Acquisition Policy News 
Top News
- Hagel: Accountability breakdown a leading factor in sexual assaults
- PHOTOS: Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal Finalists
- SES bonuses under fire at GSA, other agencies
- Next-gen Apple devices cleared to join Defense IT networks
- VA's Gould moves the needle on many of VA's toughest challenges
- ODNI's Liberty Crossing complex closed today
- Causey: Saintly media vs. government devils
- White House wants to root out copycat programs - starting with STEM
- Treasury officials told of IRS probe in June 2012
- Hagel makes 'difficult choice,' civilian furloughs to begin July 8
- Obama appoints Danny Werfel acting IRS head
- House bill protects homeland security budget
- Intelligence Community free from furloughs
- OMB fuels the passion, synergy between mobile, open data
OFPP Administrator Daniel Gordon leaving
The administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy will join the George Washington University Law School as an associate dean. Gordon spent two years at OFPP working on a variety of issues from improving the workforce to reducing the use of high risk contracts to advocating for more collaboration between industry and government.
Talking BRAC
Raj Kuchadkar, Deputy Director of the Howard County BRAC Office and the Base Business Initiative (BBI) program joins host Mark Amtower to talk about the BBI program as it enters Phase 3.
October 31, 2011(Encore presentation November 7, 2011)
OMB, Congress to put grant-making process under more scrutiny
Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said he will hold hearings to see how to make the federal grant process more transparent. The administration merged two existing boards into a new Council on Financial Assistance Reform to improve the grant-making process. HHS awarded a $32.4 million contract for IT services for grants.gov portal.
Repeal of contractor tax withholding is sign of economic times
Scott Amey, general counsel and contracting specialist at the Project for Government Oversight, says the mood in Washington is much different from five years ago when the law was first passed.
FedRAMP cloud policy in final review
GSA's Dave McClure said a flood of documents will come as soon as OMB signs off on the cloud security guidance. McClure said among the documents will be the application for third party companies to become FedRAMP accreditors of cloud products and services.
Analysis: Repeal of tax withholding law good news for both industry, government
Alan Chvotkin is the vice president of the Professional Services Council.
House to repeal law withholding contractors' taxes
The House is expected to approve a measure repealing a law that withholds 3 percent of government contractors' payments. The original law was enacted in 2006 to ensure contractors paid their taxes. But it's seen its implementation delayed until 2013, and it has grown increasingly unpopular with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
$1 billion savings with strategic sourcing is 'achievable target'
Three senators are proposing major reforms to the federal government's acquisition process.
WH threatens veto of contractor tax repeal over offsets
The White House is threatening to veto a bill that would repeal the 3 percent tax withholding on government contractors because of the spending cuts attached to the legislation. The Senate version of the bill would cut $30 billion in government spending to pay for repealing the tax, which the White House says is too much.
Bill would require greater use of strategic sourcing
The Acquisitions Reform Bill would require more robust use of Federal Strategic Sourcing vehicles — which allow the government to consolidate its shopping lists and buy in bulk, rather than have each agency pursue its own procurements.
DoD reassures Congress it is fixing contingency contracting
Senior defense leaders told Congress they've already made huge steps toward implementing the recommendations of the Commission on Wartime Contracting. Former members of the panel say DoD still has a lot of work to do.
Senate committee passes bills on improper payments, whistleblower protections
The new bill, passed in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, would require more consistent reporting of improper payments by federal agencies.
Federal budget and procurement
Host Roger Waldron is joined by Jon Etherton of Etherton and Associates. They will discuss the outlook for congressional budget negotiations.
October 18, 2011 (Encore presentation November 1, 2011 and November 22, 2011)
CBO finds cancelling vendor withholding would increase deficit
The bill to repeal a requirement that governments withhold some payments to vendors would add more than $11 billion to the deficit, according the Congressional Budget Office. A key House committee has already passed the bill.
Prime contractors must notify agencies of sub switches under new SBA rule
A new Small Business Administration rule would require prime contractors to notify agency contracting officers when there's a change in subcontractors from the original bid. Kenneth Dodds, an SBA attorney, joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris to discuss how the new rules would affect contractors and agencies.
A tale of two (Maryland) schools
Host Mark Amtower is joined by Ellen Hemmerly, executive director of BWTech at the UMBC Research and Technology Park, and Capitol College President and CEO Mike Wood.
October 17, 2011(Encore presentation November 28, 2011)
Lawmakers want U.S. steel in military vehicles
Senator Jay Rockefeller and a group of seven other senators said they want Deputy Secretary Ash Carter to change how the DoD buys metal for military vehicles.
Navy takes lifecycle view of energy costs in acquisitions
The Navy is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to find alternatives to fossil fuels. A parallel effort aims to engrain energy efficiency into the way the service buys the ships and planes it will own for the next few decades.
Top senators open to changes in military health
The top lawmakers on the Senate's defense panel on Friday recommended that a special committee searching for ways to slash the deficit consider some of President Barack Obama's proposed changes to health and retirement benefits for the military.
FAR Council wants to standardize privacy training for vendors
A proposed rule would ask contractors to track the training received by employees who work on federal systems.
