of IBM from government work
stops agencies' actions to purchase from the company.
1 April 2008
GSA
re-examines Alliant Small Business awards
The General Services Administration is taking another look at its
Alliant Small Business contract awards.
31 March 2008
Alliant
faces months-long setback
Agencies and contractors waiting to start work on task orders through
the General Services Administrations Alliant contract will remain idle
for several more months, procurement experts say.
31 March 2008 A
'who's who' in small-biz rule: Officials propose changes to make
contracting set-aside decisions easier
Contracting officers often get tangled in the weeds as they try to
figure out which small-business set-aside programs should apply to a
given solicitation. A proposed rule might clear some of that confusion,
but it could also leave contracting officers with less flexibility to
make contracting decisions.
27 March 2008
GSA
to reevaluate Alliant bids
The General Services Administration will re-evaluate all 62 of the bid
proposals for its Alliant contract, GSA said today.
24 March 2008
GSA
GSA to go ahead with Alliant: Officials must decide specific remedy
after court rules in favor of protesters
The General Services Administration plans to proceed with Alliant, a
10- year, $50 billion information technology contract, despite a judges
ruling that upheld protests filed by eight losing bidders.
24 March 2008
Buzz
of the Week: GSA: Between Alliant and a hard place
By the time you read this and even as it is written late Friday it may
be out of date. The situation surrounding the General Services
Administrations $50 billion Alliant governmentwide acquisition contract
appears to be evolving quickly, and its being carefully watched inside
and outside government.
17 March 2008
GSA
awards $2.5 billion contract for contact center services
The General Services Administration is offering agencies another way to
quickly set up contact centers during emergencies.
6 March 2008 Court
stops work on $50 billion Alliant contract
A federal judge has ordered the General Services Administration to stop
all work on the $50 billion Alliant contract, ruling that the agency
failed to consistently apply its award criteria when assessing the bids
of the 62 vendors.
5 March 2008
GSA
issues Security LOB enterprise software notice
The next phase of the Security Line of Business effort is in motion.
The General Services Administration issued March 4 a SmartBuy
enterprise software license notice for situation awareness and incident
response applications.
4 March 2008
Judge
rules in favor of Alliant protesters, source says
A U.S. Federal Claims Court judge ruled March 3 in favor of companies
protesting the General Services Administrations awards for its Alliant
governmentwide acquisition contract, according to a person familiar
with the case.
3 March 2008 GSA
launches new initiative to help veterans
The General Services Administration wants to boost the amount of
contracting dollars going to veteran-owned businesses with a new
initiative announced today.
25 February 2008
GSA
names new deputy general counsel
Lennard Loewentritt has been appointed the General Services
Administrations deputy general counsel, effective March 2. He will also
continue as acting general counsel.
22 February 2008
FCW
Insider: Game of chickens
We got hopeful when we saw that GSA's inspector general was going to
speak publicly, only to then read the fine print -- press not allowed.
What are we all afraid of? So I am deputizing you as reporters for the
day and you can let us know what goes on.
18 February 2008
Section
508 remains a high hurdle: GSA pursues a carrot-and-stick strategy for
improving compliance with the law
The acquisition community continues to struggle with its efforts to buy
information technology products and services that meet accessibility
requirements, although it has been nine years since the enactment of
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments created those
requirements.
4 February 2008
Most
agencies still wary of SaaS: But DOD and GSA see software as a service
as a way to reduce development costs
Some federal agencies want to learn whether buying software as a
service is appropriate for them. SaaS is a trend that industry experts
say could eventually replace costly software purchases and risky
implementations.
4 February 2008
Time
for a Schedule 70 makeover?:New director of GSA's schedules contracts
sorts through ideas for updating the program
Sales on the General Services Administrations largest schedule
contract, Schedule 70, were looking flat before this year, and fiscal
2008 figures arent showing any bounce.
23 January 2008
GSA
GSA adds security services to schedules
The General Services Administration added four new services to its
schedules contracts Jan. 16 as the agency pushes ahead with efforts to
meet agencies security convergence needs, officials said today.
21 January 2008
GSA
looking for software as a service for USA.gov
The General Services Administration wants to jump on the
software-as-a-service bandwagon through its Office of Citizen Services
and Communications.
16 January 2008
GSA
awards contracts for wireless expense management
The General Services Administration on Jan. 15 awarded contracts to
three vendors to help agencies manage their wireless devices, and
possibly save money by avoiding unnecessary fees for devices.
