Outsourcing shines amid budget woes
Local governments that wouldn't have entertained the notion of outsourcing their technology infrastructures as recently as two years ago are warming to the idea because of the poor economy.
Telephony: One wire...Many services
With its pending $200 million universal computing connectivity solicitation, the U.S. Postal Service wants an integrator to combine telephone calls and data traffic on the same networks.Like many government telephony contracts, the message from USPS is clear: Agencies want both telephone services and data networking services from the same provider. And according to industry insiders such as <b>John O'Sullivan</b>, vice president of programs for Harris Corp., a few integrators are winning the confidence of agencies for their ability to pull together mission-critical skills and knowledge to combine service offerings.
In global IT markets, group suggests steps to stay competitive
Trade association says U.S. firms must be more competitive to maintain the lead in world information-technology marketplace.
Report: USPS should drop e-commerce
Commission says private sector ahead in e-commerce services; suggests Postal Service consider outsourcing IT management, other tasks.
MMIS re-bid
Rhode Island Human Services Department is rebidding its Medicaid management information system fiscal agent contract. The incumbent contractor is Electronic Data Systems Corp., Plano, Texas. The new contract will have only a few additions and refinements and is worth $36 million. An RFP is expected in August.
Problems plague retirement system
Tom Wolf, 34, quit his U.S. Postal Service mail-sorting job May 22 after 10 years. Then his start as a casino blackjack dealer was delayed five weeks. To save his West Allis, Wis., home from foreclosure, Wolf applied to withdraw his retirement money from the Thrift Savings Plan, a retirement fund, similar to a 401(k) plan, for civilian and military government employees.
DISA releasing small business RFP
The Defense Information Systems Agency is issuing an RFP for its Coalition and Advanced Information Technology Integration and Operations acquisition. The small-business contract will support the transfer of advanced IT from research and experimentation through pilot operations to deployment and full-scale implementation with the Defense Information Infrastructure. The contract is for one year with four one-year options; two one-year incentive award term periods are possible. Details can be found via fedbizopps.gov, solicitation no. DCA100-03-R-4020FINALRFP, or at www.ditco.disa.mil/dcop.
OMB abandons governmentwide A-76 goals
Succumbing to congressional pressure, the Office of Management and Budget has dropped governmentwide goals for having federal employees compete with the private sector for work.
Industry not sold on SmartBuy plan
Federal information technology contractors are worried that the government's SmartBuy program for enterprise licensing of software will end up costing them money.
Buy Lines: Since when is competition bad?
Using sound-bite rhetoric and deliberate misinformation, opponents of competitive sourcing are simultaneously assaulting the Office of Management and Budget's May 29 revisions to Circular A-76 and engaging in guerrilla campaign tactics to ban competition, agency by agency, through legislation.
Infotech and the law: Homeland security contracting
Homeland security contracting has emerged over the past 18 months as an area of intense interest in the contracting community. Many large systems integrators have shuffled priorities and resources to go after this growing market, and hosts of smaller companies, many of them new to the government market, have set their sights on entry into this field.
NARA prepares an archive RFP
After meetings with more than 72 companies, the National Archives and Records Administration will release a request for proposals by January to build the Electronic Records Archives system.
Union sues over A-76 revisions
A second federal employee union is challenging revised government rules for competing federal jobs.
New A-76 rules under attack
Just one month after the White House published new procedures for public-private competition of government jobs, federal unions and lawmakers are moving to stall or prevent new competitions.
Northrop to build Grants.gov
Northrop Grumman Corp. will plan, design and implement Grants.gov, a one-stop Web portal for applicants applying for grants from some 900 participating federal programs. The contract from the Health and Human Services Department could be worth $7 million over the next five years.
WorldCom gets new heat from Hill, GSA
The referral of a negative report by the General Services Administration's inspector general earlier this month has initiated suspension proceedings against troubled telecom company WorldCom Inc.
SSA workers win A-76 competitive sourcing
A Social Security Administration team underbid several private-sector competitors in the agency's first competitive-sourcing round under OMB Circular A-76.
OMB: Agencies opt out of competing 500,000 commercial jobs
Contractors hoping to bid on some of the 850,000 commercial jobs in the federal government may have significantly fewer to choose from.
Air Forces releases $1 billion RFP
The Air Force has released a request for proposals calling for what could be up to $1 billion in IT work at its Washington, D.C., area facilities.
Union alleges new A-76 'trumped Congress'
The Office of Management and Budget's revised Circular A-76 ran into its first lawsuit yesterday, but it's not about what most observers expected.
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