Skip to content Skip to left sidebar Skip to right sidebar Skip to footer

Tag: congress

Federal IT to get a $3B boost

The funding for Federal IT modernization is about to see a noteworthy increase, $3.35 billion if a recent amendment sees success. (MeriTalk September 3, 2021)

An amendment, put forward by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., would increase funding for Federal IT modernization by $3 billion. Connolly said, “this week, Congress continues our important work in rebuilding from this pandemic, and building a 21st-century economy that is more equitable, visionary, and sustainable. But the policy prescriptions we adopt will only be successful if our IT can deliver on those promises. The fate of the world’s largest economy rises and falls with the ability of government IT systems to deliver in an emergency and as we recover into the future. And that should galvanize us all. Without smart IT investments, our mission to help the American People, will not succeed. We have to get this right, right now.” (ibid)

Through a press release, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform expects the amendment to provide the following:

  • $1 billion in TMF funding, available until September 30, 2031.
  • $2 billion for the General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) Federal Citizen Services Fund. The fund helps agencies to improve public engagement with the government. It supports cybersecurity and cloud-based technologies.
  • $350 million to the Information Technology Oversight and Reform (ITOR) account within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to create a mechanism to track government IT spending. The ITOR account is used to fund staffing for the U.S. Digital Service. The U.S. Digital Service works to fix agencies’ most difficult tech problems. (ibid)

Are you a business looking to do work with Federal IT modernization? Give us a call.

Money, money, money!

It’s the fourth fiscal quarter for the federal government and that means it’s time to use that budget or risk losing it. The fourth quarter generally holds great opportunities for contractors from July to September as agencies are keen to use up their budgets. (Federal Times August 3, 2021)

During the month of September, federal contract awards account for nearly 16 percent of all contract activity, with 40% of small business spending taking place in the last quarter of the fiscal year. Although not all agencies are the same in how they treat fourth-quarter spending, the State Department and U.S. Department of Agriculture tend to do some of their “big spending” in Q4. (ibid)

COVID-19 spending continues to account for a large share of federal contracting. The heavy COVID spending has changed the spending cycles and thrown them out of balance. This might make the Q4 rush a little less robust than in past years however it remains one of the best times of the year to be well-positioned for contract opportunities. (ibid)

Contractors should have a strategy for getting the most out of Q4 spending, especially from agencies known to rely on it.

Hoping to get the most out of Q4 spending but no strategy in place? Give us a call.

 

Easier Contract Awards Paper a Silver Lining

The General Services Administration (GSA), The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and IRS raised the micro-purchase threshold (MPT) and the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT) last week, in response to the coronavirus relief effort This allows these agencies to expedite contract award timeframes. (Federal News Network, March 20, 2020)

As required under the 2020 Defense Authorization bill, the Defense Department raised the threshold for sole-source 8(a) contracts up to $100 million as well. The non-emergency threshold for 8(a) contracts is $22 million. (ibid)

GSA and VA have raised their MPT and SAT threshold for purchases both in and outside of the US while the IRS raised theirs for purchases within the US only, to speed up the time it takes to make contract awards.

The MPT is increased to:

  • $20,000 for contracts awarded and performed or purchases made within the U.S.
  • $30,000 for contracts awarded and performed or purchases made outside the U.S.

The SAT is increased to:

  • $750,000 for contracts performed or awarded and purchases made within the U.S.
  • $1.5 million for contracts awarded, performed or purchases made outside the U.S.

The SAT supporting contingency operations or major disaster recovery is increased to $13 million.

All thresholds, in place through at least 30 June, give agencies the ability to be nimble and make purchases quickly. They are “specific to only to support the designated National Emergency COVID-19. FAR Part 6 also provides the opportunity to expedite purchases after justifying exceptions to competition. There may also be opportunities to use existing contracts by negotiating a bilateral modification to allow for additional quantities of goods or a surge for services included in concurrent awards,” according to Angela Billups, VA’s executive director in the Office of Acquisition and Logistics and senior procurement executive. (ibid)

To track acquisition costs for the coronavirus response, the Federal Acquisition Regulations Council set up a new code in the Federal Procurement Data System, P20C. (ibid)

Jeff Koses, GSA’s senior procurement executive stated in a recent memo that local set-aside rules are not applicable because this is a national emergency and not a strictly local one. According to Koses, some exceptions that allow agencies to restrict or limit competition are:

  • phoning a reasonable number of vendors
  • obtaining “on the spot” quotes
  • keeping the period of performance brief (ibid)

The changes to the MPT and SAT were made prior to the Defense Production Act being invoked. The Defense Production Act, authorizes certain agencies providing specific products or services with relation to the coronavirus relief efforts, to move to the front of the line. However, GSA strongly advises contracting officers to verify pricing and contractor details on GSA Advantage and GSA eLibrary. (ibid)

Interested in contracting for relief efforts? Give us a call.

Self Certification — No More ;-(

The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act mandated that the Small Business Administration (SBA) discontinue self-certification of women-owned and other small businesses. In 2020, SBA plans to finalize a self-certification rule that closes a loophole allowing participants in the SBA’s Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) program to self-certify. (Federal News Network, June 2019)

Approximately one-quarter of all federal contracts are held by small businesses, which over the past six years has helped federal agencies to  exceed  SBA’s governmentwide small business contracting goal. This year’s spending of more than $120 billion on small business contracts surpasses last year’s spending by nearly $15 billion.

The Government Accountability Office reported in March that almost 40 percent of WOSB-certified businesses were ineligible. Meanwhile, SBA’s Office of Inspector General June 2018 audit found 89 percent of sole-source (50 out of 56 contracts) did not meet all program criteria. Basically, there is currently no way to know if the contracts, listed in the chart below, were actually eligible for the sole-source awards. (ibid)

Rob Wong, SBA’s associate administrator of the Office of Government promotes a formal certification to  give the program some much-needed integrity. Wong said, “simply put, the wrong companies were receiving our contracts, we want to make sure that, if a company receives a contract through these programs, they’re actually eligible to receive it.” (ibid)

SBA has subsequently published a proposed rule in the Federal Register eliminating self-certification and providing a free online certification application to WOSB. Comments on the proposed rule are being accepted until July 15. In Wong’s opinion, it is high time to streamline the vetting process for the many other set-aside programs, all of which have different sets of eligibility criteria. Wong feels that going to three formal certifications for 8(a), Historically Underutilized Business Zones, women-owned, and service-disabled veterans will unify the processes. The rule with set-aside screening is expected to take a year for the changes to take effect. (ibid)

Do you have questions about the new certification process and how it may affect your current contract or an upcoming opportunity? Give us a call at 301-913-5000.

Same Old Song (Ugh)

Ready for another government shut-down? Of course you’re not. None of us are. But the real possibility of a work stoppage when Congress returns from summer recess has us singing the blues all over again.

As reported in the Washington Post yesterday, the Professional Services Council (PSC), which represents more than 400 government tech and service companies, has sent out a warning to begin preparing for the expiring spending plan on 30 September. Additionally, without raising the debt ceiling, short term spending will cease. Uncertainty about spending plans and expectations from the current administration is causing the most unease.

Again, from the Post: the PSC chief executive says,” I have never seen this many moving parts this unconnected to each other this late in the game. It’s not intellectually difficult … but where do the votes come from, and is the president going to sign it?”

Stay tuned.