14 January 2008
GSA
adds IBM to line of business schedule
The General Services Administration added IBM to the list of vendors
approved to provide services under the Human Resources Line of
Business. But Big Blue and the three other vendors who won places on
the schedule last month may not get much business in the near future.
11 January 2008
Drabkin
becomes GSA's acquisition chief
David Drabkin has been appointed deputy chief acquisition officer and
senior procurement executive at the General Services Administration,
Administrator Lurita Doan announced today.
8 January 2008
GSA
changes its mind, adds Stanley to Alliant
The General Services Administration added a company to its Alliant
contract that it initially passed on, the company said today.
4 January 2008
USA.gov
to get support from small-biz firm
USA.gov, the government's official Web portal, will get content
assistance and other information technology services from Cascades
Technologies under a a five-year, $3.5 million contract the General
Services Administration has awarded the company.
13 December 2007
USAID
to look for IT support
The U.S. Agency for International Development plans to solicit
information technology support for its humanitarian and foreign
disaster assistance programs.
11 December 2007
GSA
seeks help with IPv6 training
As the deadline for installing the next IP approaches, the General
Services Administration is asking industry about training federal
workforce for the transition.
7 December 2007
GSA
considers outsourcing schedule contract application system
The General Services Administration may replace its Schedules Input
Program, the system for uploading a contractors schedule contract
application and catalog information on the GSA Advantage Web site.
5 December 2007
OMB,
agencies to push green IT in contracts
The Office of Management and Budget is expected to publish next week a
provision to the Federal Acquisition Regulations to purchase
environmental and energy-saving electronic products when they are
available, Holly Elwood, headquarters lead of the Environmental
Protection Agencys Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
(EPEAT) program, said today.
4 December 2007
Group
to GSA: Be a 'trusted adviser,' 'thought leader'
The General Services Administration must focus on its customers and
regain their confidence, an industry working group told GSA officials
last week.
3 December 2007
Agencies
overlook disability rule: Few agency IT solicitations include mandatory
Section 508 specifications
Agencies often forget about making information technology purchases
that meet the needs of people with disabilities, as shown by the tiny
number of solicitations that include references to accessibility
standards.
26 November 2007
Editorial:
Fixing the schedules
Like them or not, GSA's schedule contracts have been remarkably
successful, accounting for about $36 billion in annual sales.
20 November 2007
Wilkinson
to leave GSA
The General Services Administrations chief acquisition officer Molly
Wilkinson has resigned after a short seven-and-a-half month stint,
government and industry sources say.
15 November 2007
GSA's
'financial house in order,' Doan says
The General Services Administrations schedules sales increased this
year as the agency got a grasp on its finances, the agency said.
12 November 2007
Congress
endorses GSA's assisted services
Lawmakers want the Defense Department to use the General Services
Administrations assisted acquisition services so DOD experts are free
to work on defense-specific procurements.
9 November 2007
Canon,
EMC drop out of GSA schedules
Two more household names in the government information technology
market have walked away from the General Services Administration.
7 November 2007
GSA
lashes back at DOD IG
A top General Services Administration official said today he was very
disappointed by a report from the Defense Departments inspector general
condemning the Air Force for wasting money by using GSAs
assisted-acquisition services.
5 November 2007
Aronie:
The danger of discounts
Mark Twain once advised the press that the report of my death was an
exaggeration. Although Im no Mark Twain, and I suspect that my
sabbatical from the pages of Federal Computer Week has not caused as
much consternation as the premature publication of Twains obituary in
the New York Journal did in 1897, I have received a fair number of
e-mail messages asking me where Ive gone.
2 November 2007
IG:
DOD wasted money by placing orders with GSA
The Defense Department wasted more than $600,000 when it turned to the
General Services Administration for help in placing orders on an Air
Force task-order contract, according to a new report from DODs
inspector general.
30 October 2007
Legislation:
Give service-disabled business owners priority
Service-disabled veterans who own small businesses should get top
priority in government contracting, according to a bill the House
passed today.
25 October 2007
GSA,
Army sign enterprise license deals for IT asset management
The General Services Administration and the Army Small Computer
Programs Enterprise Software Initiative have signed governmentwide
contracts with two information technology asset management companies.
24 October 2007
Industry
to evaluate GSA's grasp on info protection services
As it works to construct a new multiple-award schedule contract, the
General Services Administration wants to understand how businesses deal
with securing information.
