gsa’s-fas-streamlining-federal-procurement-by-updating-gsa-advantage,-improving-ux,-reducing-palt

GSA’s FAS streamlining federal procurement by updating GSA Advantage, improving UX, reducing PALT

In the battle to modernize and streamline federal procurement, the General Services Administration is on the front lines and in the trenches. As more public policy objectives make their way into the world of acquisition — supply chain, cybersecurity, sustainability, domestic and socioeconomic sourcing requirements, to name a few — GSA is trying to bake those into acquisition vehicles up front so agencies have an easier time complying.

For example, Mark Lee, assistant commissioner for the Office of Policy and Compliance for GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said FAS recently updated its green procurement population for agencies looking to meet sustainability goals, and it now directs agencies to GSA Advantage to make it easier to acquire those products or services. And that’s not the only recent update to GSA Advantage that will make things easier for agencies.

“One of the things that we’ve been working really hard on is the FAS catalog platform. And really this is all the catalog data that feeds into GSA Advantage, which is really our online shopping site,” Lee said on Federal Monthly Insights — Contract Management Modernization. “We have a legacy processing system that we were supporting, that was twofold. We generally negotiated those pricing and terms and conditions with our contracting officers. And after they awarded those items to your contract, then you had to post that onto GSA Advantage. And so we relaxed that to one process. So it made it super more streamlined. The cool thing too, is that we used to run separately a pricing compliance report and we’re actually running this report before the vendors even submit their modification.”

That allows GSA to share transactional line item data with vendors before a modification, so they can see whether they’re competitive. Lee said that change reduced the time to modify a contract from an average of 34 days to just one or two.

Improving user experience

One thing GSA did when updating its FAS catalog is explore the user experience to discover pain points throughout the processes. For GSA, that means doing outreach to three groups: its acquisition workforce, the vendors and the customer agencies. GSA received feedback on what it was like to award products and services, what it was like to get those products and services listed on multiple awards schedules or GSA Advantage, and what it was like to actually use that site and purchase those things.

Factoring some of those things in terms of what their ordering experience is and really walking those journeys have helped us really streamline that process, and like I said, get from those 34 days to one or two days,” Lee said. “Because we’re walking those user journeys, redesigning and improving the business process and then wrapping that around technology so that it really delivers that better user experience.”

That had to be a deliberate process, Lee said, because it’s no trivial task to modernize a system that supports around 75 million items. It began with a back end focus on how data was stored, and then moved to the front end once that feedback had been gathered. Then GSA piloted it a single vendor initially, then expanded it to 30 vendors, and from there to all products. Currently, Lee said, GSA is in the middle of doing the same piloting process for services.

“It’s really making sure that we’re doing the right steps along the way, hearing all that user-centered feedback and everything like that. It’s also been great opportunities to bring in other data sources,” Lee said. “The pricing compliance reporter in that catalog platform is fueled by transactional data, and so we’re bringing in multiple data sources to bear to improve that user experience for our vendors, our contracting officers and ultimately our customers.”

Honing in on PALT

GSA is also working to streamline procurement acquisition lead time (PALT), a major metric in procurement that essentially measures the time it takes to get from initial industry engagement to the purchase of a product or service. FAS is actually forced to consider this metric because its one of 12 key performance indicators of acquisition quality that FAS’ performance is measured against. That’s why they have multiple ongoing efforts to streamline it.

“One is our recent award of the Commercial Platforms program, which is like the second generation of the program. Basically this streamlines for purchase card holders the buying process to access commercial online marketplaces,” Lee said. “So we’ve pre-negotiated agreements across the federal government with eight commercial marketplaces, and we’ve seen significant time savings for our customers.”

Lee said surveys with those card holders showed they used to spend roughly 30% of their time, on average, making these purchases. In surveys since FAS made these changes, card holders report recovering roughly 80% of that time.

Another area FAS is addressing to improve PALT is source selection rate: how contractors are evaluated and contract winners are chosen.

“A lot of times we’re using oral and video presentations to do technical evaluation. So rather than get a 200 page volume of technical material for a source selection panel to read through — it’s voluminous — we invite people to come in and they do about typically a 90 minute presentation,” Lee said. “We’ve seen the use of oral video presentations have dramatically streamlined the source selection process. We needed a better experience for industry partners and this helped us streamline getting to contract award.”

