News
Saturday, June 1, 2002
Building Entrepreneurs
By Matthew Weinstock
Go to a congressional hearing, tune in talk radio, or attend a luncheon
in Washington and you are bound to hear the question: “Why can’t government
act more like business?” The underlying premise is that government is
too slow, too bureaucratic and too rigid. Businesses, on the other hand,
are viewed as fluid, quick to act and willing to take risks. Where government
bureaucrats see obstacles, entrepreneurs see opportunity.
But, surprisingly, the Federal government is home to some entrepreneurial
thinkers—and doers. Fee-for-service ventures—such as GovWorks, an acquisition
center run by the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service;
Federal Systems Integration and Management Center (FEDSIM), an information
technology support operation within the General Services Administration’s
Federal Technology Service; the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate
of Administration; and the Veterans Affairs Enterprise Centers—have
been leading the charge for agencies to operate in a more businesslike
fashion. Spurred by a movement to cut costs and improve efficiency,
or by the threat of extinction, these enterprises began selling their
services within their own agencies and to other Federal departments.
They still are in the minority, but their ranks are growing and their
experiences can provide lessons for the government as a whole.
Click
here to read the full article on GovExec.com.
May 20, 2002
Congressional Testimony by Andrew
Natsios, Administrator USAid, focusing on reducing contractor workload
by using GovWorks
At my Senate confirmation a year ago, I promised USAID would overhaul
its central management systems. This is now well under way. Reform
is vital to the future of this agency, so I want to let you know what
we are doing in one very important sector -- procurement.
Expanding the number of contractors
One of our priorities has been to increase the number of organizations
that implement our programs. We are addressing this in two ways. As
of May 1, prime contractors that give small firms subcontracts will
earn points in future competitive procurements. Second, Congress has
now authorized our missions to award task orders under new Indefinite
Quantity Contracts (IQCs) to small businesses without competition.
This should mean they get more task orders and missions save time.
Better quality contracts
We are improving the quality of our contracts in three ways. M/OP
established a Contract Review Board (CRB) last year for contracts more
than $10 million. By identifying errors, the CRB will reduce protests
and speed up program implementation. We are decreasing the number of
IQC formats from 18 to two and standardizing them. As a result, IQCs
will be more user-friendly and less expensive. And M/OP is creating
web sites for each IQC so that we can review the scope of work, track
expenditures and know which firms are winning task orders.
Reducing the contracting workload
We are reducing the workload for contract officers around the world
to improve customer service. More USAID offices will be using purchase
cards for small procurements and FSNs will be able to use purchase cards
for small transactions. We are shifting some routine contract actions
to the Department of Interior's GovWorks program. These steps should
free up our contract officers for more complex competitive procurements.
What comes next?
A team of government procurement experts recently completed a review
of our procurement procedures for the Business Transformation Executive
Committee (BTEC) and made a number of interesting recommendations.
Given their importance to our performance, Cognizant Technical Officers
must be better trained and rewarded. So I am committed to increasing
their training budget significantly. The BTEC's working group on procurement
reform also is considering how incentives and promotions might be used
better to reward CTOs for their contributions.
The working group also is working on expanding grant-making authority
beyond M/OP to the DCHA Bureau. In addition, we are looking into increasing
Performance Based Contracts. Future contracts should be written in
terms of real performance and clear results.
M/OP deserves great credit for helping make these changes. Still,
more remains to be done. The BTEC is now fully operational, so I urge
you to share your ideas on management reform with your bureau's representative
or via their web site at http://inside.usaid.gov/BTEC.
We are also conducting a study about the impact of changing our procurement
systems on our missions. Stay tuned to this space for more about these
changes, and thanks again to all who are helping us improve our performance
in the critical area of procurement.
- Andrew Natsios
 Administrator, USAID
May, 2002
Interior's Telecom Sales Hit $60
Million
Govworks, an Interior Department acquisition service, sold $60 million
worth of telecommunications services to agencies through individual
contracts last year while it waited for approval to offer a broad telecommunication
contract governmentwide, said David Sutfin, GovWorks' chief of procurement
operations.
GovWorks announced last July it intended to offer agencies wireless,
local telephone, Internet, fiber optic and other services using a streamlined
contract. The program would have competed with GSA's Federal Technology
Service, which provides telecommunication services under the FTS 2001
program.