19 October 2007GSA
to award contract for evaluating financial shared-services providers
The General Services Administration will likely release in early 2008 a
request for proposals to test and evaluate the capabilities of
commercial shared-services providers, said Mary Mitchell, program
manager for the Financial Management Line of Business and executive
director at GSAs Financial Systems Integration Office.
9 October 2007
GSA
offers risk analysis services for breaches
The General Services Administration will offer risk analysis services
that agencies can acquire to identify harm caused by data breaches. GSA
will offer them through agreements it signed with two GSA schedule
contractors.
8 October 2007
Editorial:
Assisting acquisitions
GSA's assisted services business is too important to let fail. Here are
three steps to make it work.
3 October 2007
GSA
awards $0 contract for spending database data
The General Services Administration will not be paying for the
contracting and grant data that will be in the federal spending
database.
24 September 2007
Agencies
can rehire retired experts: OFPP urges agencies to take advantage of a
provision in GSA Modernization Act
As more federal acquisition experts retire, agencies are struggling to
fill the knowledge gap. By using a little-known provision in the
General Services Administration Modernization Act of 2006, managers can
pull retirees back into contracting jobs without any pension penalties.
17 September 2007
Convergence
is more than buzz: GSA seeks to revamp schedules to reflect merging of
physical and computer security
General Services Administration officials say they are looking for ways
to support security convergence through the agencys existing contract
schedules.
14 September 2007
OFPP
details how to bring retired acquisition workers back
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy has set up a way for agencies
to relieve some of the acquisition workforce burdenhiring retired
federal workers.
14 September 2007
Sun
pulls out of GSA schedules contract
Sun Microsystems, mired for months in a battle with the General
Services Administration and the agency's inspector general over pricing
policies and audit practices, announced Friday it would cancel its
Multiple Award Schedule contract as of Oct. 12.
11 September 2007
GSA
recruits integrity council to review Sun case
Lurita Doan, administrator for the General Services Administration, has
asked the Presidents Council on Integrity and Efficiency to help sort
out a conflict between GSA's inspector general and Sun Microsystems,
saying the case is just one example of a disturbing trend.
10 September 2007
GSA
on the road to recovery? Agency officials announce plans to fix sagging
assisted acquisition services
In the past three years, the market for assisted acquisition services
moved, but the General Services Administration didnt. Now the agency is
trying to catch up.
6 September 2007
Alliant
protests won't slow GSA, officials say
Companies filed five new bid protests Aug. 31 on the General Services
Administrations major information technology contract Alliant, bringing
the total number of protests to eight.
3 September 2007
Buzz
of the Week
Sept. 1 begins a one-month countdown to the end of the federal
governments fiscal year.
31 August 2007
Gulf
Coast businesses get boost from GSA
A new directive from the General Services Administration will
streamline the process for awarding recovery contracts to small
businesses in the Gulf Coast region, the agency said today.
30 August 2007
GSA
seeks approaches for financial management systems
The General Services Administration seeks information to develop
testing and evaluation strategies related to selecting commercial
shared-service providers for the Financial Management Line of Business
consolidation initiative. The testing strategies would ensure that
financial management systems are implemented efficiently and meet core
system and agency-defined requirements.
16 August 2007
GSA
puts schedules in Express lane
A test of the General Services Administrations program to speed the
award process for schedule contracts is moving into its second phase,
as agency officials see successes and the potential for more.
8 August 2007
GAO
denies protests of award to run GSA's HSPD-12 office
The General Services Administrations Homeland Security Presidential
Directive 12 Managed Service Office can finally move forward without
concerns.
August
2007
New
Expense Rates for Travelers
The General Services Administration has announced the government's
fiscal 2008 per diems -- the maximum daily reimbursement that federal
employees can claim for expenses while on official travel. The standard
rate will increase to $109 from $99 a day for travel within the
continental United States. The standard lodging rate for an overnight
stay increased to $70, from $60, and the daily reimbursement for meals
remained at $39. In addition to raising the standard per diem by $10
for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, the GSA also set new
rates for 393 destinations in the United States, such as large cities,
where hotels and meals cost more. Federal employees traveling to the
Washington area, for example, will receive a maximum per diem of $265
in fiscal 2008, up from $259 this fiscal year. The 2008 rate applies
except for July and August, when the per diem drops to $218. The
maximum per diem for Baltimore increased by $7, to $214, for fiscal
2008. The GSA posted the per diem tables at www.gsa.gov
6 August 2007
GSA:
Alliant has everything
The new megacontract incorporates the federal enterprise architecture
and the Defense Department's enterprise architecture
It took the General Services Administration more than a year longer
than it expected to award Alliant, its latest governmentwide
acquisition contract. But officials said several innovative features of
the information technology contract will make it well worth the wait.
