Category: Congress

Concerns over NASA’s SEWP VI small business strategy come to surface

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Concerns about NASA’s sixth iteration of its governmentwide acquisition contract known as SEWP have been bubbling underneath the surface for much of the past few months. Industry experts have quietly been wringing their collective hands over NASA’s plans for the small business size standard it detailed in the draft solicitation. The worry is the new size standard would exclude or make it nearly impossible for a large swath of small businesses to compete on the contract. Those fears broke through the surface in a new letter from Reps. Roger Williams…

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Once again with feeling, Congress goes for a budget

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Border. Budget. Border. Budget. If Congress sounds like a broken record, well it is. With two weeks to go before government funding lapses for many agencies, Congress did something to move the ball forward on Sunday. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin gets the latest from Bloomberg Government deputy news director Loren Duggan. Interview Transcript:  Tom Temin Well, it turns out Congress over the weekend looks like it may be made a little progress. We get the latest now from Bloomberg Government Deputy News director Loren Duggan. And Loren, what…

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New year, new opportunities for contracting protests

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Whether Congress passes a 2024 budget or not, federal agencies will continue to engage in contracting. That will mean continued protests by disappointed bidders. You can learn a lot from protests that have already been settled. For a roundup of some of the most significant protests of 2023, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin  spoke with Haynes Boone procurement attorney Dan Ramish. Interview Transcript:  Tom Temin And you’ve got a list you put together that you think are illustrative of the big trends that people should worry about this year,…

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OMB pushes 1% discretionary sequestration requirement off

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Agencies don’t have to worry about a 1% sequestration on discretionary funds kicking in for a few more months. The Office of Management and Budget says the requirement to reduce discretionary spending under the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), signed into law in June, wouldn’t take effect until “after full year appropriations are enacted, or April 30, whichever comes first.” “OMB will take no action on Jan. 1, 2024, and no additional action should be taken by agencies to reduce impacted discretionary funding, even though a short-term continuing resolution will be…

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Comments are closed. Will the FedRAMP program actually get updated?

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An update to the long-running cloud-computing security program known as FedRAMP, has entered a new phase. Comments closed Friday, and now the authorities at the General Services Administration and Office of Management and Budget are percolating. For what the industry is hoping for, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Stephanie Kostro, the Executive Vice President for Policy at the Professional Services Council. Interview Transcript:  Tom Temin And Stephanie, before we get to FedRAMP, I just want to get what is the contractor community thinking about the seemingly headlong rush…

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Meet the new chief scientist at the government’s premier oversight agency

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The Government Accountability Office, the chief oversight arm of Congress , has a new chief scientist. He joins the agency after having been chief scientist at Noblis, a nonprofit research and consulting institute with many federal clients. For more, the Federal Drive with Tom Temin  spoke with Dr. Sterling Thomas. Interview Transcript: Tom Temin Well, first of all, why the jump from the private, nonprofit sector into government in the congressional branch? Sterling Thomas Yeah, it was a tough decision, actually. I’ve had a nice, long and very wonderful career at…

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