acquisition | Voter.org

House lawmakers advance bills on acquisition security, IT procurement

September 20, 2024 Lawmakers, bills, advance, acquisition, procurement, security, House0 comment

House lawmakers have advanced a raft of bills aimed at bolstering supply chain security efforts, streamlining technology purchases and increasing cross-agency sharing of software code. The House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday advanced 13 bills to the full House floor. Among them was the unanimously passed “Federal Acquisition Security Council Improvement Act,” which would bolster the council’s ability to ban products from federal supply chains. The council was created as part of the SECURE Technology Act of 2018. It currently has the authority to issue recommendations for removing or…

Lawmakers, DoD to explore portfolio-based acquisition

August 11, 2024 Lawmakers, Explore, acquisition, portfoliobased0 comment

When it comes to acquisition, the Defense Department is mostly focused on individual products as they’re defined in the DoD budget. Lawmakers are now asking the DoD to explore portfolio-based management, which could allow the department to invest and field modern technologies a lot faster. In the Defense Department’s science and technology community, for example, investment lines are organized around portfolios of capabilities, such as electromagnetic warfare, communications, or command and control. The approach gives more flexibility to support a wide variety of development efforts. But on the acquisition side,…

4 major acquisition changes GSA is pursuing in 2024

November 17, 2023 Pursuing, 2024, acquisition, changes, Major0 comment

The General Services Administration is driving what it hopes to be a final nail in the LPTA coffin. As one of three major acquisition policy changes GSA is seeking over the next year, the proposal would remove language in the schedules program that many blame for why agencies use lowest price, technically acceptable (LPTA) still too often. Jeff Koses, GSA’s senior procurement executive, said the legislative change would bring clarity to the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984. Jeff Koses is the senior procurement executive at GSA. “Over the last…

Yes, people, the House leadership failure also affects acquisition

October 24, 2023 People, House, Leadership, Affects, also, failure, acquisition0 comment

The longer the House of Representatives remains in stasis, the closer the next budget deadline comes without any action to resolve it. There is lots at stake, including how the federal acquisition function will operate. Not that acquisition was getting any easier with so many new rules coming. For a look at the situation, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin talks with federal sales and marketing consultant Larry Allen. Interview Transcript: Larry Allen Tom, here we are again. And with so many variables, it’s really difficult to predict what’s going to…

OPM’s dual role in talent acquisition poses ‘conflict of interest’

May 1, 2023 Role, poses, Interest, Dual, Conflict, OPM’s, talent, acquisition0 comment

The Office of Personnel Management’s advantageous stake in the talent acquisition space is raising alarm bells in Congress. As both regulator and provider of federal talent acquisition systems, OPM has an unfair advantage against other vendors, said Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee. “OPM sells hiring-related services to those agencies which it oversees via USA Staffing, even though there are many private firms that assist both the private and public sector with hiring and related human capital acquisition activities,” Comer said in a March 22…