Sutfin had planned to solicit bids from industry by October for the
contract but has not been able to brief senior Interior officials on
GovWorks' plans. Meanwhile, GovWorks has been procuring telecommunications
for agencies on a case-by-case basis, he said.
- Karen Robb
Federal Times
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Department of Interior is the
first and only agency to get an A...
By Kellie Lunney
The Federal government has not only not improved its track record in
awarding jobs to small businesses over the last year, but its record
is actually getting worse, according to a new report from Rep. Nydia
Velázquez, D-N.Y.
In her third
annual scorecard on small business contracting, Velázquez gave the
Federal government a D for its efforts to award jobs to small businesses
in 2001. Ten out of 21 agencies received a D or D-, while two—the Defense
and Education departments—flunked altogether. The government earned
a C- in small business contracting from Velázquez in the previous
two scorecards, with five agencies receiving a D or D minus for their
efforts.
The Interior Department was the first and only agency to get an A on
the scorecard released Wednesday.
Click
here to read the full article on GovExec.com.
Friday, March 15, 2002
GSA, GovWorks ready to rumble
By Patience Wait
Later this month, the first salvo in a competition for government business
will be fired, but it won’t be contractors dueling for the latest Federal
opportunity. Instead, the General Services Administration will face
off against GovWorks, the Interior Department’s Minerals Management
Service franchise fund.
GovWorks is a self-funded purchasing organization, established in 1996,
that provides additional ways for Federal agencies to make purchases
through governmentwide acquisition contracts, or GWACs. But this new
GovWorks project is different from other GWACs in that it’s the first
to tackle telecommunications services, an area dominated by GSA’s Federal
Technology Service contracts.
Click
here to read the full article on WashingtonTechnology.com.
Monday, March 11, 2002
Tech Insider: A new dawn in telecommunications?
By Shane Harris
When entrepreneur Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin label that
has produced a record company, a cola and an international airline,
took his fledgling carrier to war with British Airways, he remarked
that it was “like getting into a bleeding competition with a blood bank.”
Carriers from all over the world offered service to the United Kingdom
of course, but in the mid-1980s, when the battle began, British Airways
was the only name brand in British aviation. The company carried unrivaled
cachet and had fierce control of the market.
Oddly enough, the same David-and-Goliath story has played out in the
Federal telecommunications market.
Click
here to read the full article on GovExec.com.
Monday, March 11, 2002
Information in Motion
By L. Scott Tillett
GovWorks, a government wide acquisition services center, this month
will launch an online marketing campaign that will use streaming video
to publicize its telecommunications offerings.
The center, run by the Interior Department's Mineral Management Service,
is one of the first Federal government customers for Biznews24, which
last month created a group to work with Federal customers on streaming
video applications.
The company is targeting agencies that are considering traditional
mailings, e-mail distribution, costly satellite teleconferencing or
live meetings to deliver information such as policy statements, detailed
reports, job tutorials or training manuals.
Click
here to read the full article on FCW.com.
Friday, March 1, 2002
GovWorks enters Federal telecom
business
By Shane Harris
GovWorks, the fee-for-service acquisition shop at the Interior Department’s
Mineral Management Service, fired the opening shot Thursday in what
industry insiders and experts believe will be a war for the government’s
telecommunications business.
Speaking at a Federal telecom conference in Reston, Va., GovWorks chief
David Sutfin laid out the agency’s plan to create an open-ended contract
that would rely on companies to craft tailor-made service agreements
with individual agencies, rather than relying on the traditional procurement
approach in which numerous specific requirements are spelled out by
the agency. GovWorks would oversee and manage those contracts.
GovWorks will use a “statement of objectives” approach to create task
orders on its broad contract. Companies would be allowed into agencies
to assess the organizations’ assets and future needs. They then would
help write orders for services, drawing from a menu of choices that
could bundle together voice, data and wireless services in one package.
Click
here to read the full article on GovExec.com.
