News That Impacts Your Career
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT FIELD GETS FIRST STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
Whether you’re in the medical field, law, accounting or most any other profession, you follow a set of standards of practice. But the field of public sector procurement — with as much as $7 trillion annually at stake — has no such guiding principles.
The National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP) is trying to change that. The nonprofit association is proposing a set of values, principles, and standards of practices for public sector procurement.
“Even though it’s led by NIGP, they’re not NIGP standards and practices. They’re for the profession; they’re part of the public domain,” said Rick Grimm, NIGP’s chief executive, in an interview with the DorobekINSIDER.
The standards will apply to state and local procurement as well, not just federal, Grimm said. Although procurement guidelines will depend on the level of government, “the values anchoring this project are universal,” he said, including accountability, ethics, impartiality, professionalism, service and transparency.
NIGP’s goal is to introduce 10 standards for each of the next three years. The first group of standards centers on strategic planning, performance management and performance measurement, Grimm said.
The proposals are now online and available for public comment by stakeholders. In addition to federal, state and local government, stakeholders also include associations like the National Association of Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers, the Association of Government Accountants, League of Cities, and others.
Each stakeholder can take a look at the proposed standards and “kick the tires on this thing,” Grimm said. These government agencies and professional groups provide their own perspectives that will make the standard richer, Grimm said.
“Because it is a public standard, we want to make sure it’s as much of a collaborative process as possible,” Grimm said.
Grimm added that the standards are “evolutionary.” The guidelines agreed upon in 2011 may be different a few years from now.
Please go to www.principlesandpractices.org for more information.
OFPP ISSUES "MYTH-BUSTING" GUIDANCE ON COMMUNICATIONS WITH INDUSTRY
On February 2, Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) administrator Daniel Gordon issued a memorandum to acquisition officials addressing misconceptions about communicating with industry. The memo outlines a requirement for vendor communication plans and identifies ten misconceptions about government-industry communication.
- Myth — Officials cannot meet one-on-one with a potential offeror.
Fact — Officials generally can meet with potential offerors individually as long as no vendor receives preferential treatment.
- Myth — Additional communications with vendors require substantial disclosure burdens.
Fact — Disclosure is required only in certain circumstances, such as for meetings with registered lobbyists, and even when required, the disclosure burden normally is minimal.
- Myth — Protests should be avoided at all costs, even if it means limiting communication with industry.
Fact — Restricting communication will not prevent a protest, and actually could increase the chance of one, in addition to depriving officials of potentially useful information.
- Myth — Conducting discussions or negotiations after proposals are received will add too much time to the schedule.
Fact — Avoiding discussions solely because of schedule concerns may be counterproductive, and may cause delays and other problems during contract performance.
- Myth — Meetings with vendors may encourage submission of unsolicited proposals, delaying the procurement process.
Fact — Submission of an unsolicited proposal should not affect the schedule. Generally, the unsolicited proposal process is separate from the process for a known agency requirement that can be acquired using competitive methods.
- Myth — Debriefings aren’t required when the agency awards a task or delivery order using the Federal Supply Schedule, so they shouldn’t be done.
Fact — Providing feedback is important, both for offerors and the government, so agencies generally should provide feedback whenever possible.
- Myth — Industry days and similar events are of low value because vendors will not provide useful information in front of competitors and agencies don’t release new information.
Fact — Well-organized industry days, as well as presolicitation and preproposal conferences, are valuable opportunities for the government and for potential vendors.
- Myth — If the program manager already talked to industry while developing the technical requirements, the contracting officer doesn’t need to do anything else before issuing the request for proposals.
Fact — The technical requirements are only part of the acquisition; getting feedback on terms and conditions, pricing structure, performance metrics, evaluation criteria, and contract administration matters will improve the award and implementation process.
- Myth — Giving vendors only a few days to respond to a solicitation is acceptable since the agency has been talking to industry about the procurement for over a year.
