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12/3/19
Acquisition Hour: Types of Federal Contracts
1/14/20
Acquisition Hour: The SBA 8(a) Certification Program
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12/10/19
Acquisition Hour: Cyber Trends, Threats and the Evolving Hacker's Marketplace
1/28/20
Acquisition Hour: The HUBZONE Program - Certification Benefits & Regulations
Webinar
Learn More
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President Trump revokes Executive Order 13495 on Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts.
On February 4, 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order (EO) 13495, which generally provided that when a service contract expired, and a follow-on contract was awarded for the same service at the same location, the successor contractor was required to give the employees of the predecessor contractor a right of first refusal for employment under the successor contract. This EO was implemented in FAR Part 22.12 and in FAR 52.222-17 and the Secretary of Labor was responsible for enforcing and ensuring compliance with the EO.
On October 31, 2019, President Trump revoked EO 13495. Under this revocation, the Secretary of Labor, the FAR Council, and Agency Heads are directed to promptly rescind any orders, rules, regulations, guidelines, programs, or policies implementing or enforcing EO 13495. Thus revision or deletion of FAR 22.12 and FAR 52.222-17 is expected in the near future. Also under the revocation, the Secretary of Labor is directed to terminate, effective immediately, any investigations and compliance actions based on EO 13495. Successor contractors are, of course, free to hire employees of the predecessor contractor. However, because of this revocation, successor contractors will no longer be required to do so.
Please contact Helen Henningsen at
helenh@wispro.org - 414-270-3600 if you have any questions.
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OFCCP Releases New Construction Technical Assistance Guide
OFCCP created this new technical assistance guide specifically for construction contractors, furthering our commitment to provide meaningful compliance assistance for federal contractors.
Construction contractors can use the technical assistance guide as a self-assessment tool to review the practices they have in place to eliminate discrimination and achieve their equal employment opportunity goals.
Here's some of what you'll find in the new construction technical assistance guide:
- An overview of the equal employment opportunity obligations for construction contractors
- Each of the steps for effectively implementing the Standard Federal EEO Construction Contract Specifications
- What to expect when preparing for an OFCCP compliance evaluation
OFCCP helps federal contractors comply with the law and understand OFCCP's compliance evaluation process. We hope the release of OFCCP's new construction technical assistance guide will further this aim and serve as a useful tool for federal construction contractors.
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Department of Defense Expanding Access to Military Commissaries, Exchanges and Recreation Facilities
The Department of Defense is proud to expand commissary, exchange and morale, welfare and recreation retail eligibility to:
* Purple Heart recipients
* Former prisoners of war
* All veterans with service-connected disabilities
* Individuals approved and designated as the primary family caregivers of eligible veterans under the Department of Veterans Affairs Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.
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Federal Acquisition Regulation: Reporting of Nonconforming Items to the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program
AGENCY:
Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
ACTION:
Final rule.
SUMMARY:
DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to require contractors and subcontractors to report to the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program certain counterfeit or suspect counterfeit parts and certain major or critical nonconformances.
DATES:
Effective: December 23, 2019.
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DHS SBIR Solicitation for FY 20
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, comprised of the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate's SBIR Program and the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) Office SBIR Program, invites small business concerns to review this pre-solicitation notice, which is intended to lead to the FY20 DHS SBIR Phase I solicitation.
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COMING SOON! Automated Indefinite Delivery Contract
(AIDC) Suppliers
Suppliers should be aware a new program is being released November 2019. AIDC is an automated, single material, long-term contract for stocked items DLA purchases multiple times per year. Contracts will not exceed a 1-year base, will have no option year(s), and will not exceed the simplified acquisition threshold ($250K). These contracts will have a guaranteed contract minimum quantity. Suppliers will be given the option to state if they will accept a no minimum order quantity. The solicitations will be open for 14 days, have no phased delivery, and no quantity ranges. Evaluation will be based on a single price decision, surplus offers and alternate offers will not be allowed (they will be considered a bid with exception). Suppliers should check DIBBS notices in the coming month for more information on AIDC.
if you are a current or potential DLA supplier and have questions or need assistance, contact Jean Polk at jeanp@wispro.org or 920-285-4442.
From (DLA) "The Link", Issue 14, Oct 2019
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Update on DoD's Cyber Security Maturity Model Certification (CMMC)
To those who have wondered if the CMMC is real and will be rolled out as planned - its real, its coming and don't wait too long to begin your preparations. Both the House and the Senate have language related to the CMMC in their respective versions of the NDAA. Additionally, CMMC is being seen in agency message traffic. CMMC V 0.6 has been published updating Levels 1-3 and CMMC v 1.0 is scheduled to be rolled out in January 2020. DoD published an RFI related to the third party organization that will be responsible for certification and has scheduled an open meeting for discussion and industry feedback.
