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 April 30
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With the government's intervention in three False Claims Act suits that came to light in April, the IT segment of government services firms gained something to worry about. The thrust of the suits is the allegation that many apparently common practices in the IT industry having to do with reselling and alliances may be considered illegal. Further, some are alleged to cause organizational conflicts of interests that are undisclosed to the government. Accenture, HP, and Sun are the defendants, and about 50 other major and minor firms are mentioned as having alliances with them.
We present the potential implications of the suits for industry, whether the government is successful. We also profile the serial whistleblower, which is not unknown to major firms in the industry. Finally, because our surmise 15 months ago correctly forecast the emergence of these suits, we reprint the February 2006 Insider article on the impetus for them. But wait, there's more...
At this time, there's only one person with a close-in view of the threat perceived by industry and how named firms are responding, Alan Chvotkin, our monthly Policy & Regs columnist. We talked with him about the extent of the prosecutorial initiative and what it may mean for the industry.
While many in the industry still fret about congressional oversight, some government customers have convincingly demonstrated that they mean business when they say they want industry to do better. The Navy and Coast Guard are unusually unhappy with shipbuilding performance by two of the defense industry's premier firms. The Navy is terminating a contract with Lockheed Martin, its first major prime contract in shipbuilding. The Coast Guard is dismissing the team of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman as program managers for the design and delivery of all of its major ship and plane asset replacements. Alan Chvotkin explains Navy Secretary Winter's toughened policy and suggests how your firm might deal with the consequences.
We look at the serious problems of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman in the Deepwater program; a surprisingly upbeat report on the FBI's Sentinel program; Lurita Doan's persistence at GSA; how Lockheed Martin's CFO brushes off customer displeasure with the company; new data on contractors in the Intelligence Community; a unique industry-paid pilot project for the Pentagon; the teetering ACS buyout offer; and SBA's recognition of SAIC for its small-business subcontracting results.