The Department Of Defense Subcontracting Plan Programs, Acts, And Policies Essay

The solution the OMB proposed is to ensure that there are clear guidelines established to ensure the critical functions are performed by federal employees, regardless if the function is determined to be inherently governmental. Assuming the statistics in the article are true, some of the major implications of the Federal Governments increased reliance of government contractors is first and foremost, using government contractors to perform inherently governmental functions, as it is not always easy to monitor and many times it is not always clear to what functions are actually inherently governmental. Another issue includes, and is increasingly common, is the increased reliance on contractors who become so involved with programs that there is no way to replace them due to the institutional knowledge they have of an agency and/or agency program. When considering the future of the governmental workforce, the increased reliance on the private sector could also inhibit the growth of the federal workforce. With budget cuts and stagnant wages, the government is not seen as a popular workplace choice with the millennial generation; this coupled this with the aging government workforce retiring in the coming years, there will not be enough employees being hired to take their place, causing a viscous cycle increasing the reliance on contracted assistance. Even today, the government is beginning to see the effects of this cycle with the acquisition workforce, causing for a loss of agency knowledge and manpower with the ever changing federal acquisition laws and regulations this will become quite a feat in feature years. Arguably, some also say that government contractors do not have a vested interest in the agency mission or the federal government in general; this often can lead to contractors looking out for their company vs. the welfare of the

Zakheim and Kadish explain two decades ago, there were more than twenty prime contractors competing for defense contracts while today the government relies on just six contractors to build its defense systems. Zakheim and Kadish state, “The system largely forgoes competition on price, delivery and performance and replaces it with a kind of “design bureau” competition”. The report explains that firms such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin have operated in collaboration on several projects such as the Air Force’s next generation bomber (Zakheim & Kadish, 2008). Collaboration of this nature suggests cooperative equilibrium between the firms to enhance their mutual payoff of outbidding competitors. With the defense market on the downturn pending major budget cuts over the next several years, more collaboration strategies are possible for firms to remain competitive. The existing procurement system encourages bargaining among the government and bidding firms. When budgets are allocated generously, demand is high and firms can set their prices higher. Budget cuts decrease demand and increase bargaining between buyer and seller. Security Industry reports budget deficits subject contracts to greater

This fact is stated plainly and directly even in the FAR itself, where it is written, “Agencies are encouraged to promote early exchange of information about future acquisitions.” Exchanges are beneficial to all parties involved in the acquisition process, and there are a number of reasons why such exchanges are beneficial. As the regulations explain at FAR 15.201(b), some of these benefits include an improved understanding of the Government’s requirements for the potential suppliers, and also an improved understanding of a potential supplier’s capabilities by the Government. Additionally, exchanges between Government and potential suppliers can help the Government firm up or finalize their acquisition plan and source selection strategy for a particular procurement by enabling them to determine things such as, “proposed contract type, terms and conditions, and acquisition planning schedules,” as well as, “the feasibility of the requirement, including performance requirements, statements of work, and data requirements.”

a. The U.S. Federal government features a main legal requirement to purchase supplies as well as services on a competing and effective basis. Nevertheless, the U.S. Government has additionally applied via the procurement procedure particular guidelines to promote socioeconomic goals. Programs happen to be developed to supply elevated contracting possibilities to small-scale, small-disadvantaged, women-owned-and-run small-scale, HUBZone small-scale, veteran-owned small-scale, and service-disabled veteran-owned small-scale companies. Companies should also adhere to ancillary specifications arising beneath numerous laws and also Executive Orders (A/OPE, 2011).

The use of simplified Acquisition procedure has become an easy and apt tool of responding to the needs of the client. The widely adhered to simplified acquisition threshold (SAT) is $300,000, however there are a few exemptions and our case here fits into the exemption. Apparently any such purchases that exceed the SAT but not exceeding $500,000 can be approved but must go at least one rung above the contracting officer to the supply chain contracting official (Defense Logistics Agency, 2012). There are basically four ways or approaches towards the simplified acquisition methods; the government officials concerned can pay for a simplified acquisition through cash basis, or through the government-wide purchase card, using the purchase order or blanket purchase agreement. This method involves the companies simply furnishing the contracting officials with quotation which in this case is not binding on the firm till such a time that the company will accept the government's order.

