Acquisition Policy

  • Avinash Kar of the Natural Resources Defense Council discusses an FDA decision on cattle feeding processes. Attorney Joseph Petrillo offers his perspective on burgeoning bid protests. GAO's Bill Woods talks about GSA's reliance on "dun" numbers. Jamison Cush discusses Microsoft's new tablet device. Charles Scoville works with amputee veterans.

    June 19, 2012
  • Joanne Woytek, program manager of NASA SEWP talks about the government wide contract vehicle and its goals and missions for the future. June 18, 2012(Encore presentation July 16, 2012)

    June 18, 2012
  • IBM Federal General Manager Todd Ramsey busts myths about government procurement. Although well-conceived, he said current acquisition procedures do more harm than good.

    June 18, 2012
  • The Homeland Security Department is taking a two-pronged approach to protecting the federal supply chain. The first addresses the DHS mission cargo crossing into the U.S. The second is an interagency effort to ensure the government is working together on investigations. DHS said seizures of counterfeit goods at the border increased by 20 percent in 2011.

    June 18, 2012
  • The Social Security Administration awarded CenturyLink a follow-on deal under the Networx telecommunications contract.

    June 15, 2012
  • Federal Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel and Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Joe Jordan released the guidance that highlights possible risks or challenges, and offers checklists, templates and other tools to make the move to this smaller, more outcome based approach easier for agencies.

    June 15, 2012
  • The White House, Congress, DoD and many others are trying to stem the tide of counterfeit products and software with malicious code from entering federal systems. The administration soon will release recommendations for how all agencies and vendors can improve the security of their products. DoD issued a memo in March requiring changes to how services protect their supply chains.

    June 15, 2012
  • Despite mounting pressure from certain quarters of the government and Congress to more aggressively suspend and debar irresponsible contractors, some agencies only rarely, if ever, do so. Rob Burton, the former acting administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said data on suspensions and debarments isn't always an apples-to-apples comparison.

    June 14, 2012
  • Agencies are using suspensions and debarments more often as a way to stop or prevent doing business with contractors who lie, cheat or just do shoddy work. David Sims, chairman of the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee and a suspension and debarment manager at the Interior Department, gives an overview of the use of suspension and debarment governmentwide.

    June 14, 2012
  • Joe Jordan has led the Office of Federal Procurement Policy for a little more than two weeks. But he's wasting no time setting priorities. Jordan spoke to In Depth with Francis Rose as part of Federal News Radio's week-long special report, Inside the World's Biggest Buyer.

    June 13, 2012
  • Rules and regulations are supposed to help the government make the smartest, fairest purchases are often complex. For Bill Woods, director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management Issues at the Government Accountability Office, federal procurement rules are a full-time pursuit.

    June 13, 2012
  • Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said the acquisition workforce is most important to improving how the government buys goods and services. He said with 55 percent of the current workforce eligible to retire by 2018, agencies and Congress have to work together to figure out how best to train and equip these employees to be successful.

    June 13, 2012
  • The two influential senators say the mistakes the Defense Department and others made in the 1990s during the last serious budget reductions can't be repeated this time around. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) said budget cuts shouldn't be balanced on the backs of the acquisition workforce. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) added reductions in acquisition staff mean the government will pay more for goods and services.

    June 13, 2012
  • This is the Federal Drive show blog. Here you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.

    June 12, 2012