Fact — Providing only short response times may result in the receipt of fewer or poorly developed proposals, which can lead to a flawed contract and signal that the government isn’t really interested in competition.
- Myth — Obtaining broad participation by many different vendors is too difficult; officials are better off dealing with their established vendors.
Fact — The government loses when competition is limited. Agencies need to look for opportunities to increase competition and ensure that all vendors, including small businesses, get fair consideration.
The full text of the memo may be found at www.whitehouse.gov/omb/procurement_index_memo/.
CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN SUPPLIER DIVERSITY (CPSD™) PROGRAM
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) has introduced a new certification program. The CPSD™ is a professional designation for supply professionals who demonstrate knowledge, skills and expertise in supplier diversity. CPSD™ is also for business professionals with responsibility for strategic diversity initiatives. This professional designation is intended to demonstrate to employers, colleagues, suppliers, and customers that holders of the designation are serious about helping their organization and diverse suppliers succeed.
More information can be found at ISM’s website at www.ism.ws.
96TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL SUPPLY MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE AND EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will present the 96th Annual International Supply Management Conference and Educational Exhibit May 15-18, 2011 in Orlando, Florida at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center. There will be preconference seminars and a number of conference workshops in nine tracks. Tracks include: Best Practices in Supply Management; Developing and Leading Impactful Supply Chain Organizations; Headwinds; Logistics; Manufacturing; Risk Management; Services Procurement; Supplier Development and Relationship Management; and Talent Management.
Mega-sessions will be held on Business Acumen, Project Management, Contracting, Finance, and Negotiation.
More information may be found on ISM’s website at www.ism.ws.
USEFUL WEBSITES FOR PROJECT MANAGERS AND PROJECT TEAMS
Here is a list of websites that provide useful information for personnel involved in project, program, and portfolio management. The list does not include all websites devoted to project and program management. Future editions of the Master’s Report will carry additional listings.
FORUM ON GOVERNMENT CONTRACT COST & PRICING
The 2nd Advanced Forum on Government Contract Cost & Pricing will be held on April 11-12, 2011 at the Westin Arlington Gateway in Arlington, Virginia. The Forum, sponsored by the American Conference Institute, will have sessions on: Contractor Oversight; Defining “Cost or Pricing Data”; Supporting Subcontractor Cost Estimates; Preventing Payment Withholdings; Managing DCAA Requests for Records; Validating the Basis of Estimates; and more!
More information can be found at www.americanconference.com/governmentpricing.htm.
AGU Update
STUDENT TIPS
A few helpful tips for students…
Student Enrollment Agreements — No final grade will be issued until the agreement is signed and returned. Each set of course materials includes a Student Enrollment Agreement. This Agreement represents a contract between the University and the student. Consequently, the agreement must be read, signed and returned by the student to the AGU Registrar’s Office upon receipt of the materials.
All Lessons Must Be Completed In Numerical Order — Individual course lessons must be completed in their numerical order. The CourseWebs System will not allow a student to move on to the next lesson until the previous lesson examination has been completed and graded. Lesson examinations not requiring instructor review are graded and notice sent to the student within minutes of submittal. Lesson examinations requiring instructor review are normally graded within 24 to 72 hours. Students can work ahead in their print Study Guide while waiting for instructor reviews and grading.
The decision to require lessons to be completed in order was taken because students were skipping lessons where they had to complete case analysis, problems or exercises. This practice hinders the student’s learning of the subject matter. Students who wait to complete the application lessons or those lessons requiring more in-depth study or the completion of exercises until the "easy" lessons are completed often turn in work that is poor, requires rework and which often results in low grades.
We believe that the requirement to complete lessons in order results in a better learning experience for the student.
Tuition Assistance — If you have received tuition assistance from your organization for a course, any request for an extension of your course completion date is contingent upon approval of your education officer or payment officer. You will be required to forward documentation of their approval.