Based upon current information, every company - every supplier - in DoD's supply chain whether they deal with CUI or only provide generic items will be required to be certified by DoD's representative third party organization. The level at which a company will need to be certified at will be determined by the typical solicitations with which they deal. If a company would like to respond to a solicitation that requires Level 2 certification that company will have to be Level 2 certified at the minimum. If the same Level 2 certified company would like to respond to a solicitation requiring Level 3 certification, that company will not be eligible unless they recertify at Level 3. There are five levels identified within the CMMC framework. Level 1 equates to general cyber hygiene and Level 5 for those companies that handle the most sensitive CUI. Level 5 requirements will be the most stringent. DoD envisions the number of companies required to be certified at level 5 to be relatively small in number as these companies will have the most high-level performance requirements. It is anticipated that Level 3 requirements will be consistent with safeguarding CUI level information.
CMMC level information will be incorporated into RFI's (sections C and L) in June of 2020. Then in the Fall of 2020, CMMC requirements will begin to be incorporated in solicitations.
Currently, CMMC framework V0.6 is available for viewing and download at
https://www.acq.osd.mil/cmmc. This version will reflect 90% of the final version. Later this month, a revised V0.6 will be published to update Level 4 and Level 5 information. That version will be 99% complete. Version 0.4 was published earlier this Fall and provided details for all five levels and can be used as a baseline. This version (V0.6) only addresses levels 1-3.
With respect to the periodicity of certification/recertification, the following is what has been recently mentioned -
Level 1 - every three years
Level 2 - every three years
Level 3 - every two years
Level 4 - annually
Level 5 - annually
There will also be a cost associated with the certification however, there have been no details concerning the amount.
As a supplier, what should you be doing?
- Review your current status with respect to NIST 800-171 r1. If you have completed your System Security Plan and developed your Plan of Action (POA), both required by NIST 800-171 r1 that's great - but is it really? DoD may accept the POA and continue to conduct business with this company. What about the "bad actors" will they wait until all 110 elements have been completed before they attack? They will not. They will take advantage of every weakness. To them, it's just business!
- Determine what is needed to implement all 110 elements - do it now; don't wait.
- Download and review the current CMMC framework for your level. Remember, even if you are dealing with generic commercial items your company will also be required to be certified, probably at a Level 1 but certified none the less.
- Companies that are working with Primes, there should be conversations and ongoing discussions concerning Cyber. If the prime has not contact you, it may be worthwhile to see if you can initiate the conversation.
- Establish a process for reviewing your cyber status and determine if your actions are sufficient for the current threats. New threats appear quite routinely and therefore, a company's program should be continually reviewed and updated.
- Don't overlook training either for yourself or members of your team/employees. Does everybody need the same level of training, probably not but everyone does need some training and periodic refresher training. The CMMC is not about creating a Checklist. It is a tool to increase awareness and improve the community's critical thinking about cyber issues. The CMMC will have a component related to training and education.
If you have questions or need assistance regarding the Federal cyber security requirements of the developing CMMC please contact Marc Violante at
marcv@wispro.org or 920-456-9990.
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From the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense regarding the Retirement of FedBIZOpps
The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to implement the Contracting Opportunities domain in the Beta.SAM environment (https://beta.sam.gov/) on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 to support the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) part 5 as the governmentwide entry point. TheFEDBizOpps application will be retired at the same time.
If you need assistance navigating beta.sam.gov or the new Fedbizopps, please contact Kim Garber at
kimg@wispro.org
or our main office at 414-270-3600.
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FBO.gov Has Retired: Contract Opportunities Available in beta.SAM.gov
FBO.gov (Federal Business Opportunities) retired last week, and its key functionalities have transitioned into
beta.SAM.gov. All the things users used to do in FBO.gov can now be done in
beta.SAM.gov under 'Contract Opportunities.
GSA's Integrated Award Environment (IAE) recently managed 10 separate award systems that each played a role in the award life cycle. GSA is in the process of retiring those systems and transitioning them to
beta.SAM.gov. So far, the three legacy systems that have transitioned are WDOL.gov, CFDA.gov, and now FBO.gov. SAM.gov is the next legacy system scheduled to transition. Once it does, "beta" will drop from
beta.SAM.gov, and the beta site will become the new SAM.gov where all remaining legacy systems will be consolidated.
Users who go to FBO.gov as of this moment will be redirected to
beta.SAM.gov.
Once there, users will experience a number of significant improvements, including:
The ability to search for opportunities by number, keyword, agency, or location for more precise results (including easy-to-use search filters)
A Learning Center with videos, FAQs, a glossary, and quick start guides
Additional capabilities such as saving searches, downloading search results and accessing the workspace - after creating a
beta.SAM.gov user account
The option to access previous versions of opportunity notices and other acquisition related notices with one click
The ability to follow notices, with a simple click, to notify when contract opportunities are updated and a tool to manage the frequency of the notifications
A unified user experience across
beta.SAM.gov with common features such as login, search, workspace, data services, and reports. A consistent design and layout makes navigating a repeatable and intuitive process.
For technical assistance with any of the IAE systems, please contact the Federal Service Desk at
FSD.gov.
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WPI 10437 Innovation Dr. Suite 320, Milwaukee, WI 53226 414-270-3600
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