...Socioeconomics of Government Contracting Joseph Casanova Professor Lateefah Muhammad LEG 440- Procurement and Contract Law July 25, 2012 Introduction Highly publicized incidents such as the federal government purchasing at $500 hammer or $2,500 toilet seat continue to capture headlines as examples of a federal procurement process gone awry, but these notorious examples have become few and far between in recent years, due in large part to significant reforms such as the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 that minimized some of these problems. Despite these substantive reforms, the federal government continues to receive criticisms concerning the manner in which it administers the procurement process. In order to gain new insights in this area, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to describe the legal and administrative framework and socio-economic considerations of the federal procurement process. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion. Review and Discussion Legal Framework At present, federal procurement contracts are governed by a number of statutory and regulatory requirements, including the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) (Nou, 2009). The FAR sets forth detailed procedures concerning virtually all aspects of the federal procurement process including notice and competition as well as awards and contract management (Nou, 2009). In addition, the Competition in Contracting Act of...
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...DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY FEDERAL PROCUREMENT SYSTEM BALANCED SCORECARD PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT FY2003 2 MISSION To provide acquisition and assistance services to support accomplishment of the Department’ s programmatic goals and objectives. VISION To deliver on a timely basis the best value product or service to our customers while maintaining the public’trust and fulfilling public policy s objectives. STRATEGY To change the present system’culture, management s systems, and line processes consistent with the principles of Quality Management, in order to establish and maintain: a customer focus, a sense of urgency, continuous and breakthrough process improvement, and an emphasis on results. 3 BALANCED SCORECARD STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVES CUSTOMER What must we excel at? How do our customers see us? FINANCIAL MISSION VISION STRATEGY LEARNING AND GROWTH INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESSES Do we get the best deal for the Government? Do we continue to improve and create value? CUSTOMER To Achieve Our Vision, How Should We Appear To Our Customers? 4 FINANCIAL To Succeed Financially, How Should We Appear To Our Stakeholders? MISSION VISION STRATEGY INTERNAL BUSINESS PROCESSES To Satisfy Our Stakeholders and Customers, What Business Processes Must We Excel At? LEARNING AND GROWTH To Achieve Our Vision, How Will We Sustain Our Ability To Change And Improve? BALANCED SCORECARD PERSPECTIVES AND OBJECTIVES CUSTOMER - Customer Satisfaction...
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...1.What is the concept of procurement in the context of the public sector? Investopedia.com defines procurement as the act of purchasing. In the public sector, procurement is the acquisition of products and services on behalf of the government (2016). The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFFP), which was created by congress in 1974 to guide government-wide procurement policies to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the acquisition process. The OFFP states that it is very important for the government to ensure that it spends money wisely and eliminates waste and abuse of taxpayers’ dollars (OFFP, 2016). 2.What differentiates the concept of procurement in both the private and public sectors? Why is public sector procurement different from private sector procurement? Corporate procurement in the private sector can be a “complex and lengthy process”. Therefore, many major corporations hire a Chief Procurement Officer to deal with all major acquisitions for the company (Investopedia). The main difference between public and private procurement is that in the private sector they have a more flexible budget for the acquisition of products and services, whereas in the public sector the budget is limited due to the OFFP, which ensures that the government spend taxpayers’ dollars wisely. Rocheleau, states that if an organization agrees to purchase from outside vendors; they must request an RFP or related mechanisms to obtain detailed bids. Some of the approaches detailed...
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...Assignment 2: Simplified Acquisition Procedures CCAD BUS 501- Government Acquisition 31 October 2012 Simplified Acquisition The federal government has three different methods for acquiring goods or services, which include, negotiations, sealed bids, and simplified acquisitions. Simplified acquisition procedures are methods sited in the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Part 13 for purchasing goods and services under a certain dollar threshold. In October 1994, the FAR established the Federal Acquisition Streamline Act (FASA) as a simplified means for the government to acquire goods and services. Simplified acquisition was created into the government procurement process to streamline the contracting process through the elimination of certain rules and actions, and allowing a relatively low administrative cost associated with procurement and provides the easiest form of federal contracts to small business and disadvantage businesses. Agencies are instructed to use simplified acquisition procedures for all purchases of supplies or services below the threshold of $5 million. Whenever the government seeks to obtain goods or services between the amount of $2,500 and $100,000 the agency can usually set aside these acquisitions for small businesses if there are at least three competitive offers. Simplified acquisition between $2,500 and $25,000 can obtain either an oral or written quotations from businesses in an effort to promote competition. For contracts over...
