Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Introducing the Insider
The Industry Defined
HUBZones: Anyone Can Play
Beyond Reproach: The Incumbent's Bind
Breaking Wave: Human Resources BPO
Cooperative Personnel Services: Differentiating Not a Problem
Adventures in Marketing
Policy & Regs: Can We Satisfy the Appetite for Cleared Personnel?
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Posted on June 5
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It's hard to recall a legal matter that has jarred the government services industry more than the three government-led (but whistleblower spawned) False Claims Act suits against Accenture, HP, and Sun. We're not the only ones who think that, regardless of outcome, these suits will have some impact on how IT firms assemble alliances and teams. If the government prevails, the changes will be quick and significant. Since we have talked mainly with lawyers and IT companies about these suits, we thought it would be a good idea to get the views of an accountant, Tony Fuller of Beers and Cutler, who advises federal contractors on how to stay out of trouble.
If you do business at DoD, you need to get on top of a new interim rule regarding "excessive" pass-throughs in subcontract arrangements. In late April, a new interim rule with immediate effect popped up. It's aimed at that layered look that some prime-sub cost structures assume. It calls on primes to justify their value added on top of subs in some circumstances. Alan Chvotkin parses the new rule and suggests what you can do.
To get a practitioner's view on the rule, we also talked with Steve Ayres, the top contracts and procurement executive at SAIC. Like Chvotkin, he raises a lot of tough questions for the government, but also confident of the firm's compliance posture right now.
As the top federal procurement policy official, Paul Denett of OFPP is sure that successful, and some outstanding, acquisitions, account for the vast majority of contracts. But the press is bad. He's come up with a program to beat the bushes for success stories for which government acquisition staff deserve recognition through prestigious awards.
With contractors subject to a big step up in public scrutiny and aggressive oversight, they are constrained more than ever from participating in federal clients' program management efforts and aiding, even indirectly, in contract oversight. The government doesn't have the manpower to fill the void. But how about the FFRDCs? We visited with Al Grasso, CEO of the MITRE Corporation, to see if he spots an opportunity for FFRDC expansion in this environment.
It's that time of year again, folks. While there's improved scoping of this year's list, it's still got some notable limitations, but also some evidence of the realities of the government services industry's structure.
By the way, the Center for Strategic and International Studies has just released its update of last year's seminal statistical snapshot of the services industry structure. In the July issue, we'll give you the high points.