26 July 2007
GSA
goes to Eagle Eye for contract, grant data
The General Services Administration intends to issue a sole-sourcing
purchase order to Eagle Eye Publishers for custom programming services
as the agency works to put federal contract and grant information into
an easily searchable public database.
16 July 2007
8(a)
small businesses take a tumble: GSA enforces STARS contract by dropping
197 companies that failed to meet sales target
Richard Rea, president of the telecommunications and information
technology company R Rea, was one of 197 small-business owners whose
companies the General Services Administration delisted in June from a
governmentwide acquisition contract for minority-owned small
businesses. Like the 196 other companies, R Rea did not reach a
mandatory $100,000 sales benchmark during the contracts three-year base
period.
16 July 2007
Editorial:
Is FCW 'Doan obsessed?': The General Services Administration is
important, that is reflected in news coverage
Federal Computer Week has spent a good amount of time, effort, energy
and ink covering the General Services Administration during the past 18
months. We have covered GSA and the agencys administrator, Lurita Doan,
so much that, during a recent gathering, we were respectfully, of
course accused of being Doan obsessed.
16 July 2007
GSA:
We'll change to black: GSA officials ready new business model for its
assisted acquisition services business
The General Services Administration is looking at all options for
overhauling its slumping assisted acquisition services business. GSA
officials said they intend to bring business costs in line with revenue
by October, the start of the new fiscal year.
12 July 2007
Denett:
Award contracts to vet-owned businesses
Paul Denett, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy,
said driving government contracts to veteran-owned small businesses is
one of his priorities and should be a priority of agencies as well.
9 July 2007
Doan:
Networx means change: The new telecommunications contracts will have a
far-reaching effect on agencies missions
In unveiling the extensive Networx telecommunications contracts, the
General Services Administration recently ushered in a new era with
far-reaching implications for the security and prosperity of the nation
and how government agencies accomplish their missions.
5 July 2007
Contract
appeals boards merge into one
Eight agencies contract appeals boards were combined into a single
organization in January, and an interim rule issued today outlines the
new boards governing rules.
27 June 2007
GSA:
Oversight will not be outsourced
The General Services Administration wants to offer agencies
more contract support services, not overstep bounds by outsourcing
oversight, officials said today.
25 June 2007
Editorial:
More headlines than help: FCW shares hopeful and depressing points
about the main players at a Doan hearing
Federal agencies face tough issues, particularly those related to
procurement. But you wouldnt know that if you had attended a House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing earlier this month,
which featured Lurita Doan, administrator of the General
Administration, in a starring role.
25 June 2007
Encryption
BPAs are open to all: Contracts awarded under GSAs SmartBuy signal
better intergovernmental relations
A newly opened door for state and local governments to buy from federal
contracts signifies improving intergovernmental relations, according to
procurement officials who announced 10 precedent-setting blanket
purchase agreements last week. The BPAs offer encryption products and
services to protect sensitive, unclassified information stored on
laptop PCs and mobile computing and removable storage devices.
19 June 2007
Interior
gives up on providing HSPD-12 services
The Interior Department is abandoning its plans to be a shared-services
provider (SSP) under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12.
18 June 2007
Buzz
of the Week: Doans in-tense hearing
Lurita Doans second appearance before the House Oversight and
Government Reform Committee last week was in many ways more of a
sideshow than anything else. Yes, it was incredible political theater,
the likes of which the government information technology community
rarely sees. And yes, the committees chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman
(D-Calif.), managed to steal the headlines by calling for the GSA
administrator to resign.
18 June 2007
The
outsourcer's dilemma: Many agencies need the help of contractors now
more than ever, but outsourcing can be a minefield for the ill-prepared
Rapid technology changes, aging government workforces and shrinking
budgets are driving a growing number of state and local officials to
turn to private contractors for help in running technology-based
operations. But under the surface of those common challenges, state and
local technology outsourcing is difficult to pigeonhole.
4 June 2007
Corini:
Raise your guard: 5 beneficial practices for managing your GSA schedule
contracts and staying clean
Contractors have always feared lawsuits or audits by the government,
but they have accepted that possibility as a cost of doing business.
Now weve seen that contractors must also be alert to potential audits
or suits brought by whistle-blowers in their own companies.