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...Simplified Acquisition Procedures Glenn West Dr. Antoinette Bridges BUS 501007VA016-1128-001 Government Acquisition November 3, 2012 1. Define the term “simplified acquisition” as it relates to government acquisition according to the FAR. Simplified Acquisition is defined as acquisition of supplies, services or construction in the amount of $150K or less, with some exceptions, using the streamlined acquisition procedure. “Simplified acquisition procedures” means the methods prescribed in Part 13 for making purchases of supplies or services. “Simplified acquisition threshold” means $150,000, except for acquisitions of supplies or services that, as determined by the head of the agency, are to be used to support a contingency operation or to facilitate defense against or recovery from nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological attack (41 U.S.C. 428a), the term means— (1) $300,000 for any contract to be awarded and performed, or purchase to be made, inside the United States; and (2) $1 million for any contract to be awarded and performed, or purchase to be made, outside the United States.(3) 2. Describe the circumstances under which the government allows the use of simplified acquisition procedures according to the FAR. Buying organizations have been and are taught to use the simplified acquisition procedures to the maximum extent that is practicable to purchase supplies and services not to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold ($5 million)...
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...INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT) PROCUREMENT MANUAL TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS SECTION 2 PREPARING FOR ICT PROCUREMENT PLANNING How do we prepare for ICT Procurement? Looking at Total Cost Ownership What is the value of Hiring ICT Procurement Consultant? What are the classifications of ICT Procurement? Drafting the Technical Specifications, Scope of Work and Terms of Reference Drafting Service Level Requirements Reference to Benchmarks Use of Brand Names in ICT Procurement “Green” Considerations in Making Technical Specifications PREPARING THE BIDDING DOCUMENTS What are Bidding Documents? Who shall participate in the preparation of the Bidding Documents? BAC for ICT Projects What various types and sizes of contracts may be provided in the Bidding Documents How should Pre-Procurement Conference be conducted? Conducting Proof-of-Concept SECTION 3 INSTRUCTIONS ON THE PROCEDURAL STEPS FOR ICT PROCUREMENT Competitive Bidding ICTO-DOST Standards Development SECTION 4 GUIDELINES ON CONTRACT IMPLEMENTATION FOR ICT PROCUREMENT OF GOODS Dispute Resolution ANNEX A: Definition of Terms ANNEX B: Process Flow for Goods and Infrastructure ANNEX C1: Process Flow Quality Based Evaluation ANNEX C2: Process Flow Quality Cost Based Evaluation ANNEX D: Sample Technical Specification Checklist ANNEX E: Sample Bid Evaluation Template 1 2 3 3 4 4 5 7 10 11 11 11 13 13 14 14 14 17 17 18 18 18 19 SECTION 1 INTRODUCTION This Manual seeks to...
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...Title and Citation: US GAO Decision Matter of: Information Ventures, Inc. (FSI) Facts of the Case: Information Ventures, Inc. protested the decision of the Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service (MMS), to issue request for proposals (RFP) for assessing health education methods, on an unrestricted basis. Information Ventures, a small business, contended that the requirement should be set aside for a small business. MMS published a presolicitation notice in May 2004 on the Federal Business Opportunities website on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). MMS stated that the intent would be on an unrestricted basis pursuant to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 13.5, Test Program for Certain Commercial Items, a report that “draws[s] national attention to innovative health education methods and the commonalities of successful programs; and to provide a resource for those who are developing health education materials for youth ages 9-13.” The presolicitation notice prescribed a two-step process where interested offerors must demonstrate their ability to perform the work required in a capabilities statement. The capabilities statement would be reviewed by the agency and used to determine whether offerors were qualified and capable to execute the work. Then the agency sent requests for proposals to the offerors they qualified. Twenty offerors, including six small businesses,...
