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Tag: Department of Defense

DOD requesting IT budget boost

Data Science company Govini, recently reported the Department of Defense requested a 7.8% increase in its fiscal 2022 budget for IT. The request is mostly from the “general IT” spending subcategory. This brings the total sought to $34.8 billion for IT. (Fedscoop July 8, 2021)

Congress needs to approve the requested budget before it moves to DOD, however, it is a good indication of where the money will go, once approved. The IT and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) budget breakdown are as follows:

  • Naval Tactical Communications increase 2.8% to $2.6 billion
  • Medical IT increase by 6.9% or $2.2 billion
  • Other increase by 12.5% to $18 billion (ibid)

The budget increases consistently trend upward from the previous year indicating the importance of IT in war. Bob Work, former deputy secretary of defense in the Obama administration said, “the future character of warfare will be defined more by information than by hardware.” (ibid)

Looking to provide IT services to DOD? Give us a call.

 

 

What the new Minimum Wage Executive Order means

In late April, President Biden signed an executive order, requiring government contractors to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022. Censeo Consulting Group analyzed the effect of the federal worker minimum wage increase. They determined that approximately 30,520 contracts will require modification. In addition, they expect the modifications to add 450,000 additional contracting office, workload hours. This equates to about 240 additional full-time positions. (ExecutiveGov May 27, 2021)

The executive order will impact federal spending from between $1 and $2 billion. Agencies can prepare by:

  • Segmenting contract portfolio by delivery location and spend category, highlighting impacted contracts
  • Developing a policy and process for addressing impacted contracts
  • Analyze internal pricing to identify contracts requiring modifications (ibid)

The departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Agriculture, and State are most impacted by the executive order and are likely preparing to make their contract modifications on or before the 2022 deadline.

Do you need to modify your contract? Give us a call.

 

Procurement vs. Purchase

If we can be certain of one thing, it is that the pandemic wreaked havoc on many businesses and their business models. We tend to see government procurement growth during times of crisis. Once the media blasted us with headlines of medical device and personal protective equipment shortages, procurement officials found themselves in a precarious position. How to get supplies and get them fast.

Rick Grimm, chief executive officer of NIGP, the Institute of Public Procurement worries that procurements may slow down, now that shortages are being met. According to a brief from NIGP, “when skilled, professional procurement is buried within an organization and disconnected from the decision-making process, key business opportunities efficiencies and full value for money may be lost.” (Route Fifty May 7, 2021)

We witness the word “purchasing”  being substituted for the more comprehensive term “procurement.” Many believe this field should cover a broad scope of activities such as developing suppliers, strategizing to enhance supplier relationships, actively managing acquisitions and supervising contracts, and evaluating supplier performance. (ibid)

State governments made great inroads with suppliers during the pandemic. Many incentivized the private sector. In Maryland, where weapons systems are made for the Department of Defense, producers pivoted to make ventilators. Hand sanitizers were also retooled and made locally. (ibid)

The challenge to governments was understanding how vendors could best be utilized. There was no way to work with overseas manufacturers. Local product lines were evaluated and swiftly shifted. (ibid)

What does the future hold? Hopefully, the speed of procurement progress over the past year will not be in vain. Grim stated, “leveraging the value of procurement in achieving the government’s mission, helps you achieve those goals and becomes procurement’s mission as well. The big challenge, still, is getting the bosses of procurement to understand its strategic value.”(ibid)

Ready to get into federal procurement? Give us a call.

 

 

CMMC in GWACs

GSA is expected to begin applying the Department of Defense’s Cyber Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) at the order level to governmentwide acquisition contract vehicles. (Govconwire, November 10, 2020)

According to Keith Nakasone, deputy assistant commissioner for acquisition in the General Services Administration Office of IT, future Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) will include CMMC requirements, layered in over time. In this video interview, Nakasone explains that the requirements are being added to make sure contracts are within scope for the Department of Defense, the largest GWAC customer. (Government Matters, November 8, 2020)

Nakasone hopes to educate and train industry partners on the CMMC requirements over time. Although he didn’t state outright that CMMC will become part of all future contracts, they are part of the Polaris draft RFP, scheduled for release in December. (ibid)

Need assistance in understanding the CMMC requirements? Give us a call.

Self-Assess No More

Cybersecurity for  Department of Defense (DoD) contractors is an ongoing issue. Now, DoD is issuing an interim rule to implement an Assessment Methodology and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification framework. This will assess contractor implementation of cybersecurity requirements and enhance the protection of unclassified information within the DoD supply chain. (Federal Register, DFARS Case 2019-D041 Action: Interim Rule)

The current self-attestation of NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-171 is not working due to a lack of DoD verification. Until the implementation of the interim rule, DoD did not have a mandate to verify contractor basic safeguarding or security requirements prior to contract award.  This regulation changes that. The interim rule adds a process for contractors to  implement cybersecurity requirements. This is to be accomplished while the DoD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and the procedures with the Accreditation Body (AB) are solidified. (Meritalk, September 28, 2020)

Questions about how the new rule will affect your contract or upcoming bid and what you can expect? Give us a call.