Monday, December 1, 2001
The Only Game In Town
By Shane Harris
When the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon came crashing
down on Sept. 11, what was left of an ailing commercial technology market
collapsed with them. Already suffering as the national economy headed
for recession, the information technology market slumped even further
in late September. By October, IDC, a technology industry analysis firm
in Framingham, Mass., predicted that revenue from technology would shrink
in North America this year for the first time ever. Even before Sept.
11, thousands of technology companies had eyed the Federal market as
one of their best remaining bets for rescuing declining sales. After
the September assaults ignited a war on terrorism, the Federal market
became the only game in town.
Click
here to read the full article on GovExec.com.
Monday, December 1, 2001
Buying Better All The Time
By Allan V. Burman
We’ve come a long way in making the government’s acquisition system
more responsive and effective. One of the remarkable achievements of
Operation Desert Storm, just a decade ago, was the resourcefulness of
Federal employees. Telecommunications gear, for example, was acquired
in weeks, not months, as officials sought special relief from procurement
rules to make things happen quickly. It was a triumph of individuals
overcoming the limitations of a flawed acquisition process. After the
Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, able and
committed civil servants once again showed great strength in rising
to the occasion. But this time, they didn’t have to overcome the acquisition
process. As David Drabkin, senior procurement executive at the General
Services Administration says, “Unlike Desert Shield/Desert Storm, where
we responded to the emergency in many cases in spite of the system,
in the aftermath of [Sept. 11], we used the system to meet the requirements
of the people responding to the emergency.”
Click
here to read the full article on GovExec.com.
Thursday, November 8, 2001
Army National Guard Honors GovWorks'
Suzanne Bell
Suzanne Bell, Contracting Officer at GovWorks, was honored today by
the Army Information Systems Division, National Guard Bureau. Bell received
the Minuteman Award for "Outstanding Support and Contributions" for
their organization. Working with the National Guard over the last 18
months, Bell was selected to be the contracting officer for two of their
agencies largest efforts. These efforts were to procure Information
Technology Services for National Guard Offices in the Military District
of Washington and to procure services to support a nationwide telecommunications
network connecting all 50 states and their territories. The estimated
value of these acquisitions is $100 million.
Pictured left to right are David Sutfin,
Chief of Procurement, GovWorks; Lawrence Ford, Program Analyst, and
Henry Minnich, Chief Financial Officer NGB-AIS, of the National Guard;
Suzanne Bell; LTC Steve Wickenheiser, ADP Program Manager, and Ingrid
Harris, Contract Support Specialist, of the Army National Guard.
GovExec.com November 7, 2001
Move to Undo Acquisition Reform
Dies in Conference
By Shane Harris
A compromise has been reached on a controversial set of provisions
in the Senate version of the 2002 National Defense Authorization Act
that many feared would undo years of acquisition reform in the Defense
Department, Government Executive has learned.
In its original form, Section 803 of the act (S. 1438) would have required
Defense contracting officers to allow hundreds, if not thousands of
vendors to compete for every order made through the General Services
Administration's Federal Supply Schedules, a set of pre-negotiated contracts
awarded to numerous companies from which all agencies can purchase goods
and services for a fee. Currently, contracting officers are only required
to compete orders among at least three vendors.
Click
here to read the full article on GovExec.com.
Government Computing News August 27, 2001
GovWorks Touts Telecom Service
By William Jackson
GovWorks, a franchise fund acquisition center run by the Interior Department,
plans to offer telecommunications services to agencies this fall.
"We’re trying to achieve a better deal on services for our customer
agencies,” said David Sutfin, GovWorks chief of procurement operations.
Click
here to read the full article in Government Computing News.
American Indian Company Awarded
$100 Million Contract
Washington, D.C., (August 16, 2001) - The Interior Department's Minerals
Management Service has awarded one of the largest tribal contracts in
history to a 100% owned American Indian business. The $100 million contract,
awarded to Wyandotte NetTel, offers telecommunications and information
technology products and services to the Federal government.
Click here to read the full
press release.
Also, read the following related on-line articles:
GovExec.com July 31, 2001
GSA Fails to Disclose Local Phone Service Fees
to Agencies
By Shane Harris
The General Services Administration charges agencies local phone service
contract management fees ranging from 28 percent to more than 80 percent
of the value of services and should disclose those rates to its customers,
according to the General Accounting Office.
Click
here to read the full article in GovExec.com.