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...Assessment 1 – Short Essay Unit: Contract & Procurement Optimisation 501 Word Count: 1678 Trimeser 3 2009 Face to Face GSB Perth Sam Tsakisiris (14110016) Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………3 Part 1 - Discussion of Statement…………………………...........................................3 Part 2 - Discussion of definitions…………………………………………...…………4 Part 3 - Discussion of two examples…………………………………………………..5 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..6 References.....................................................................................................................7 Appendices....................................................................................................................8 Introduction The following short essay will look to address a number of topics surrounding the basic tasks involved in the procurement process. The author will first address the following statement: “Procurement is simply a process that is never in the news. Even the tasks are simple: completion of the necessary forms, obtaining the necessary approvals and just issue the order. What is so difficult about that?” As part of the process of addressing the above statement, the author will uncover a number of academic & professional definitions of procurement, before arriving at his own. The author will then provide two examples of where procurement has been “in the news” and provide discussion how the definitions provided...
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...Pm3 essay | Project Procurement Management in Information Systems Projects | Mogamat Shaheed Adams (207191948) | | INFORMATION SYSTEMS III (MODULE A) | 21 September 2010 LECTURER: Mr S Dunn | Project Procurement Management in Information Systems Projects ABSTRACT It is becoming increasingly important for information technology professionals to understand project procurement management. Procurement management has become a tool that can save organizations huge amounts of cost. Therefore the emphasis on expert knowledge surrounding the procedures and stages through project procurement management are becoming so necessarily. There are numerous tools and techniques available to project procurement teams to get favourable results and outputs. These outputs become important tools to organizations to use in the future on similar projects. INTRODUCTION Acquiring products or services under contract using outside buyers or sellers has become a very important aspect to many organizations. The reasons is that it reduce both fixed and recurrent costs, allowing client organizations to focus on its core business, organizations can gain access to specific skills and technologies, providing flexibility where extra staff can be provided during periods of peak workload, and increasing accountability because contracts are legally binding. To be successful in project procurement management there are four main processes for organizations to follow. They are planning...
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...executive management over the years. This scenario is attributed to the exploitation of emerging Information & Communication technologies to realize the potential of revolutionizing, streamlining and improving supply chain operations (Patterson, Grimm & Corsi, 2003; Cagliano, Caniato & Spina, 2003). Particularly, electronic procurement or e-procurement has been established as a significant aspect of electronic business operational excellence (Barua, Konona, Whinston & Yin, 2001). Prior to commencing, one should first define the term e-procurement used in this context. According to Davila, Gupta & Palmer 2003, any ICT contrived to expedite the acquisition of goods and services over the net by either a public or private organization can be defined as e-procurement. These include software, B2B market exchanges, B2B auctions and purchasing consortia purported to atomize workflow, influence organisational spend, as well as seek out contemporary sourcing opportunities virtually (Davila et. al, 2003). E-procurement is evident as several norms. Some of the general types include, but are not limited to; - Electronic systems supporting conventional procurement such as - Web- enabled Electronic Data Exchange (EDI-IT) - EDI functions as an application that enables the transmission of messages between computer programs of 2 differing entities. The migration to open networks allows messages to be communicated in batches and eliminates for data duplication. A concern with EDI would be...
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...keb19700POSITION: PROCUREMENT COORDINATOR DEPARTMENT: CAPITAL PLANNING & PROCUREMENT SUMMARY: UNDER DIRECT SUPERVISION, THE PROCUREMENT COORDINATOR WILL ASSIST THE PROCUREMENT MANAGER OR PROCUREMENT DIRECTOR WITH THE ASSIGNED COMMODITIES WITHIN THE GUIDELINES ESTABLISHED EDUCATION: BUSINESS OR RELATED STUDIES EXPERIENCE: RELEVANT OCCUPATIONAL EXPERIENCE TRAVEL: NONE LOCATION: FOUR SEASONS CORPORATE OFFICE – 1165 LESLIE STREET, TORONTO, ONTARIO APPLICATION METHOD: PLEASE SUBMIT COVER LETTER AND RESUME BY EMAIL TO JOBS.CORPORATEOFFICETORONTO@FOURSEASONS.COM KEY ACTIVITIES Supplier Follow-Up OUTCOMES Prepare Requests for Quote as directed. Assist Procurement Manager with all supplier follow-up (pricing, deliveries, etc.) Assist with preparation (acquisition of samples) and presentation of product for review. Assist with preparation of cost comparisons Assist with preparation of information for master database files Expedite and update Delivery Status Report as assigned. Assist with budgets and Budget Variance Reports. Enter purchase orders into database system. Prepare and keep all relevant documentation as required. Other duties as assigned and special projects. Reporting Purchase Orders Other COMPETENCIES: KEY BEHAVIOURAL COMPETENCIES Excellent oral and written communication skills; must be able to write clearly and effectively. Ability to work under pressure and meet various shifting deadlines in a very fastpaced environment. Analytical...
