Golden decade for defense companies ending

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the federal government is deeply in debt. This spells the end of what was a golden decade for the defense industry.

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Value of intellectual property in mergers, acquisitions

John Hagan, managing director and head of the Aerospace, Defense & Government Services Investment Banking Group of BB&T Capital Markets at the Windsor Group, discusses the value of your company's intellectual property.

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DoD to demo rapid IT acquisition

The Pentagon is preparing a new approach that will allow it to buy and develop cybersecurity capabilities more quickly. If it succeeds, officials said they plan to expand it to other areas of IT.

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Lockheed snares $84 million Air Force deal

Lockheed Martin was awarded an $84 million deal with the Air Force to supply the service with four weapons systems trainers, This story is part of Federal News Radio's daily DoD Report.

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NLRB documents subpoenaed in suit against Boeing

Kevin Bogardus, a reporter with The Hill newspaper, joined the Federal Drive to discuss the latest in the National Labor Relations Board's lawsuit against aerospace company Boeing surrounding unionization.

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GAO: Acquisition planning must include cost estimates, best practices

The top four civilian agencies can do a better job in the planning stages for service contracts, according to a new Government Accountability Office.

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GSA adds nearly 600 small IT businesses to new contract

The General Services Administration has named 599 small disadvantaged firms to its 8(a) STARS II contract. The governmentwide IT contract, with a ceiling of $10 billion, is bigger and broader than its predecessors.

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Obama nominates Carter to be DoD No. 2

Ashton Carter would take over for Bill Lynn, who announced in July he is retiring.

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Are contractors blue over GSA's new green rules?

Jerry Rutkowski, vice president for federal programs at 1E, joined the Federal Drive to discuss his perspective on whether GSA's new green-contracting provisions will help or hurt IT contractors and how the new rule fits in with energy-efficient steps suppliers have already taken.

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Contractors fear worst in debt debate outcome

Contractors fear late or nonexistent payment from the government if the debt ceiling is not raised and the U.S. government defaults, a number of industry experts have said recently. Contractors are required to continue work even if there is a delay in payment from the government.

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GSA finishes cloud email migration

The General Services Administration has become the first federal agency to move its entire workforce to a cloud-based email product. GSA said it moved all 17,000 of its users all at one time, but it couldn't have pulled off the transition without months of planning, training and preparation.

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Army responds to acquistion report

Tom Hawley, deputy undersecretary of the Army, and Heidi Shyu, acting assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, discuss the Army's new acquisition in a press conference.

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GSA 'green IT' may hurt niche buyers

New environmental standards for IT products from GSA may end up hurting specialty buyers, according to Larry Allen, founder of Allen Federal Business Partners and former president of the Coalition for Government Procurement.

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Army asserts progress on acquisition reforms

An Army-commissioned study finds that since 1996, the service has spent more than a billion dollars per year on defense systems that wound up being cancelled. Army leaders say they recognize the problem, and have already begun moving aggressively toward reform.

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GAO: DHS needs cost-benefit analysis in IT acquisitions

David Maurer, the director of homeland security and justice issues at GAO told Federal News Radio, the latest Government Accountability Office report on DHS acquisition contains three key areas for improvement, including better defined requirements and more testing and evaluation of technologies.

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GSA, EPA to green government using IT schedules

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Acquisition workforce showing signs of change

OFPP administrator Dan Gordon said the morale of contracting officers and other acquisition workers is improving. OPM issued a new IT program and project management competency guidance.

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Contractors brace for debt debate outcome

Alan Boykin, chief learning officer at the National Contract Management Association, told Federal News Radio that government and industry should keep the lines of communication open, especially as uncertainty abounds about how the failure to raise the debt ceiling would impact federal spending.

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OFPP's Gordon not stymied by bumps in the road to acquisition reform

Despite pushback on some issues by industry, Dan Gordon listens to input from all sides as the Office of Federal Procurement Policy continues to follow its own path to reform the acquisition process. The OFPP administrator said his office is close to issuing new guidance around business cases for multiple award contracts and a final rule redefining inherently governmental jobs.

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Could DCAA proposals have led to big savings?

Alan Chvotkin, executive vice president and counsel at the Professional Services Council, joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss recent speculation that the Defense Department ignored proposals from the Defense Contract Audit Agency nearly two years ago.

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