GovExec.com July 26, 2001
Interior Unit to Take on GSA for Federal Telecom
Business
By Shane Harris
GovWorks, an acquisition center run by the Interior Department’s Minerals
Management Service, will soon begin offering telecommunications services
to Federal agencies just like those already offered by the General Services
Administration.
Click
here to read the full article in GovExec.com.
FederalTimes.com July 23, 2001
Interior, GSA To Compete For Telecom Business
By Karen Robb
The Interior Department plans to compete with the General Services
Administration in offering Federal agencies access to a variety of telecommunications
services.
Interior plans to launch by October a program in which Federal agencies
can purchase cellular, local telephone, Internet, fiber optic and other
services using a streamlined contract.
The program will compete with GSA’s Federal Technology Service, which
provides many of these services as well as long-distance under the FTS
2001 program.
Industry Interview as seen in Military Information
Technology, June 2001
Q: What makes GovWorks' relationship with the defense community
work?
A: At the core of GovWorks are the strengths of professional knowledge,
quality service and committed, caring people. Our contracting officers
are known for their ability to help government managers find business
solutions that work. Through what I call the "gap factor," GovWorks
proves itself as a valuable partner. Agencies today have smaller acquisition
and administrative work forces, and defense managers need to fill the
acquisition resource gap. Enter GovWorks. Consider also the significant
numbers of people retiring in the coming decade, creating a greater
resource gap. These factors create interesting possibilities, especially
for the defense community. Filling the shortfall and growing a new acquisition
work force will take years. Where, then, can the defense community turn
for help in the meantime? GovWorks is one answer. Click
here to read the full interview.
IBM Awarded Military Health Help Desk Contract
Innovative Agreement Utilizes Multi-Agency Partnership
Alexandria, Va. (June 8, 2001) - COL Carl Hendricks, Military Health
System (MHS), Program Executive Officer for Information Technology (IT)
and GovWorks announced today that IBM has been granted the MHS Information
Technology Organization Customer Support Center Award.
Federal Computer Week May 28, 2001
Procurement Shop Eyes Telecom
By Greg Langlois
GovWorks, the fee-for-service acquisitions provider based at the Interior
Department, is looking for a contractor to help it determine whether
offering telecommunications services makes business sense.
Click here to read the article in
Federal
Computer Week.
GovWorks Equips Agencies for Wireless Solutions
Honored in Special Ceremony Today by GSA as Value-Added Service
Partner for EIRO "Total Mobility" Program
Crystal City, Va. (May 18, 2001) - At a time when many Federal agencies
are looking for innovative ways to automate and mobilize their workforce,
government managers are seeking wireless solutions to streamline business
processes and bring more value to public service. GovWorks was honored
today by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Federal Supply
Service (FSS) as a "Value-Added Service Partner" for GSA's new total
mobility program, E-connected Intelligence Remote Operations (EIRO).
Government Executive Magazine April 28, 2000
Brand New Business
By Anne Laurent
 When
you think about fast, efficient, easy purchases, your thoughts probably
don't automatically turn to the Interior Department's Minerals Management
Service. But that could soon change. MMS is out to burn its image on
your brain. Using a branding campaign worthy of an aggressive small
business, the 15-person MMS procurement operations branch hopes to transform
itself from a well-regarded start-up known for helping managers buy
information technology to a purchasing powerhouse handling a variety
of products and services.
Click here to read the article in Government Executive Magazine:
http://www.govexec.com/features/1099/1099s3.htm
Federal Times, December 11, 2000
Fifteen Awarded Contracts for Training and Education.
Agencies can order training and education services through 15 government-wide
contracts awarded through a joint effort of Defense and Interior department
programs.
Federal Computing
Interview: David Sutfin: Chief, MMS Procurement
Operations Branch, GovWorks
1.Obviously, there are a number of fee-for-service buying businesses
out there as competition. Does GovWorks experience working within the
government mean it can offer clients the sort of insider knowledge that
will provide more effective service for its prospective clients?
Absolutely. Our advantage is our commitment to government. GovWorks
has built its reputation on delivering better acquisition services.
We work with Federal managers to deliver solutions that are tailored
to their individual needs. We deliver results timed to the customer's
expectations. Click here to
read the full interview.
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