Manufacturers of technology must now evaluate a newly proposed system for determining the country of origin of manufactured items because the old "substantial-transformation" test will likely give way to a "tariff-shift" test.
Acquisition policy-makers all seem to agree that acquisition planning is the key activity required to make wise procurement decisions, yet the system doesn't measure this activity. Rather, it appears that the more thoroughly it is done - at least for the purchase of technology - the less likely the procurement will be categorized as competitive.
I went ahead and did it. Everyone has been talking about Web 2.0, and I finally figured I'd better get on board before the Generation Y crowd eats my lunch and leaves me in the dust with the rest of the baby boomers.
To the credit of former GSAAdministrator Lurita Doan and Acting AdministratorDavid Bibb, GSA's Multiple Award Schedule AdvisoryPanel is moving forward. The next meeting of the 15-memberpanel was scheduled to be held May 22 at the GSA auditorium.Such meetings are open to industry.
The federal procurement system is the largest and amongthe cleanest public-sector procurement systems in theworld. It counts transparency and competition as its highestvalues.
A recent Input Inc. report shows that state and local purchases under GSA's IT schedules grew to $361.2 million in 2007, a marked increase compared to 2006. Inputprojects sales under cooperative purchasing to continue to grow at a compound annual rate of 24.6 percent, surpassing $1 billion by 2012.
A common business strategy in the federal market is tostart as a small business, taking advantage of the socioeconomicpolicy that requires large businesses to subcontractto small, disadvantaged businesses andagencies to award 23 percent of their prime contracts to them.
The three whistle-blower cases DOJ joined against Accenture Ltd., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. represent the biggest challenge to manufacturers of commercial products in this decade.
October marks the start of the federal fiscal year, and as in every year since 1994,Congress and the president have failed to give agencies their annual spending authority on time.
One of the all-encompassing, farthest-reaching questions in the world of public contracting is how to create meaningful competition within the procurement system and measure the results in a transparent way.
When Congress returns Sept. 5, the government's new fiscal year will be less than a month away and none of the fiscal 2008 appropriations bills will have been passed into law.
Mention the word kickback and visions spring to mind of dealmakers offering Rolexes. But government procurement policy-makers will soon be grappling with much more nuanced market behaviors, courtesy of three whistle-blower cases filed by DOJ.
If the government is preventing money from being spent 10 to 20 times during a 15- to-20-month reconciliation process, isn't it possible that the cost to the economywill outweigh the tax benefit?
The Accountability in Contracting Act appears to be on the fast track. But the measure's not yet law, so it's a good time to provide members of Congress with an industry perspective.
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