CIA + $3B = FLOP?

How is it that government agencies make enormous mistakes using money that we give them, and it is ok? This time the CIA admitted that its project titled GDI - Global Deployment Initiative did not live up to expectations. Matter of fact, it didn't do much of anything except waste more government (taxpayer) money. Interesting.

Is it time to PaaS!

The latest article in the Federal Times references a recent government study that confirms the use of maintaining platforms on the cloud would result in significant cost savings. Government agencies are looking to the cloud for software application development, which would reduce IT project development time by 31%. Using platforms as a service is a low risk and effective savings alternate to the current type of support provided. Estimates of the savings are in the billions of dollars ($20B) annually.

Ideas on Government Spending Cuts

The Cato Institute and DownsizeGovernment.org teamed up to create budget cuts to significantly reduce government spending over the next 10 years. While some of the changes are common sense, a lot of their ideas are very insightful and will help reduce the debt as well. The idea of both organizations is to put the responsibilities on people and the states and keep it out of the hands of the federal government. The dependency for government intervention is overwhelming and is going in the wrong direction, this plan is a good start to reverse that dependency.

What is reputation risk?

Risk management has been an important part of doing business for many years. Risk management includes the information gained from potential partners and suppliers. Nowadays, managing risk is more about business intelligence of a company's reputation. It means, what is a potential partner or supplier willing to do to get the job done. Corruption, reduced quality of service or products, and compliance are the top three concerns when managing risk. Surveys were completed in this article from the WSJ regarding the types of reputation risk.

Antitrust Enforcement by the FTC and DOJ is becoming too intrusive. Whatever happended to free markets?

After reading the policy analysis by The Cato Institute on antitrust enforcement, I was surprised that there was more regulation by the Obama administration than the Bush or Clinton administration. I was not surprised that there was more intrusive regulation occurring causing industry changes in the Obama administration. Very scary! The analysis overall was very interesting and thought provoking. The old theory from Adam Smith to let the invisible hand (i.e. free market, less government intervention) lead markets is vanishing.

USPS = Fail!

The US Postal Service (USPS) is a mess. Although they are constantly failing, no one in the government seems to notice. The recently failed an IG audit. They are behind in paying their debt. They cannot keep to their role of postal delivery. Why is the USPS still open? Don't forget, our taxes go towards paying this agency to stay open! The latest audit reflects the USPS failure of its acquisition process. They state that their employees were unaware of its purchasing policy when the IG determined that 38% of its $1.3B spending was sole sourced. Unacceptable to most but not to USPS. It is especially odd when USPS complains about the need for additional funds when they cannot seem to manage what funds they are obligated. What is the role of the USPS? "The core function of the Postal Service is the safe, reliable, affordable delivery of mail and packages to every address in the country and its territories." Really?

Will this split work for SAIC and Leidos?

SAIC was a private, employee owned company. It was so different and dynamic from its competition. People rarely knew SAIC or what the company did if they were not in the industry. As a stockholder and entrepreneurial employee you were drawn into the company and became very passionate about the work, the people, and the customers. Then SAIC's Founder/CEO retired...then the company went public...three CEO's with different visions passed through after rearranging staff/management/ideals. SAIC is nothing like it once was. The passion is gone. The employees are unsure of their future. Maybe the split into two companies is a good thing, I guess we will find out.

Another Year, Another Shutdown...Maybe!

It is amazing how little gets accomplished in D.C., except of course how often the Government plays chicken with itself. It is that time of year again when the Republicans and Democrats face off to determine how to keep a shutdown from occuring while trying to bend the rules and protect themselves. Why is it only themselves they are worried about and not the people who elected them? Oh, now I remember, its because they will continue to get paid, receive benefits and have full retirement NO matter what happens. Latest article here.

Getting tired of delays due to award protests? So is the PSC.

The PSC is the Professional Services Council, an organization that represents government services contractors. The are lobbying for assistance from legislatures to improve current acquisition issues on award notices and the high number of protests. The issue that is causing a lot of delays has been with award protests caused mostly by the lack of specific data as to the reasons for non-selection. Some companies feel the need to protest in order to get more information as to the evaluations of their proposal. PSC believes more information should be provided at the time of the award notice, which may significantly reduce the number of protests issued. Read more here.

The US Army and US Air Force are working together...and they saved money? How?

Somehow the DoD is catching on to what the rest of the US has already understood, save money with less and learn to share. The Army and Air Force are working together on an IT networking security, bandwidth, and upgrade to ensure that they get the project completed but also save money. The Army saved about $1B in future costs, and the AF saved about $1.2B. Read about it here.

Budget cuts cause supply chain upgrades...its about time!!

So the government is becoming quite efficient with some of its agency supply chains. Its about time! Upgrades typically cost more than they are worth, and work less than they should. How are these upgrades working so far, and for whom are they for? Not bad, however, they are only ramping up small efforts. The bigger upgrades have either been cancelled or put on hold. See the article here.

Who ever said sequester was good for growth?

Once again a billionaire has stated our economy is better off with the sequester than if the government stopped meddling with our tax dollars. Surprise! What do the facts show? Our economy is sluggish, as expected, and the sequester is doing major damage now and in the future. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-21/please-stop-saying-the-sequester-is-good-for-growth

More sequestration problems!! Can you say furlough?

@FederalTimes: Sequester may undo gains in building contracting workforce http://t.co/afL8qwJiH2

What is CBAR? Well its not FUBAR...at least not yet!

The CBAR system is Contractor Business Analysis Repository that is administered by Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). CBAR is now being used by Contracting Officers for cost analysis on defense contractors prices on previous proposal submissions. CBAR shows trends of pricing and cost analysis data with regard to cost estimating systems and practices of all DOD contractors managed by DCMA. For now, there is a small percentage of approved CO's due to the sensitive proprietary nature of the data. The Pentagon has created ICATs (Integrated Cost Analysis Teams) to assist any and all CO's with the data analysis and information. http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130623/DEPARTMENTS01/306230006/How-DoD-became-smarter-customer?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

How are Americans feeling the impact of the Sequestration?

Most all of the federal services are impacted by the Sequestration and no one is immune. The changes are affecting the military, people using public support, court systems, airport services, DOD contractors, it goes on and on. Think of all of the services provided to us you would be surprised what is being cut and when. These services are provided courtesy of our tax dollars, and we have no control over where the money goes and how much. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/29/more-americans-are-feeling-the-effects-of-the-sequester/?wpisrc=nl_pulse

Contracting Professionals traveling, why it should happen!!

I just read this incredible article about why contracting professionals need to travel to see their customers, co-workers, subcontractors. It is a great way to get to know more people and understand the day to day activities. http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130428/ADOP06/304280004/Contracting-professionals-need-travel-8212-train

Budget Cuts Affect Small Business

Denver Post: Budget Cut Great article detailing the affects of budget cuts through sequestration and small business primes and subcontractors. Seems to hurt the most effective sectors in the US which has the highest growth and gives the most prosperous products and services.

Budget cuts freezing small businesses

Huffington: Budget Cuts Small US based businesses are taking a large hit with the sequestration changes costing the entire sector 1 million jobs as nearly half of the job losses would come from small business. And "the U.S. Small Business Administration estimates that small businesses employ about half of all private-sector workers and generated 65 percent of net new jobs over the past 17 years, and were responsible for about one-third of U.S. exports."