Funds of the correct amount and appropriation must be planned and programmed into the Army budget, in general, 2 years before they are needed. In the program and budget process, funding requests are initiated and reviewed annually. Congress appropriates funds for RDTE (Title IV, DOD Appropriations Act) and Procurement (Title III, DOD Appropriations Act), as part of the annual Defense Appropriation Act. The RDTE and procurement budget requests must first be approved by DOD, submitted to Congress by the President, and then be authorized and appropriated in 2 separate Congressional actions before any money can be spent. In the year of budget execution, the Army may reprogram funds, except for Congressional interest items, within an appropriation

Although competitive bidding will continue to be used, especially in the public sector, to ascertain market prices for non-strategic items, many of these items will be outsourced to third-party buyers or consortia to conduct the bidding. Moreover, organizations will continue to purchase most non-strategic products and services under master contracts, some of which will be negotiated by consortia that have leveraged and buying expertise. A trend is expanding for the continued use of third-party purchasing by primarily private sector firms pursuing all forms of competitive advantage possibilities.

In the year 1949, the General Services Administration's (GSA) took shape in Washington DC as procurement agency for federal and state departments. Today it has unique importance in developing US economy by providing the gsa contracts to its citizens who are doing big and small business. They have certain rules and regulation, which you can check them on their official website. The federal acquisition service gsa has prominent role in contracting. It is advisable to look for gsa federal supply catalog, gsa assisted acquisition service for more details on timely acquisition and contracts avail by gsa.

The state of Virginia/ Northrop Grumman outsourcing case demonstrated that outsourcing requires strong management of the vendor, clear lines of ownership, and review of performance metrics to ensure there are no breaches of contract (Lebeaux, 2009). The organization needs to ensure that they have an individual that can provide oversight and management for the outsourcing company, otherwise deadlines will be missed and performance will be

America most rebuild its defense. Diplomacy and economic powers are more effective when supported by a military force. The U.S. military is being reduced while its technological advantage is being tested by adversaries. If we as a nation want to protect our interest, we need a military of adequate size, resources, and readiness to deal with not only threats that are known but also inevitable surprises. So we need to increase military readiness across the board. We need to reprioritize defense spending’s while pursuing reforms to the Pentagon and the Department of Defense to make it more efficient.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is the United States’ oldest government agency with history tracing back to 1789 after the American Revolutionary War. Since then the DoD has grown and evolved into the largest government organization of America. It serves as the executive sector of the federal government that oversees all things dealing with national security issues and protocols within the United States. The Department of Defense administers the Pentagon and the United States Military. It is currently overseen by the Secretary of Defense, Ashton Carter, who assumed office in February of 2015. Along with the President, Department of Homeland Security, and the National Security Administration, the Department of Defense’s main mission is to control military affairs and maintain the security of the United States as they are responsible for supervising all five branches of the Armed Forces that include: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard as well as managing national security conflicts. The DoD is accountable for managing an inventory of weapons, supplies, and installations for military units to keep Americans safe from foreign threats. Their mission is to provide military forces to deter war and ultimately protect the security of our nation. As the oldest and largest government agency, the DoD also serves as the United State’s largest employer, serving 1.3 million men and women on active duty and 742,000 civilian personnel.

An agency of the U.S Department of Defense, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is in charge of administering finance and accounting amenities for the military and other affiliates of Defense. The agency offers assistances predominantly for military service men and women, or “warfighters” incorporating managing military, civilian, retiree, travel and contract/vendor pay, and governing military health care and benefits. DFAS additionally affords accounting for the Department itself.

The Department of Defense policy which covers all military branches states “Unless it could have an adverse impact on military readiness, unit cohesion, and good order and discipline, the Military Departments will accommodate individual’s expressions of sincerely held beliefs (conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs) of Service members in accordance with the policies and procedures in this instruction.” Even though there are polices out there for military personnel to abide by, there are always a few bad apples in every bunch. Interpersonal conflicts and favoritism always happens and will never end but they will be punished if ever caught. In the military, every year we are graded and rated on our performance for that year.

Since our organization operates on a small scale and with the aim of expansion after winning the contract, it is highly significant for us to incorporate the use of simplified acquisition since it has a number of benefits. In the case of simplified acquisitions, the procurement process is highly streamlined which eliminates any flaws in the procurement process. In addition, there are many federal contracts that have been exclusively reserved for smaller organizations (Stanberry, 2012).

Procurement also is the selecting from a range of options for acquisitions, and in analyzing and identifying the requirements for the purchasing, negotiating contracts, picking the suppliers, the creating of strategic alliances with suppliers, or the acting as a liaison between the user and suppliers. The current state of procurement practice reflects the dynamic interaction between the opposing forces, leaving the remaining in limbo. The two complementary process is involved in the procurement is vendor selling and customer buying. The best practice in the procurement process is the Exchange-Point Analysis. The exchange points highlight the opportunities for the process integration, which are noted for performance improvement opportunities. The process integration is to convert critical aspects for the supply chain process and procurement from one based on commercial norms about markets and current laws to the one that relies upon goal alignment and trust through the chain of command. The current best practices in industry or government project management include the belief based operations between vendors and customers (Morris & Pinto,