4 June 2007
Editorial:
Stating the obvious Define government's business as the people's
business
Amid all the talk about the Hatch Act, the General Services
Administration and GSA Administrator Lurita Doan, it seems like a prime
opportunity for leaders to explicitly state what should be obvious:
Government agencies must not be used as partisan political tools.
8 May 2007
GSA
IG: Contracting officers not using e-forms
Vendors continue to use paper rather than electronic forms to submit
contract offers and make modifications, as interviews with contracting
officers reveal a lack of buy-in and weak incentives to go digital,
according to a March 6 inspector general report.
2 May 2007
Two
firms protest GSA's HSPD-12 award to EDS
Two companies have protested the General Services Administrations award
to EDS to run the agencys Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12
Managed Services Office (MSO).
30 April 2007
GSA's
water torture
This is Federal Computer Weeks 11th issue of the year and it marks the
fifth time that the Buzz of the Week has involved, in one way or
another, the General Services Administration. Some will argue that that
statistic says something about FCW or media, but it also says something
about the kind of year that GSA has been having. The past week was no
exception.
16 April 2007
GSA,
DOD seek data encryption under SmartBuy
The General Services Administration and the Defense Department issued a
request for quotations last week for full-disk encryption or a
file/folder encryption system under the government's SmartBuy
enterprise software management program.
9 April 2007
GSA
seeks all-purpose customer service support
Citizens must be able to easily contact the government, so to help them
do that, the General Services Administration wants contractors to
handle the different avenues of its customer services program.
2 April 2007
Another
GSA official heads to private sector
Another senior General Services Administration procurement official is
heading to the private sector.
2 April 2007
GSA,
OPM delay HR business line solicitation, awards
The General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel
Management have pushed back the awards for the Human Resources Line of
Business to August.
2 April 2007 GSA:
Never a dull moment
Lawmakers intensified their oversight of the General Services
Administration by summoning GSA Administrator Lurita Doan last week.
But GSA has been regular fodder for Federal Computer Week cartoonist
John Klossner. The following is a collection of Klossners takes on GSA.
2 April 2007
Wagner:
Why GSA matters, Business process economies have surpassed economies of
scale in importance today
Recent press coverage of the General Services Administration has not
been all positive, so we should remind ourselves why GSA matters and
will continue to matter. This minor agency, known primarily within the
federal government, plays an important role in helping the rest of the
government fulfill its mission. But much has changed since the agency
was formed in 1949. It is worth reviewing why an organization created
to solve the procurement problems of a post-World War II era government
is relevant in the era of the Internet, globalization and the war on
terrorism.
22 March 2007
GSA
back on track, Doan says
Lurita Doan wants everyone to know that the General Services
Administration has gotten its groove back.
14 March 2007
GSA
to seek commercial financial management providers
The Financial Systems Integration Office will select vendors from which
agencies can choose to provide services under the Financial Management
Line of Business consolidation initiative.
15 February 2007 OMB
seeks public input on federal spending search tool
The Office of Management and Budget has announced an ambitious schedule
to implement a requirement to report on federal spending, sketching out
how data will flow from a spaghetti bowl of sources and formats into a
unified, searchable database by the end of this year.
6 February 2007
GSA,
IG told to work together on contract oversight
The Bush administrations fiscal 2008 budget tells Lurita Doan,
administrator of the General Services Administration, and GSA Inspector
General Brian Miller, to work together on reviewing contractors.
23 January 2007
Doan
'elated' by SEWP decision
Reversing her previous stance, Lurita Doan, administrator of the
General Services Administration, said today she was elated by the
decision to allow NASAs acquisition contract to continue.
15 January 2007
Performance-based
acquisitions down in fiscal 2006
Departments slid to 49 percent in fiscal 2006 from 50.9 percent in
fiscal 2005, the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation found.
12 January 2007
Details
of TCE deal emerge
The General Services Administration has agreed to help the Treasury
Department cancel its Treasury Communications Enterprise contract, as
part of an agreement that will bring Treasury's telecommunications
business to GSA.
11 January 2007
GSA's
chief acquisition officer to leave for private sector
The General Services Administration's chief acquisition officer
announced Wednesday that after three years in government, she is
leaving for a private sector law firm.
2 January 2007
Doan
declines Snowe's request for GWAC restriction
A senior U.S. senator asked the General Services Administration to
place restrictions on which businesses can bid on a large information
technology contract, but GSA said no, according to correspondence
between GSA and Capitol Hill.
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