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
 Each year the Distance Education and Training Council recognizes distinguished graduates from universities under their accreditation through their Outstanding Graduate Program. American Graduate University is pleased to announce that this year’s Graduate of the Year is John McGuire, an Engineering & Manufacturing Specialist with the Defense Contract Management Agency providing technical assistance related to policy guidance and direction on acquisition quality assurance and manufacturing production/delivery issues.
Each year one AGU graduate is chosen for the award based on their grade point average and score on the comprehensive examination or project. John had a 4.0 GPA in the Master of Project Management program and received the highest score on the comprehensive examination or project.
This 28 year veteran of the Federal Civil Service faces a three hour daily work commute. He needed a graduate program that would allow him to maximize his time. AGU’s self-paced approach enabled him to find the perfect balance.
Married for 21 years, John met his wife Lisa while they were stationed together at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach. They have two great dogs Naty and Lily. John loves baseball and hockey as well as crossword puzzles and word jumble puzzles. Now that he has achieved his educational goal he finally has the time to indulge in another pleasure — reading for pleasure.
John is featured in this year’s DETC Outstanding Graduate and Famous Alumni publication and will be awarded a special plaque at the DETC Annual Conference in Williamsburg, VA on April 5, 2011. |
ACTIVITY REMINDERS WILL BE SENT TO CURRENT STUDENTS
While AGU’s self-paced delivery approach does give the student the freedom to work at their convenience it also puts the responsibility for keeping current squarely on their shoulders. AGU realizes that students are juggling family, work, and school responsibilities while still trying to carve out a little time for themselves. Sometimes weeks may go by before a student realizes they’re getting behind and that five month deadline is looming.
This month AGU is instituting a reminder email message that will transmit automatically to students who have not submitted a lesson for over 30 days. The message will go out as necessary until the five month deadline.
If you have signed up for more than one course, are not using your VA benefits and have not submitted a new start date for your second course (or additional courses) on the student enrollment agreement, please contact Student Services (studentservices@patten.edu) to correct the start date for your second course. This will prevent you from receiving the inactivity notice for the second course. The start date must be no later than five months from the start date of your first course.
If you have any questions please contact Rachel at 877-351-9060 ext 1005, or by email at: studentservices@patten.edu.
Advance Your Career With AGU
AGU COURSE 603 EQUIVALENT TO DAU’S CON 216
AGU’s Course 603 “Government Contract Law” has received
equivalency to
the Defense Acquisition University course CON 216 “Legal Considerations
in Contracting”. AGU students completing Course 603 can now
receive
credit from DAU for their course CON 216.
AGU COURSE 601 EQUIVALENT TO THREE DAU COURSES
American Graduate University has achieved equivalency for
its Course 601, “Federal Government Contracting,” for several Defense Acquisition University courses. The DAU courses are CON 110, “Mission Support Planning,” CON 111, “Mission Planning Execution,” and CON 112, “Mission Performance Assessment.”
AGU students completing the 30 module distance education course will receive
credit for the three DAU courses. AGU Course 601 includes coverage on:
- Contract Procedures
- Laws and Regulations Governing Procurement
- Government Contract Law
- Methods of Procurement
- Types of Contracts
- Developing the Requirement
- Developing the Solicitation
- Statements of Objectives/ Statements of Work
- Source Selection Procedures
- Government Marketing/Business Development
- Proposal Preparation
- Pricing
- Estimating
|
- Profit and Fee
- Cost or Pricing Data
- Price and Cost Analysis
- Cost Principles and Cost Accounting
Standards
- Negotiation Techniques
- Contract Terms and Conditions
- Contract Financing
- Contract Management and Administration
- Contract Changes
and Modifications
- Remedies, Disputes and Claims
- Terminations for Default
- Terminations for Convenience
|
In addition, AGU faculty and staff will be working on developing several new distance courses to apply for equivalency to other DAU courses.
AGU
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