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Key procurement priorities at GSA

Jeff Koses, senior procurement executive at the General Services Administration (GSA) joins Off the Shelf for a focused discussion on GSA’s current procurement policy priorities.

Head shot of Jeff Koses
Jeff Koses, senior procurement executive, GSA

Koses talks about the implementation and expansion of Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) across the Federal Supply Schedules (FSS) program. He highlights the positive impact on small businesses, customer agencies, and GSA through the management, evaluation, and use of the data to enhance competition, value, and security.

Koses also discusses GSA’s efforts in supporting the acquisition workforce both within GSA and across government.

Finallly Koses shares his thoughts on the potential role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in federal procurement. He discusses the potential uses of AI in procurement operations and the key considerations in the procurement of AI. The opportunities and challenges of AI will be the focus of a new GSA advisory committee on AI.Jimmy ArgrovesR

hhs-selects-universities-to-improve-data-quality-for-ai-tools

HHS Selects Universities to Improve Data Quality for AI Tools

The Department of Health and Human Services has awarded contracts worth $2 million to two universities under the Leading Edge Acceleration Projects in Health Information Technology program, which aims to create methods and tools to improve care delivery, advance research capabilities and address emerging challenges related to interoperable health IT.

The LEAP in Health IT awardees, namely the trustees of Columbia University in New York and Oregon Health and Science University, will develop innovative ways to evaluate and improve the quality of healthcare data used by artificial intelligence tools in healthcare and accelerate the adoption of health IT in behavioral health settings, respectively, the HHS said Tuesday.

Under the contract, the trustees of Columbia University will test and validate different computational methods within a healthcare process modeling, or HPM, framework applied to AI-based use cases, generate and validate a set of applicable knowledge graphs related to HPMs, and build an open source pipeline to share and reuse the HPM-informed scalable computational processes combined with knowledge graphs, among other objectives.

OHSU’s work will focus on adapting an open-source SMART on Fast Health Interoperability Resources application based on the HL7 Multiple Chronic Condition care plan effort for three behavioral health use cases and testing the application in behavioral health clinics with challenges in exchanging health information.

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 2024 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 11 and hear about the rise of artificial intelligence in health care, among other critical issues. Register here.

aflcmc’s-cloud-one-boosts-daf-cloud-migration-efforts

AFLCMC’s Cloud One Boosts DAF Cloud Migration Efforts

Cloud One, a cloud computing platform launched by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, has allowed the Department of the Air Force to make significant developments to its cloud computing capabilities.

The Air Force Material Command said Thursday the multi-cloud, multi-vendor system enables Department of Defense mission application owners to access fast, secure and reliable cloud computing technologies and other offerings.

The cloud service, which meets defense security requirements and zero-trust compliance, offers secure computing environments, standardized platforms, application migration and data management capabilities.

Cloud One also provides the following features:

  • Data transport services
  • Secure cloud computing architecture
  • Compute and store monitoring
  • Global content delivery service
  • Mobile connect
  • Inheritable risk management framework controls for operational authority
  • Platform operations and sustainment

Cloud One works on Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Applications migrating to Cloud One are analyzed to determine which cloud service provider is suitable for their needs. 

According to Lt. Col. Beau Brantley, Cloud One lead engineer, 100% of applications managed to migrate to the cloud due to the guardrails that protect them from possible threats.

“We do more than host,” said Brantley. “We also facilitate migrations to ensure applications are set up in the cloud. Cloud One was established for affordability and security, that saves rework by only setting up the platform once.”

Cloud One currently migrates an average of 25 to 30 applications each year. According to Joseph Thorp, Cloud One program manager, there are plans to double that figure and possibly increase to around 150 new systems annually “as the U.S. Air Force optimizes for Great Power Competition.”

In June 2021, former Air Force Chief Information Officer Lauren Knausenberger mandated the use of Cloud One. Current DAF CIO Venice Goodwine, a 2024 Wash100 Award winner, prioritized this effort paving the way for Cloud One to lead cloud migration efforts.

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2024 Microelectronics Commons Projects to Receive $269M in Total Funding

Multiple projects under the CHIPS and Science Act-financed Microelectronics Commons program are set to receive a total of $269 million in funding, according to the Department of Defense.

