On January 18, 2011, President Obama issued Executive Order No. 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review. The executive order is an effort to improve the regulatory development process. It essentially establishes or reestablishes key considerations for agencies when developing and issuing regulations. These considerations include, but are not limited to, ensuring any new regulation imposes [...]

Last week’s Comment focused on the continuing challenge of contract duplication. The Comment recommended that, at a minimum, the FAR should be amended to require that when an agency conducts an open market commercial item procurement it must make a determination that it is the best procurement method to meet the agency’s needs. The recent [...]

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but it also costs time and money. In other words, contract duplication remains a challenge in the federal marketplace, especially in procurements involving commercial services and products. Indeed, many agency specific procurements establish multiple award IDIQ contracts with the same contractors for the same items that are [...]

Nick Economou, a former colleague at the Federal Supply Service, often used quotes to make a point. One quote that I recall Nick being particularly fond of was from General George S. Patton. The General once said “If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the [...]