I can't remember a time when government procurement leaders have been as silent as they are today. It's not that there isn't a lot worth talking about. So why the silence?
Despite improvements, the Homeland Security Department still has weak information security programs overall, according to a new report from DHS Inspector General Richard L. Skinner.
John G. Grimes, the former vice president of Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems, replaces Linton Wells, who had served as acting CIO and assistant secretary for networks and information.
Intelligence is an imperfect science. Just ask CIA or the 9/11 Commission. Or EDS Corp., the contractor tasked with wrangling thousands of legacy systems into the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet. When EDS started the job, the Navy thought it had about 5,000 applications to integrate. EDS found more than 100,000.
The Federal Communications Commission is expected today to decide whether to approve SBC Communications Inc.'s $16 billion purchase of AT&T Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc.'s $8.5 billion purchase of MCI Inc.
The General Services Administration will hold a public forum on its multibillion-dollar Alliant procurement later next month, and may issue a second set of draft requests for proposals, according to the official in charge.
The Citizenship and Immigration Services agency exceeded the statutory limit on H-1B visas it issued in fiscal 2005, and lacks the technology to stay within the congressionally mandated visa cap, according to Homeland Security Department Inspector General Richard L. Skinner.
George W. Foresman, Virginia's assistant to the governor for commonwealth preparedness, has been nominated by President Bush to be the Homeland Security Department's undersecretary for preparedness.
First responders would have more radio spectrum in the 700 megahertz band under legislation approved Oct. 20 by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee as part of the fiscal 2006 fiscal budget resolution.
The Ethics Resource Center (www.ethics.org), the country's oldest non-profit devoted to promoting organizational ethics, published its National Business Ethics Survey this month.
The most recent example was this summer. GSA insisted, under threat of termination, on major price reductions for Sun Microsystems Inc. products across multiple schedule contracts. But other audits are quietly working through the discovery and settlement process, which involves an analysis of every order and price a company charged for goods and services to federal and nonfederal customers.
Federal procurement officials have published a proposed rule that authorizes time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts for commercial services. The rule implements amendments to the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act and benefits service contractors by shifting most of the risk to the government.
The Air Force's Air Combat Command wants vendors to perform operations and maintenance services for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle MQ-1 program at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada and various locations worldwide.
