2013 - Defense Authorization Act - Small Business Contracting Reform Signed Into Law

Notable Contracting Provisions In The NDAA:
• Enforces existing small business contracting goals by requiring that meeting the goals be a part of senior agency employee reviews and bonus discussions. The federal government has missed the 23% small business goal for six consecutive years.
• Changes limitations on subcontracting from cost to price, which will make it easier for small businesses to comply with procurement rules, while also allowing them to team together to pursue larger contracts.
• Prevents contracting fraud by placing penalties on violating limitations on subcontracting, and makes it easier to suspend and debar companies intentionally defrauding the government.
• Helps woman-owned small contractors by removing the set-aside caps on the women’s contracting program.
• Requires the SBA to develop size standards that accurately define what is a small business for each of the over 1100 industries where small firms operate, instead of allowing SBA to continue taking short cuts for its own administrative convenience.  
• Gives small business a “safe harbor” if they acted on a written advisory opinion from either a Small Business Development Center or Procurement Technical Assistance Center and violated a rule by mistake. 
• Brings transparency to insourcing decisions by requiring OMB and agencies to publish procedures, methodologies, and guidance documents associated with the decisions.
• Fights contract bundling, the practice of grouping several contracts together for bidding, thereby making it difficult for small businesses to compete. The law requires additional oversight and a report that will analyze whether contract bundlings are justified.

The Cold Harsh Reality - Veterans Unemployment

I wanted to take the time to share this information with you about Veteran unemployment from the Department of Labor & VA. As of August 2, 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics release the below unemployment data.  The "cheat sheet" was released by the Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity at the VA and the following are key data points:

National:    7.4% (down .2%)

All Vets:     6.4% (up .1%)

Post- 9/11: 7.7% (up .5%)

The cold harsh reality is that Veteran unemployment will be increasing over the next few years because of another reduction of forces.  Many Veterans do not have the skills, education, and certifications to qualify for the jobs they are presently performing on Active Duty or in the Reserves today.  As government contractors or as commercial employees, their skills need to transform from military to civilian.  There are many outstanding companies offering training and educational opportunities for Veterans (e.g. CISCO, Google, NetAPP, Amazon, Solar Industry, and many more). 

In my line of work "government contracting", I try to hire Veterans because I'm a Service Disabled Veteran (SDV) who owns a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) but the Department of Defense (DoD) makes it difficult.  My company tries to hire veterans but another cold hard reality is that DoD and some other Federal agencies have been telling industry (indirectly) NOT to hire veterans based on the educational and certification requirements being placed in solicitations (e.g. RFQ, RFPs) documents.  When contracting officers & Program Manager (PMs) state that certain educational requirements and mandatory certification requirements are required on day 1 of a contract for contractor personnel (although some directives may give up to a year in some cases), Veterans (e.g. Retired, Separated, Service Disabled, Wounded Warriors, etc.), are negatively impacted because Small Businesses may not immediately and cannot immediately invest in Veterans training and certification until they are hired and on the payroll. 

The cold harsh reality is that many of the companies mentioned above provide training but the Veterans completing these programs may  not have the formal education or experience in many cases to even qualify for the jobs they were doing while on active duty.  Many are trained, few can find employment and even fewer can qualify for may positions described in many solicitation documents.

Please take a look at this cold harsh reality below on the Top 10 Federal Agencies for FY2012. The DoD does not have a "Veterans First" contracting strategy nor are there any incentives available for companies supporting the DoD to hire Veterans and especially "wounded warriors" or "service disabled Veterans." Hiring Veterans could be a requirement in contracting strategies or sub-contracting plans but it seem it is easier to increase Veterans TRICARE (Healthcare) cost and reduce benefits than to hire Vets.  Between congressional actions and DoD leadership, this can be fixed if we want it fixed.  The cold harsh reality is that it takes congressional action and DoD to create Veterans, Service Disabled Veterans, and Wounded Warriors. 

Top Ten Federal Agencies (SBA)             Rank/Agency                                                          FY’12 Dollars 1. Department of Defense                                              $274,625,161,617 2. Department of Energy                                               $24,562,882,765 3. Department of Health and Human Services              $18,461,515,353 4. Department of Veterans Affairs                                $17,335,860,700 5. National Aeronautics and Space Administration      $13,418,655,917 6. Department of Homeland Security                           $12,700,335,305 7. Department of Justice                                                $5,847,014,555 8. Department of Agriculture                                        $5,332,720,225 9. Department of Commerce                                         $3,261,832,708 10. Department of State                                                 $3,166,122,178   Percent of Small Business Prime Contracts FY 2012 (SBA) 1.   Department of Agriculture                                     52.9% 2.   Department of State                                                  39.1% 3.   Department of  Commerce                                        36.8% 4.   Department of  Veteran Affairs                                35.1% 5.   Department of Homeland Security                           31.0% 6.   Department of Justice                                               29.7% 7.   Department of Health and Human Services             22.4% 8.   Department of Defense                                             20.4% 9.   National Aeronautics and Space Administration      19.3% 10. Department of Energy                                                5.1%

Veterans don't want hand-outs, they want to continue to support this "Republic" with dignity, honor, and respect.  They also deserve more than ribbons and badges for serving their country.

I do not know of any company that want to provide substandard personnel to support any government contract but the Veterans or Wounded Warriors currently doing job that are now being filled by contractors should be provide hiring preference and companies should be provided incentives for hiring Veterans and especially Wounded Warriors.  My goal is to reduce veteran unemployment and also help to educate everyone on this cold harsh reality.  I commend those Generals and Senior Executives who would advocate on behalf of Veterans (including wounded warriors); however, when Post 9/11 Veteran unemployment goes up by .5% the reality is that there is not enough being done to transition Veterans to be contributing citizens.  Actions matter more than words.  It is a cold harsh reality when Senior DoD leaders chooses to cut military personnel tuition assistance programs instead of fixing or terminating underperforming projects and programs.  

