Welcome to September’s edition of CPO News: Federal Government edition. In reviewing stories for this month, we noticed that there is a lot of interesting news emanating from the U.S. Federal Government, particularly regarding strategic sourcing. This is a happy coincidence, as September also happens to be Sourcing Month on CPO Rising. As a result, this month’s edition features stories from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If you’re like us here at CPO Rising, you like to catch up on your news over coffee. So grab yourself a cup of the black stuff and enjoy!
DHS Prepares to Launch EAGLE II Strategic Sourcing Vehicle
As Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 comes to a close, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is set to launch its Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) II, its newest IT strategic sourcing vehicle that allows dozens of federally-approved vendors and suppliers to perform a variety of services for the Department on a task-order basis. EAGLE II is a follow-on contracting vehicle to EAGLE I, which is still leveraged by DHS and its vendors, and is meant to provide all DHS Components – like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and U.S. Coast Guard – with a range of IT systems development, delivery, and support, as well as business management services, testing, and validation support. According to the Federal Times, DHS procurement officers have reviewed over 600 proposals to furnish the Department with IT and consulting services offered through EAGLE II, worth up to $22 billion over seven years.
EAGLE II has been delayed by a series of protests from 46 vendors, whose bids were initially excluded from consideration in 2013. While the Government Accountability Office (GAO) works to resolve the last few protests, DHS procurement officers are already awarding dozens of contracts under EAGLE II across all three functional categories. For example, as of late July, several DHS components had issued awards to several vendors to perform work under EAGLE II. The awards total $16.5 million in initial funds, but could amount to $64 million if all option years are exercised.
DISA Considers Contract Consolidation to Counter Sequestration
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) – the Pentagon agency that “provides, operates, and assures” the U.S. Military’s global IT infrastructure and command and control capabilities – is considering contract consolidation as a way to mitigate another possible round of sequestration, according to the Federal Times. DISA leaders would do this to extract greater savings and efficiency from their current acquisition and procurement programs, which don’t appear to fully leverage the DoD’s network of preferred IT vendors and solutions. Although DISA has made some recent strides towards greater strategic sourcing, they are in the early stages of consolidating contracts for sequester and have a ways to go.
According to Maj. Gen. Alan Lynn, DISA Vice Director and Chief Procurement Officer, “We’ve seen a lot more teamwork being done with all the services and DISA over the past year and that will continue.” But, “To do that kind of work with so many different services, all with different interests, we’ve really got to work our acquisition plans and make sure we have the requirements right and make sure that we manage everything.” Despite the challenges, there seems to be plenty of opportunity to strategically source more goods and services from the greater defense information services enterprise. As Dave Bennett, DISA CIO said, “We are not a niche market in terms of contracts. We tend to cover the entire spectrum, from program management to engineering to delivery of capabilities as part of our normal daily operations.”
U.S. Navy Leverages Small Businesses, Strategic Sourcing to Reduce Conference Costs
Facing process inefficiencies, tightening budgets, and the looming threat of sequester, the U.S. Navy has begun to leverage strategic sourcing and small businesses to a greater degree to cut conference spending for itself and the Marine Corps, according to Federal News Radio. After several years of review, Navy personnel determined that procurement officers across the service were buying the same goods and services year after year for different conferences, but were duplicating each other’s efforts. They were being tactical – not strategic – in their buying, and being quite wasteful. So in May, the Navy issued blanket purchasing agreement (BPA) awards to 17 small businesses, which will provide common conference goods and services for Navy and Marine Corps components.
Although the Navy has not yet forced all of its components to leverage its BPAs with its supplier network, this will likely happen soon. The Navy also hopes that its new sourcing model will serve as beacon for other service branches and DoD agencies, which can leverage the Navy’s supplier network. The service has also considered leveraging Navy facilities for conferences – which are frequently vacant – and holding conferences off peak to save money on travel and leasing costs. Savings from smarter conference spending can be returned to the tax payer, but more likely will be reinvested elsewhere in the Navy’s budget, like in financing new ships or aircraft.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Slow to Adopt Strategic Sourcing
On August 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Inspector General (IG) issued a report in which it said that the agency was losing tens of millions of dollars by not strategically sourcing more goods and services. According to the IG’s report, “Crucial aspects, such as conducting spend analyses and developing controls to ensure maximum agency participation, were either not developed or conducted timely.” Such measures could save the EPA between $30 million and $60 million if its strategic sourcing program was fully implemented, as noted by Fierce Government.
Furthermore, the IG report found that “The agency has been slow in implementing strategic sourcing due to a lack of commitment in the initial stages of the initiative and by proceeding cautiously as experience was gained.” Indeed, of the four Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiatives (FSSI) outlined by the Office of Management and Budget (i.e., print management, wireless services, office supplies and domestic delivery), the EPA only leveraged the office supplies and domestic delivery solutions. It will have to do more to save more, particularly when savings and budget cuts are perennial pains for procurement leaders.
At a time when there is laser focus on federal budgets, efficiencies, and spending, the EPA will likely feel greater pressure to adopt more strategic sourcing best practices that are already being adopted by others in the federal government, like DHS and DoD.
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