The ME Commons program is a research and development initiative that seeks to advance U.S. microelectronics technology by accelerating domestic microelectronics hardware prototyping and workforce development, the DOD said Tuesday.

The program was established in 2023 and encompasses eight regional hubs that will receive $2 billion in total funding from fiscal years 2023 through 2027. Just under $240 million was awarded last year to establish those hubs.

For 2024, the funding awards will cover 33 projects spread across six technical areas, namely quantum, secure edge computing, 5G/6G, electromagnetic warfare, commercial leap-ahead technologies and artificial intelligence. A Cross-Hub Enablement Solution award is also being funded.

Commenting on the awards, Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar, a past Wash100 Award winner, said, “These CHIPS and Science Act investments through the Microelectronics Commons will advance innovation for components that enable the most sophisticated defense systems, strengthening our national security.”

Dr. Dev Shenoy, who serves as principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and executive director of the Microelectronics Commons, said, “These awards will also upskill America’s workforce, thus helping keep America both secure and prosperous.”

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House Bill Aims to Improve Federal Acquisition Council’s Ability to Protect Supply Chain

Four House lawmakers have introduced a bipartisan bill that seeks to enhance the ability of the Federal Acquisition Security Council, or FASC, to safeguard the federal supply chain from entities controlled or owned by a foreign adversary.

The House Oversight and Accountability Committee said Tuesday the FASC Improvement Act of 2024 would move the council into the Executive Office of the President to strengthen its governing structure and authorize it to issue binding removal and exclusion orders when asked to do so by Congress.

Such orders would exclude or remove nefarious entities from the federal procurement system.

The bipartisan measure would expand FASC’s scope to include acquisition security, direct the council to proactively assess certain covered articles for risks and reallocate appropriations to set up a FASC program office within the Office of the National Cyber Director.

The legislation seeks to integrate best practices from national security exemptions, second-order prohibitions, case-by-case waiver processes and other governmentwide procurement prohibitions that have been made into law.

“This bipartisan bill provides the Federal Acquisition Security Council with the teeth and resources it needs to protect the federal supply chain from technology companies and products owned or controlled by a foreign adversary. We look forward to moving this bill through the Oversight Committee this week to ensure protections for the federal supply chain and agency information systems,” said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House panel.

Comer proposed the bill with Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

congressional-committees-tackle-bills-governing-telework,-marijuana-and-labor-unions

Congressional committees tackle bills governing telework, marijuana and labor unions

Congressional committees dedicated to federal workforce issues were busy Wednesday, as both panels advanced bills impacting federal personnel policy via markup hearings.

On the Senate side, lawmakers on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 12-2 in favor of the Telework Transparency Act, (S. 4043)  a measure introduced last spring by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, that requires that federal agencies publish their telework policies on their websites. It also requires agencies to establish automated systems to track employees’ use of telework and its impact on federal building occupancy rates and agency performance.

And the lawmakers voted 9-5 to advance the Dismantling Outdated Obstacles and Barriers to Individual Employment—or DOOBIE—Act (S. 4711), another measure sponsored by Peters, who chairs the panel. The bill would codify changes recently implemented by the Biden administration to federal hiring and security clearance policies that clarify that past marijuana consumption cannot be sole reason for denial of a federal security clearance or federal job application.

Though no lawmakers discussed either bill at the hearing itself prior to the votes, Peters said in a statement he would continue to work to ensure that federal law is updated to align with the recent policy change.

“The federal government must adapt its hiring practices to reflect the evolving legal and social landscape of our nation,” Peters said. “My bill takes a crucial step by aligning federal policy with existing agency guidance, ensuring that past marijuana use alone doesn’t automatically disqualify talented individuals from public service. This approach will expand our talent pool and create a fairer, more inclusive hiring process.”

Party Lines in the House

The atmosphere was less subdued in the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, as lawmakers jousted over measures governing federal sector labor relations and the federal government’s annual survey measuring employee engagement and morale.

First, the panel considered the Manager Attitudes and Notions According to Government Employee Responses—or MANAGER—Act (H.R. 9593). Introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, the measure requires the Office of Personnel Management to devote a section of the annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey to questions specific to federal managers.

“Each year, the Office of Personnel Management administers a government-wide survey of agency employees, the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey,” said committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. “While that survey is completed by all federal employees, there are no specific questions for supervisors, so the unique views of managers is unaccounted for.”

