Innovation is one of those terms in federal procurement that gets thrown around an entire lot. When is an employer or corporation modern? What stops businesses from attempting something new or distinct when shopping for goods and offerings?
The Office of Federal Procurement Policy is trying to answer those questions and debunk some myths about acquisition innovation in the 4th model of its Myth Busters collection.
Lesley Field, the deputy administrator for OFPP, stated the brand new memo is part of an attempt to interrupt the boundaries to innovation that organizations, auditors, and the whole time have built up over the last twenty years.
“The cause we targeted on the misconceptions and statistics on innovative practices become to get at that complex base in which we’ve got lots of those who want to spend their time and expertise identifying how to remedy our difficult issues,” Field stated in an interview with Federal News Network. “These are matters lifted from the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR). There’s no new steerage. There’s no news coverage. These are the current government that contracting officials can use out of the Field.”
The idea that the memo highlights current authorities and consists of use instances has been trendy with the parable busters memos. In the preceding three iterations, OFPP has tried to ensure it no longer “busted the myth” but supplied examples or excellent practices.
This is now the fourth Delusion Busters memo on account of 2011. The others addressed industry and agency communications, inclusive of debriefing discussions during market studies for a request for proposals.
In this latest fable busters memo, OFPP asks CFO Act companies to address a protracted status challenge with these memos, ensuring industry and contracting officers are conscious and recognize what the note tells them they can do.
OFPP directed every company to publicly call an industry liaison “to serve as a conduit amongst acquisition stakeholders and promote strong organization vendor conversation practices.”
At the same time, Field stated that OFPP began an “in-reach” marketing campaign because they discovered an awareness gap with contracting officers. Over the remaining three memos, this attention-hole issue has been a prime hurdle in the program’s fulfillment.
Field stated that OFPP and the Chief Acquisition Officer’s Council are planning webinars with federal procurement specialists in the Acquisition Gateway University program and determining how to similarly educate contracting officials and contracting officer representatives (CORs) about the acquisition records.
Soraya Correa, the chief procurement officer of the Homeland Security Department, said she emailed the memo to her entire acquisition network.
“The other factor I do is I take the opportunity during my procurement network town hall, which I’m having another one subsequent week; I’ll talk about the memo and why it’s vital to hold these strains of communications open, and I inspire and support doing these items. Believe it or no longer, the phrase does get out because I’m speakme immediately to the 1 four hundred humans or so which might be available across the DHS panorama.”
Correa said she also talks with different CXO leaders and the general, suggesting an office.
“I attempt to encompass the legal professionals in all the sports we interact in. Whether it’s our strategic industry conversations that I host each year, reverse industry days, acquisition innovation roundtables, or even [Procurement Innovation Lab (PIL)] boot camps, I’m satisfied to say our legal professionals are collaborating in those sports. They pay attention to what I have to mention, and they recognize what we’re trying to do,” she stated. “We must include them within the conversation by bringing them in to help them apprehend what we’re trying to do. Instead of pronouncing to them, ‘Can I do that?’ Maybe the question is, ‘How can I do this?’ Change the conversation with the lawyers, and you can get exclusive final results.”
Field stated that OFPP additionally recognizes the want to carry procurement lawyers into the discussion. She said her workplace shares the parable busters memo through the procurement attorneys’ roundtable, a casual gathering of acquisition legal professionals used as a sounding board to ensure they understand what’s feasible.