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...Imagine that you are working on a two-million-dollar procurement for the purchase of vehicles for the fleet of trucks and cars to be used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection. These vehicles will be used for off-road driving on dirt roads in Arizona. Your manager has asked you to select the type of contract to be used for the vehicle purchase. Choose to respond to this scenario from a government or a contractor perspective. If you select government, then you will complete the assignment as if you are a government employee (or military personnel) receiving the proposal from the contractor. If you select contractor, then you will complete the assignment as if you are a contractor employee submitting a proposal to the government. Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you: 1. Examine the types of contracts and performance-based acquisition. Select the type of contract you would like to use for the vehicle purchase. (Dr. Vic’s Tips: This assignment is very close to the Db for Week 3, so I will offer similar tips and hints: You will also want to review Feldman, Ch. 16 and Compton Ch. 6. You will need to list, define, discuss and provide examples of the main three offered within the article: Fixed-Price, Cost-Reimbursement, Time-and-Materials (T&M), AND the two offered within Compton p.p. 66-70: Letter Contracts and Indefinite Delivery Contracts – this is a graduate level class…I will be looking for you to discuss all five!...
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...Procurement Law Overview, Part One Procurement and Contract Law Procurement Law Overview, Part One The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of procurement law. There are three different branches of Government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. In the United States, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), the Defense Acquisitions Regulations (DAR) Council, and the Civilian Agency Acquisition (CAA) Council determine federal procurement policies by its legislative action and recommendations. Those are then published in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). The FAR is issued jointly by the Department of Defense (DOD), the General Services Administration (GSA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It applies not only to direct purchases made by the government, but also to purchases made by federal grant recipients (Feldman, 2010). The government procurement team is made up of the Contracting Officer (CO), Administrative Contracting Officer (ACO), and Termination Contracting Officer (TCO). The government planning process consists of market research and an internal source search before they proceed with full and open competition which allows all responsible sources to submit either a sealed bid or competitive proposal on the procurement. The market research consists of availability and quantities of items, and reasonable prices. Internal sources include existing inventory, excess from other agencies, and federal prisons (Feldman...
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...The Benefits of Electronic Reverse Auctions (e-RAs) in the Procurement Process The nature of business competition is changing drastically. One of the most profound changes currently transpiring in the world of business is the introduction of electronic commerce. The impact of electronic commerce (ecommerce, or EC) on procurement, shopping, business collaboration, and customer services as well as on delivery of various services is so dramatic that almost every organization is affected. In this paper, I will show how electronic reverse auctions (e-RAs) is very significant in the federal procurement process by saving money, time and maximizes supplier competition. Reverse auctions gained popularity with the emergence of Internet-based online auction tools. Today, reverse auctions are used by federal, state and private agencies to purchase raw materials, supplies and services. The Reverse Auction Process In the traditional auctions, also referred to as forward auctions, a seller offers a product that is demanded by several buyers who compete and bid up the price. The highest bidder wins and buys the product. In a reverse auction, it is the buyer who is in control of the process. The buyer is interested in an item offered by a number of sellers who compete and lower their price in order to get the deal. Unlike traditional auctions that occur at physical locations, reverse auctions are accessed online, through web browsers, via private software companies known as “market makers...
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...Case Analyses- Request for Proposal The Request for proposals (RFPs) is used in negotiated acquisitions for the procurement of supplies and services (research and development (R&D), construction and commercial items), by the contracting officer issuing a solicitation to communicate the government needs to prospective contractors. The policies and procedures that govern RFPs vary between the procurement of commercial items and construction. The purpose of this paper is to compare the two RFPs and identify the differences. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) requires commercial items acquisitions exceeding $5.5 million to be solicited using the RFPs contract method and solicitations is prepared using the standard form (SF) 1449. The commercial items RFP used in this comparison was issued by the Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA). The requirement is to provide inscription for blank marble niche covers for Arlington National Cemetery. The acquisition is being set-aside for service-disabled veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB). The period of performance is for a base period and four option years. The option clause to extend the term of the contract is included. The option clause does not obligate the government to exercise the option years. The government may exercise an option by providing the contractor with a written notice within the time specified in the contract. The solicitation states that prospective contractors must provide an all-inclusive unit price. The...
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