As a matter of fact, while the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey in recent years has indeed been a census, managers are consistently overrepresented in results, as many frontline federal employees work in the field or in jobs where they do not have regular access to a computer, such as Transportation Security Administration screeners. Last year, the survey had an overall response rate of 39%, and 22% of respondents reported to be federal supervisors, while managers make up only 14% of the federal workforce.

Democrats said that while they support better feedback channels and support for federal supervisors in theory, the bill prescribes a series of leading questions regarding managers’ ability to discipline or remove poor performers. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the committee’s ranking member, said OPM warned the committee that the questions included in the bill were not devised to produce reliable data, but that committee Republicans have thus far declined to amend the legislation.

“While we agree that surveys specific to the concerns of federal workforce managers should be conducted on a more consistent basis, it’s unclear whether the intent of the proposed legislation is to require a new managerial section to the existing Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, or to require a standalone annual survey of managers,” Raskin said. “This basic ambiguity suggests the survey was not designed with practical application in mind. Moreover, the bill prescribes specific questions that are hyper-focused on the punitive responsibilities of senior managers.”

Sessions ultimately said that he would entertain changes to the questions listed in the bill, but suggested that Democrats and the administration were merely scared that such surveys would reveal that managers are opposed to telework or other Biden administration workforce policies.

“We in fact did not go for the most negative parts of this addition of words to be added and questions to be asked; we went to the ones managers themselves have provided us,” Sessions said. “Managers across the government who say they want to make sure when they put forth the issues of managing the workforce, of listening to employees, of trying to make their business work, that they did not put themselves in jeopardy . . . There are a number of facts and factors that happened with this administration that decided to change—and then not follow—with respect to employees reporting to their work locations.”

The measure passed by a 22-18 party-line vote.

The committee also passed, this time by a 21-18 vote, the Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallets Act (H.R. 9594), introduced by Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. The measure would require every federal agency to charge its corresponding federal employee unions for the salaries associated with union officials’ use of official time, as well as office space and other services, and it would allow agencies to unilaterally decertify a union that refuses or fails to pay.

“This remedies a longstanding injustice: taxpayers bearing the financial burden of federal employees paid to conduct union activities when they otherwise would be performing the job they were actually hired to do,” Perry said. “We’re not saying that bargaining unit activities shouldn’t occur. But that time should be compensated, because you’re not doing what you were really hired for.”

Perry cited a 2017 Government Accountability Office report that found that 346 Veterans Affairs Department employees spent 100% of their work hours on official time. During the period studied in that report—fiscal 2015—VA’s population of bargaining unit employees was 290,000 workers, according to OPM data.

Raskin blasted the bill as “simple union busting,” noting both that official time is tightly regulated to prevent internal union business being conducted on government time, as well as that the practice of offering official time saves money by resolving disputes much more cheaply than litigation.

“What they’re doing [with this bill] is they’re really challenging a central premise of labor-management law that goes back more than half a century, in both the public and private sectors,” he said. “The way private sector collective bargaining agreements work is that if there are shop stewards, who work to pursue grievances or negotiate contracts or help manage the workplace, they continue to be paid under their previous salaries. There’s nothing remotely extraordinary or strange about that at all, and so what they’re really attacking of course is the whole idea of having labor unions in the first place.”

gen-charles-brown-jr.-pushes-‘integrated-approach’-to-face-logistic-challenges

Gen. Charles Brown Jr. Pushes ‘Integrated Approach’ to Face Logistic Challenges

Gen. Charles Brown Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes that the military must establish a global joint defense ecosystem to be successful in a congested logistics environment.

The 2024 Wash100 awardee expounded on his thoughts alongside logistics leaders, military logisticians and industry partners from other nations at the Worldwide Logistics Symposium held at the Defense Logistics Agency Headquarters, the Department of Defense reported Tuesday.

During his keynote address, Gen. Brown said, “We want to fight with an unfair advantage.”

“We have to act like there is a crisis without the crisis … to make the changes needed now,” Gen. Brown added.

Gen. Brown cited the need for collaboration from all allies and partner domains in today’s warfighting environment, especially globally. 

“We must take an integrated approach. Efforts cannot be siloed; we need to communicate and work with each other and share effective solutions,” Gen. Brown emphasized.

