Archive for November 2008

Today’s Acquisition News - Friday, November 21, 2008

November 22, 2008 by admin.


Today’s Acquisition News Friday, November 21, 2008 
Department of Defense11-21-08: DoD explains decision on F-22 procurement. The Air and Land Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee convened a hearing on November 19 to hear testimony regarding the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) decision to direct the Air Force to spend $50 million in advance procurement funds to purchase parts for four F-22 fighter jets (see What’s New in Acquisition, November 13, 2008). The hearing’s purpose was to address DoD’s reasons for not obligating the full amount of money authorized by section 134 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Public Law 110-417). “Section 134 authorizes the obligation of up to $140 million to sustain F-22 long-lead component production from November until March, to preclude program cost growth, and to avoid prejudicing a decision of the incoming administration on whether to procure additional F-22 aircraft, beyond the 183 now planned,” noted subcommittee chairman Neil Abercrombie (D-HI). In response, John Young, under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, argued that it is inappropriate to spend the full amount for aircraft that the incoming administration might decide not to purchase. “The Department believes that spending more money than is required to provide the warfighters the correct mix of capability and quantity of aircraft is not the best use of tax dollars,” he remarked. Young also said that costs will not increase significantly for additional F-22A aircraft if the remainder of the $140 million is obligated in January 2009; however, he urged President-elect Barack Obama to decide immediately upon taking office whether to proceed with acquisition of additional F-22s, or risk increased costs because of production line delays. hID-14000 Obama urged to make quick decision on fighter jet (GovExec, November 20, 2008 ) newsID-19241 Lawmakers hit Pentagon weapons chief for not buying enough F-22s (The Hill, November 19, 2008 ) newsID-19242 Hearing Information (House Armed Services Committee, November 19, 2008 )newsID-19243
Defense Procurement, Acquisition Policy, and Strategic Sourcing (DPAPSS) Memoranda11-21-08: DPAPSS issues guidance on implementing Purchase Card On-line System. On November 14, Defense Procurement, Acquisition Policy, and Strategic Sourcing (DPAPSS) director Shay Assad issued a memorandum to component procurement executives and financial management officers regarding implementation of the Purchase Card On-line System (PCOLS). PCOLS is intended to address deficiencies in the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) purchase card program that have increased the program risk for fraud and abuse. The Web-based PCOLS will employ a workflow tool to help management identify questionable purchase card transactions for review, and will use data mining algorithms to detect purchases that have the greatest likelihood of being fraudulent, improper, or abusive. PCOLS also incorporates a risk assessment application that allows both auditors and field commanders to evaluate the “health” of local card programs to target problem programs for corrective action and avoid unnecessary review of compliant programs. All DoD purchase cards must be issued through the PCOLS capability by January 4, 2010; intelligence components must comply by January 3, 2011. Assad directs component procurement executives to develop a plan for implementing the PCOLS capability in accordance with the phased deployment plan outlined in the memo. Plans should be submitted to DPAPSS’s director of program development and implementation by January 9, 2009. hID-13998 Department of Defense (DoD) Deployment of Purchase Card On-line System (PCOLS) Capability (DPAPSS, November 19, 2008 ) newsID-19238
Contractor Support11-21-08: Agreement governing troop deployment in Iraq would revoke contractor immunity. The latest Status of Forces agreement (SOFA) being negotiated by the Bush administration and the Iraqi government will revoke immunity guarantees for many U.S. contractors and other non-Iraqis working in Iraq, and for the first time make them subject to Iraqi law, according to an Associated Press report published by Federal News Radio. The agreement, expected to take effect in January, excludes Department of Defense (DoD) contractors and gives the Iraqi government only limited jurisdiction over U.S. troops and DoD civilian employees. “Contractors and grantees can no longer expect that they will enjoy the wide range of immunity from Iraqi law that has been in effect since 2003,” Department of State officials noted in a statement provided to contractors. So far, the agreement does not indicate the status of Department of State contractors, but officials expect the Iraqi government to revoke their immunity after the new SOFA goes into effect. Rules enacted by the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2003 granted immunity from Iraqi law to non-Iraqi citizens employed under contracts with the U.S. government, but those protections came under heavy criticism after a 2007 incident involving private security contractors left 17 Iraqi civilians dead (see What’s New In Acquisition, September 18, 2007). A State Department official said he believes the Bush administration and the Iraqi government would negotiate a separate agreement that would allow private security guards protecting U.S. diplomats to use “appropriate defensive force.” DoD officials noted that while some contractors had expressed concern about the agreement, none had yet indicated they would terminate existing contracts. The officials added that contractors are subject to local jurisdictions in all other areas of the world, including Afghanistan. hID-13996 US contractors lose immunity in Iraq security deal (Federal News Radio, November 20, 2008 ) newsID-19236
Department of Defense11-21-08: GAO finds DoD has not met all statutory requirements for managing operational contract support. To address challenges faced by the Department of Defense (DoD) in managing operational contract support, Congress directed the secretary of defense, in consultation with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to develop joint policies by April 2008 for requirements definition, contingency program management, and contingency contracting during combat and postconflict operations. Section 849 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181) amended this language to direct that these joint policies also provide for training of military personnel outside the acquisition workforce who are expected to have acquisition responsibilities, and charged the Government Accountability Office (GAO) with reviewing the joint policies to determine the extent to which those policies and their implementation comply with the requirements of the law. In a November 20 letter to the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, GAO reported that DoD is revising and developing new joint policies in each of the four areas—requirements definition, contingency program management, contingency contracting, and training for personnel outside the acquisition workforce—but did not finalize the policies by the April deadline. As of October 1, 2008, the draft policies were not in full compliance with the law, and the extent to which the policies comply varies. For instance, the law directs DoD to assign a senior commissioned officer to act as head of contingency contracting and report to the relevant combatant commander. However, draft Joint Publication 4-10, “Operational Contract Support,” finalized on October 17, 2008, does not provide for the assignment of a single head of contracting activity to oversee contracting during all contingencies. DoD has made progress in beginning to implement aspects of the draft policies in all four required areas; for example, it has implemented draft policy that directs the services, military departments, and combatant commands to provide for the integration of contractors and operational acquisition in mission readiness exercises. However, it has not fully implemented another policy that requires the services to provide training to personnel outside the acquisition workforce. Specifically, the Army has developed training, but neither the Air Force nor the Department of the Navy has identified plans or initiatives to develop and provide training for personnel outside the acquisition workforce. hID-13995 Contract Management: DoD Developed Draft Guidance for Operational Contract Support but Has Not Met All Legislative Requirements(GAO, November 20, 2008 ) newsID-19235
Government Accountability Office (GAO)11-21-08: GAO unable to comply with congressional mandate to review DoD contract award procedures. On November 19, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) advised congressional committees that it was unable to comply with a mandate in the fiscal year 2008 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 110-181) directing it to compare procedures used for awarding noncompetitive defense contracts for new projects pursuant to (1) congressionally directed spending items or congressional earmarks, and (2) the special interests of senior executive branch officials. Despite diligent efforts in exploring various approaches, GAO concluded that it was not feasible to address the mandate as written, saying it was unable to find a sound approach for systematically identifying “new projects of special interest to senior executive branch officials.” In addition, GAO could not apply the definitions of “congressionally directed spending items” and “congressional earmarks” recently incorporated in Senate and House Rules, respectively, because of data availability and timing issues. With these underlying constraints, the comparison of procedures called for in the mandate was not possible. hID-13992 Mandate on the Department of Defense’s Contract Award Procedures for Directed Spending Items (GAO, November 19, 2008 ) newsID-19231
Green Purchasing11-21-08: Army base to be first to use electric cars. The military services intend to save fuel and promote alternative energy usage by employing electric cars and light trucks for on-base transportation, reports Federal Times. The cars—battery-powered, 35-mile-an-hour Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs)—will arrive first at Fort Belvoir, VA, by mid-December. “The good news is that the Air Force and Navy have come to us and said that they want to piggyback on the order,” noted Paul Bollinger, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for energy and partnerships. The Army will likely lease these first vehicles from Native American Biofuels International through a small business set-aside, then may decide to purchase them at some time in the future. Bollinger expects 4,000 NEVs will be delivered over the next three years, saving 11.5 million gallons of fuel annually and costing just $400 in electricity per vehicle per year, compared to approximately $2,400 in annual fuel costs for a gasoline-powered car. hID-13990 Services plan to buy electric cars (Federal Times, November 20, 2008 ) newsID-19226

