Department of Homeland Security acquisition officials get an “A” for honesty in discussing what went wrong with their recently-cancelled Flexible Agile Support for the Homeland (FLASH) procurement.  It’s not terrible to try and fail, especially in the name of innovation in a market that can be very risk averse.  One key admission, however, points out the challenges contractors face when offering state of the art solutions in the federal sector.  In addition to Read more

How complete is your contract file?  Do you have information on your company’s current discounting practices?  How about country of origin information for Trade Agreements Act (TAA) compliance?  While maintaining a complete contract file may be a tedious undertaking, incomplete records can cost your company a lot.   A recent US District Court ruling in United States ex rel. Louis Scutellaro v. Capitol Supply, Inc., found that the company’s failure to retain country of origin documentation for its GSA Schedule items entitled the whistleblower and the Read more

GSA and the Trump Administration took a new route last week by switching the Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner position to a political spot and naming industry veteran Alan Thomas to the post.  Thomas has spent most of his professional life in industry, specifically in Read more

The status of GSA’s Transformational Technology Service (TTS) as a full-blown, national service was short-lived.  Per an announcement from acting GSA Administrator Tim Horne last week, TTS will now be part of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service.  TTS will continue to manage core missions like 18F, but will work more closely with the acquisition and federal arena expertise of FAS’ Read more

Allen Federal recently had the opportunity to sit down with a newly retired federal CxO official to hear how companies often blow their chances to make a good first impression.  Number one, according to this individual, is the need to think more broadly about your customer’s mission.  If you think you’re just there to promote a cyber solution, for example, your message Read more