“We must bring our allies and partners to the table and ensure the military services are converging as we prepare our operational plans to better balance our capability with our capacity and build consistent demands with the defense industrial base,” he stated. 

Steven Morani, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for sustainment, echoed the importance of joint operational planning to organize contested logistics. 

“Wars are won through logistics,” Morani said. “Those who are resilient the longest, win the war, nothing one nation can do alone.”

house-passes-$3b-va-supplemental-budget-ahead-of-friday-deadline

House passes $3B VA supplemental budget ahead of Friday deadline

Legislation to cover a $3 billion shortfall in veterans’ benefits through the end of the month passed the House Tuesday, three days before benefits could be disrupted.  

Lawmakers passed the Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act by voice vote Tuesday evening, sending it to the Senate ahead of a Friday deadline to ensure the Veterans Affairs Department can process benefit payments for 7 million veterans. 

House Republicans — led by Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif. — introduced the bill less than two weeks ago to help make up an extra $2.89 billion in additional costs at the Veteran Benefits Administration.

“We’re not just throwing money at the problem. This bill includes critical oversight measures to ensure that every dollar is spent appropriately, and we’re going to get answers about how the VA allowed this to happen in the first place,” said Garcia in a statement. “Our veterans deserve better than bureaucratic failures, and we owe it to them to fix this broken system.”

The supplemental funding is meant to cover the fiscal 2024 portion of a projected $15 billion shortfall expected between now and fiscal 2025. VA officials informed the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee of the shortfall in July, saying that it was tied to compensation and pension, as well as readjustment benefit costs originating out of the VBA.

VA officials also projected a potential $11.97 billion shortfall in fiscal 2025 due to rising hiring and pharmaceutical costs within the Veterans Health Administration.

The House bill would also require the VA to provide a report to relevant House and Senate committees on the status of the requested funding for fiscal 2024, 2025 and 2026 within 60 days of enactment and update them every 90 days until Sept. 30, 2026. 

The VA inspector general would also examine the underlying cause of both the VBA and VHA shortfalls and report to the relevant committees within 180 days under provisions in the bill. 

After the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act expanded VA benefits eligibility for veterans with 23 respiratory illnesses related to burn pits used by the military, VA began ramping up hiring efforts, including 61,000 new hires at the VHA in fiscal 2023, to be able to manage a growing influx of patients and beneficiaries.  

But in January, Government Executive learned that portions of the VA network had been limiting hiring to cover budget shortfalls, with some deploying “‘cost avoidance strategies’ that included ‘strategic hiring/onboarding,’ overtime reductions, travel limitations and other efforts.”

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a statement Tuesday that it was critical that the Senate move with haste to pass the legislation. 

“Funding veterans benefits is a cost of war that must always be paid—plain and simple,” he said. “The fact is, VA is providing more disability benefits to more veterans and survivors than ever before, including toxic exposure-related benefits, and that is a good thing. We have a sacred responsibility to provides veterans and their families certainty their benefit checks will arrive on time in 14 days, and I urge my Senate colleagues to put veterans first and pass this funding bill immediately.”

cdao-seeking-solutions-to-test-gen-ai-for-defense-use-cases

CDAO Seeking Solutions to Test Gen AI for Defense Use Cases

The Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office is soliciting solutions to test and evaluate generative artificial intelligence for military applications.

The requirement seeks innovative capabilities to address the novel test and evaluation, risk management and assurance challenges of gen AI and foundation model systems, according to a CDAO solicitation posted Tuesday on Tradewinds.

The solution is envisioned to support the CDAO Assessment & Assurance Division’s mission to test AI and machine learning applications across the DOD.

According to the solicitation notice, the desired capabilities should align with the DOD standards for assessing gen AI effectiveness, robustness and risks in defense use cases.

The solution should also advance the creation of a comprehensive framework for evaluation, risk management and assurance of Gen AI applications.

Notably, the government said that solutions lacking basic research and focused mostly on addressing cybersecurity issues are unlikely to address the solicitation’s requirements.

Interested parties are encouraged to submit papers outlining their expertise in gen AI testing and their ability to deliver the required solutions. Proposals with the highest potential to solve DOD problems will be shortlisted for the next phase of solicitation assessment.

Proposals will be accepted until Oct. 9.