SmallGovCon Week In Review: June 12-16, 2017

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This Sunday we celebrate Father’s Day.  I’m looking forward to celebrating with my kids, my father, and my brother (himself the father of three). Happy Father’s Day to all the other dads out there!

In this mid-June edition of SmallGovCon Week In Review, about 500 new small business partners were added to the GSA 8(a) STARS II vehicle , a USAID Deputy Director pleads guilty to procurement fraud charges, new SBA Administrator Linda McMahon wants to implement more efficient processes for contractors to obtain socioeconomic certifications, and much more.

  • An Army Colonel and his wife have been charged in a bribery scheme, accused of accepting $60,000 in payments from a contractor. [FOX 54]
  • Sometimes, through no fault of a contractor, a contract is terminated anyway.  Here are some steps to prepare for that possibility. [Washington Technology]
  • The DHS has had a tough couple weeks, having lost one major bid protest and canceling a second large procurement–but one commentator writes that the DHS is still an example of an agency “getting strategic sourcing right.” [Federal News Radio]
  • A USAID Deputy Director has pled guilty to charges alleging that he engaged in cronyism and contract-steering, choosing to reward a friend with federal money instead of actively seeking the most qualified and cost-effective bidder. [United States Department of Justice]
  • The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council released a memorandum that temporarily retracts the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces final rule, pending a final change removing these provisions from the FAR. [GSA Office of Governmentwide Acquisition Policy]
  • The two highest-ranking officials in the GSA’s acquisition service are resigning after a shakeup in the service’s structuring that includes new leadership. [fedscoop]
  • A contracting dispute is delaying the OPM’s background investigations processing after the GAO sustained a protest of the award. [Government Executive]
  • SBA Administrator Linda McMahon wants to make SBA’s certification programs “more user-friendly,” saying that the application forms are complex. Amen to that–but McMahon more ominously says that if SBA can’t make the programs more effective and efficient, “those programs have to go.” [Government Executive]
  • The GSA 8(a) STARS II GWAC recently added approximately 500 qualified industry partners during an Open Season. [General Services Administration]