$1B in stimulus money at VA poorly tracked, IG says
The Veterans Health Administration is falling short on oversight of $1 billion in economic stimulus funding for modernization, maintenance and energy projects at veterans hospitals, according to a new...
View ArticleContracting spending dips for the first time in 13 years
For the first time in 13 years, the government has cut its annual spending on federal contracting, Obama administration officials announced on Thursday. Federal agencies spent $535 billion to purchase...
View ArticleAre inventories of service contracts worthless?
Some agency officials fear their in-depth inventories of service contracts will not be very useful, according to a new letter from the Government Accountability Office, released May 27. A service...
View ArticleAcquisition workforce showing signs of change
The acquisition workforce has long been the victim and scapegoat for all that is wrong with federal procurement. Dan Gordon, however, said that is starting to change. The administrator of the Office of...
View ArticleVeteran-preferred contracting programs rife with fraud, say VA OIG, GAO
Fraud pervades the Veterans Affairs Department’s contracting program for veteran-owned small businesses, a July 28 House panel was told. The VA Office of Inspector General and the Government...
View ArticleFederal acquisition training: Change is afoot
Donna Jenkins isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to training the acquisition workforce. She doesn’t want to figure out what agencies need for training. She doesn’t want to guess which...
View ArticleGeneral Dynamics, others join protest of VA’s $12B T4 contract
Three additional protests have been filed with congressional auditors against the Veterans Affairs Department’s $12 billion Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology procurement program. That brings...
View ArticleVA made mandatory an inadequate national contracting management system
The Veterans Affairs Department rolled out an electronic contract management system in its national acquisition center without first ensuring the system adequately supports contracting operations, says...
View ArticleSmall-biz set-asides may harm firms, expert says
There may already be too many set-aside categories for small businesses, according to at least one expert. The sheer number of categories, and the targets set for agencies to award certain numbers of...
View ArticleMan indicted for fraudulently winning gov’t contracts set-aside for service...
A federal grand jury indicted a Luthersville man this week on charges of getting $2.85 million in government contracts by fraudulently claiming his business was controlled by a veteran. Arthur Wayne...
View ArticleIG: VA structured $133 million security contract to favor incumbent
The Veterans Affairs Department structured the requirements for a 2010 information security contract to give the incumbent a leg up, VA’s inspector general found in a report released Wednesday, Dec....
View ArticleSBA’s elevation to Cabinet-level is a symbolic move, experts say
President Obama’s announcement Friday that he was “elevating the Small Business Administration to a Cabinet-level agency” was a largely symbolic gesture, government scholars say. “The president has the...
View ArticleContractors will remain in limbo during debates over automatic Defense cuts
“Fasten your seat belts,” a panelist told Defense Department contractors ahead of likely sparring between lawmakers and the White House over the details of automatic budget cuts slated to hit the...
View ArticleVA kicks off acquisition training program for wounded vets
The Veterans Affairs department formally launched its new program designed to train wounded vets to become acquisition professionals with a ribbon-cutting ceremony held Jan. 19 at its Frederick, Md.,...
View ArticleVA accused of excessive outsourcing of vets’ jobs
The Veterans Affairs Department is being accused of undermining its own goal of hiring more veterans by expanding its outsourcing practices that eliminate many federal jobs currently, or historically,...
View ArticleVA abruptly cancels key software contract, cites conflicts of interest
The Veterans Affairs Department abruptly terminated a $102.6 million contract awarded to ASM Research in January to develop software vital to an integrated electronic health record system that will...
View ArticleVA launches probe of reverse auctions
Acquisition officials at the Veterans Affairs Department are drafting a report for top VA officials on how the department has managed its use of reverse auctions, a spokeswoman said March 8. On March...
View ArticleVA pushes relationship repair with industry suppliers
When Maurice Stewart arrived at the Veterans Affairs Department a few years ago, he joined a procurement office that was in extreme distress. VA faced the prospect of running 20 percent over its budget...
View ArticleVet-owned small firms received 20 percent of VA FY 2011 contracts
The Department of Veterans Affairs awarded 20 percent of its contract dollars to veteran-owned small businesses in fiscal year 2011, exceeding the department goal set by VA Secretary Eric Shinseki....
View ArticleGeorgia Tech and the VA collaborate to accelerate health IT innovation
Two major non-commercial health information technology organizations are working together in a new vendor-neutral health IT innovation network designed to stimulate development of new ideas and shorten...
View Article