The cold harsh reality is that supporting Wounded Warriors at retreats, baseball games, or entertainment event is a noble gesture; however, changing existing policies (e.g. Federal Agencies should have a  Veteran First Policy for "certified" SDVOSBs, Incentives should be provided for companies that hire Service Disabled Veterans or Wounded Warriors, Government should not be raising the qualification bar higher that those expected of the personnel currently doing the work being contracted out if there are no performance issues) to enable Veterans to continue to contribute to society and GET A JOB after leaving the military is the ultimate OUTCOME expected as we give back our defenders to our society. 

The cold harsh reality is that many Veterans don’t plan proactively and the transition organizations and services available are not adequate.  As an employer, trying to hire more Veterans, I would like to have access to an online repository of Veterans and their resumes.  DoD can setup something like www.indeed.com for transitioning Veterans where employers can search and find qualified veterans based on their capabilities but will only be able to contact the Veteran if they (the Veteran) respond to the employer with their contact information.  This is simple and it works.

This e-mail is in no way meant to harm any agencies efforts but the cold harsh reality is that Veteran unemployment is going up.  As a small business owner, I spend about 5 hrs each week helping Marines re-write their resumes to make it attractive to employers in order to qualify them for employment and while I enjoy supporting ANY veteran, we should afford veterans the ability to attend transition classes at least 3 years before retirement and 2 years before separation because the transition process is not always easy.

As the President of the Defense Acquisition University Alumni Association for the National Capital Region, I’m seeing that senior military leaders and civilians are also leaving government service and realizing the challenges of getting a job in today’s environment and I hope they realize that their subordinates also need to prepare for their transition.   

 

July-13
Unemployment
Cohort (% of total)	Rate		Change	Level		Change
National	7.4%		-0.2%	11.5M		-300,000
>27 Weeks		4.2M			-100,000
All Veterans (100%)	6.4%		0.1%	702,000		15,000
Male	6.4%		0.3%	610,000		31,000
Female	6.6%		-1.0%	92,000		-15,000
Post-9/11 Veterans (24%)	7.7%		0.5%	166,000		6,000
Male	7.7%		0.9%	138,000		13,000
Female	7.7%		-1.2%	27,000		-9,000
18-24 Veterans* (4%)	17.4%		-3.1%	28,000		-6,000
Male	20.4%		-4.9%	24,000		-6,000
Female**	8.3%		-	3,000		-
25-34 Veterans (13%)	6.8%		1.2%	93,000		17,000
Male	6.6%		1.8%	74,000		20,000
Female	7.8%		-1.4%	18,000		-4,000
35-44 Veterans (19%)	6.4%		1.0%	133,000		21,000
Male	6.1%		1.4%	104,000		24,000
Female	7.8%		-0.5%	30,000		-2,000
45-54 Veterans (23%)	5.7%		-0.6%	162,000		-12,000
Male	5.4%		-0.7%	131,000		-13,000
Female	7.5%		0.1%	31,000		1,000
55+ Veterans (41%)	6.4%		0.1%	287,000		-4,000
Male	6.7%		0.3%	277,000		5,000
Female	3.0%		-2.4%	10,000		-9,000
* 9,000 enrolled in school (32% of all unemployed 18-24)

 

Semper Fidelis,

Should be government be in the cloud broker business?

NO; however, it must play a significant role now in order to gain later.

 

I’m convinced that in order for the Shared Services “aka Cloud” Broker to be effective and efficient along with providing cost savings to the consumer, the brokered service(s) must be a commodity or treated as a commodity.  Providers of current commodities do not have a vested interest in this strategy; however, if the government can define business objectives that can be supported by industry defined standards, interface specifications, and Government Service Level Agreements (w/ industry partners)  then we will see progress in cloud computing and realization of true cost savings.  I also believe that the cloud broker will be limited by the procurement and acquisition systems that the government has in place.  Most procurement and acquisition systems, in government, lack the agility to keep up with the pace of IT transformation or provide a franchisable methodology for leveraging the rapid acquisition of “scale-able” aka “pay by the drink” share IT services across government.

Case Study:  http://www.nextgov.com/cloud-computing/2013/02/defense-and-intelligence-community-pursue-conflicting-cloud-plans/61249/?oref=nextgov_today_nl#disqus_thread

The Defense Department's "joint information environment" and the intelligence arena's "intelligence community information technology environment" share the same goal of decreasing costs and increasing security by shifting work to applications accessible on any device.  The two setups, however, are being constructed separately and differently.  "To date, implementation of their respective IT and telecommunications visions has consumed significant personnel and financial resources. This has limited the ability of both to coordinate their respective efforts to ensure complementary, mutually supportive efforts,"

The government should not be in broker business; although, I understand temporarily that it has a leadership role until it is able to more clearly define its business requirements and objectives to the industry at large.  Industry will drive the innovations yet to come based on the defined business objectives, priorities, and measures articulated by government leaders.  The government cannot afford to remain focused on "blinking lights" but should be focused on business objectives and defining its requirements.

The "Chief Information Officer must evolve into the Chief Innovation Officer" who is focused on leveraging technologies “ for business value.  The broker’s role will be significant in the next few years of IT evolution.

 

If you are interested in learning more about how industry and support the business objectives of the government, contact me and we can discuss.

 

Chris Beckford

www.etranservices.com