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Defense finds wikis a boon during crises

November 21, 2008 by admin.

By Bob Brewin, bbrewin@govexec.com   11/20/08  SAN DIEGO — As the conflict between Russia and Georgia escalated into a short war in August, the Pentagon set up wikis to monitor the situation and to coordinate a possible response, a principal adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday.During the conflict, the Joint Chiefs used wikis, Web pages containing content on a specific topic that users can add to or edit, on its classified networks to coordinate its response. They found that the tools streamlined their coordination efforts and cut e-mail traffic in half during the crisis, said Vice Adm. Nancy Brown, director of command, control, communications and computers. She spoke at the annual Armed Forces Electronics and Communications MILCOM conference here.Commanders who used wikis during the crisis included Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and since then their use “has spread like wildfire,” Brown said.The experience convinced Brown that the Defense Department needs to embrace other Web.2.0 technologies, including social networks such as Facebook, to improve communications, collaboration and information sharing in its new Global Information Grid, called GIG 2.0.John Grimes, chief information officer for Defense, who also spoke at the conference, said the department should take a cautious approach to using collaboration tools until it has assurances they can be secured and would not introduce malware into Defense systems.Brown agreed and said the department should develop its own version of Facebook that runs in a secure environment.Defense also should restructure its systems and networks to put operational units, not the Pentagon and the individual services, at the center of development, she added. Currently the four services operate four separate intranets, which inhibit collaboration and communication. The isolated systems mean that a Navy user could not find the e-mail address of an Army user, as Defense lacked a global directory, she said.Defense must consolidate the intranets into one Defense enterprisewide system.Brig. Gen. James Ferron, director general for information management for Canadian Forces, told the conference that the United States must develop better ways to share and exchange information with its partners and allies. For example, during his tour as NATO intelligence chief in Afghanistan in 2007, Ferron said he was frustrated that he could not integrate surveillance and reconnaissance data from British and U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles into a single system.The United States and Canada need to ensure that their separate systems can exchange data by early 2010, when the winter Olympics are scheduled to open in Vancouver, B.C. Providing security for the Olympics will require a both nations’ militaries to cooperate on security, Ferron said, as well as U.S. and Canadian law enforcement organizations, such as the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

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