Government and information technology industry officials are anxiously awaiting a new federal procurement rule, to be issued June 26, that is meant to ensure adequate competition on Defense Department multiple-award contracts.
As White House officials consider new rules to replace the A-76 process for private-public competition, several lawmakers are preparing to re-introduce legislation that would make it more difficult to outsource government work to the private sector.
IT industry and government officials at a June 7 congressional hearing praised a proposed federal program that would evaluate technical solutions to homeland security challenges.
The General Accounting Office has ordered NASA to reconsider the January award of a $143 million contract to DynCorp after a subsidiary of Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls Inc. protested the choice, claiming the agency's "best value" determination was flawed.
The Defense Information Systems Agency is seeking information on commercial products with metadata search engine capability for the Secret Internet Protocol Router Network.
The Defense Department has rethought plans to disqualify foreign nationals from jobs that include handling unclassified but sensitive information technology.
Signal Corp. has won a $100 million contract to provide a wide range of information technology services to Senate offices on Capitol Hill and in 450 field offices across the country.
Now and then, long-standing legal principles are overtaken ? for good reason ? by competing principles that better match our evolving standards of justice. In contract law, for example, no one today would seriously dispute the idea that a duty of good faith and fair dealing is implicit in all contracts. Yet the concept was foreign to many contracting parties just 40 years ago.
Efforts to bolster information security are gaining momentum on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are considering a host of bills aimed at improving security in the public and private sectors.
The National Homeland Security and Combating Terrorism Act of 2002, S. 2452, was recently approved by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. The House's bill, H.R. 4660, has been referred to the Committee on Government Reform.
As more agencies consider policies that would prevent contractors from using foreign nationals on some government projects, an industry group is complaining that companies are not being consulted on the impact of restrictions.
The Marine Corps is looking for a small, lightweight, rugged computer and is requesting product information from companies. The computer will be used as a bridge between imagery acquisition and imagery transmission. It must weigh less than 3 pounds, including the battery. Performance and component specifications are in the solicitation at <a href="http://fedbizopps.gov">fedbizopps.gov</a>, solicitation no. M67854. Contract specialist Robert Celeste can be reached at (703) 784-5822, ext. 244 or <a href="mailto:celesterm@mcsc.usmc.mil">celesterm@mcsc.usmc.mil</a>.
What it does: HUD, created as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, is responsible for national policy and programs regarding housing. It addresses community housing needs and enforces fair housing laws. It provides rental and housing assistance for those in need, and underwrites mortgage insurance programs for people of lower and moderate income to help them become homeowners.
In my Aug. 13, 2001, article on the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Schedule, I discussed the standards that the General Accounting Office and the GSA itself have established for conducting procurements based on FSS contracts, formally known as the Multiple Award Schedule.
The General Services Administration has been advised in a new study to streamline some operations run separately within the Federal Supply Service and Federal Technology Service. However, questions remain whether making the changes will happen, or if the study missed an opportunity to recommend more fundamental restructuring.
A year ago, many industry and government executives were looking ahead to June 25, 2001, as a "panic day," said Terry Weaver, director of the Center for IT Accommodation at the General Services Administration.
The Environmental Protection Agency's main concerns are human health and the environment. EPA is focused on air pollution, water pollution, solid waste and regulation of chemical products.
When Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta announced March 4 that NCS Pearson Government Solutions had won a nine-month, $103.4 million contract to recruit more than 30,000 federal security personnel for airline passenger screening and other responsibilities, the company learned what it means to be thrust into the limelight.
