Focus: IT Contracting
Most federal IT funding expected to escape super committee's knife [NextGov] – While Trey Hodgkins, senior vice president for national security federal procurement policy at TechAmerica, anticipates fiscal 2013 and 2014 budgets shaving 10-20 percent from IT, he does not think that IT investments anticipated to save money long term will be touched. Liz Hyman, public advocacy vice president for CompTIA, notes that any discretionary fund cuts will hurt small and medium IT contractors, who are already having a tough time.

Federal cloud procurements not 'gloom and doom' for small vendors [Washington Technology] – A panel at the AFCEA Bethesda event asserted that small companies will have a place on federal cloud contracts, especially through teaming or layering custom services on top of the original services. Participants felt that cloud services have also lowered the cost of entry into the federal IT market.

Expert Panel: Top Fed IT Challenges Include Control, Strategy [GovWin] – Attendees of GovWin's "Government IT Trends and Spending Priorities" Virtual Roundtable webinar stated that cybersecurity, control of mobile devices and doing more with what it already possesses will be the main government IT challenges in 2012. Suggestions for contractors included looking for areas where the government has to spend and adapting to meeting the customers' needs.

Lax Policies Keep Cyber Security Issues at Forefront [GovWin] - Prem Iyer, who leads the Information Security Practice for Iron Bow Technologies, notes a 650-percent jump in security incidents over the past five years at 24 federal agencies because of a lack of follow-through on security programs. He points to education and training, continuous monitoring of systems, effective remediation and resolution of incidents in a timely fashion as particular problem areas.

GAO Testimony on DOD, DCMA Progress on Rebuilding the Acquisition Workforce [GovWin] - John P. Hutton, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management at the Government Accountability Office highlighted efforts by the DOD and Defense Contract Management Agency to boost the size and skills of the acquisition workforce at a House hearing on Wednesday. While he lauded the hiring of 5,900 acquisition workers and the progress made in assessing the skills and capabilities of the acquisition workforce, he feels more must be done to assess and train DOD employees who have a hand in the acquisition process, but aren't formally part of the acquisition workforce.

ITT Exelis cutting 200 defense jobs [Fort Wayne Journal Gazette] - ITT Exelis is cutting around 205 employees in the Fort Wayne, Ind., area about three weeks after becoming an independent company. The cuts are due to the winding down of a contract for Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio Systems (SIBCGARS) radios for frontline troops.

Andrews local contracting up; Prince George’s companies seek more [Maryland Gazette] – Effort such as small-business conferences led to Joint Base Andrews increasing contracts to local Prince George's County, Md., companies 60.3 percent to $12.5 million. Jim Estepp, CEO and president of both the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable and Andrews Business and Community Alliance, feels the results could be better if the base adopts the protocol of other bases to have strict proximity/response time requirements in contracts.

CH2M Hill signs contract to support NSF Arctic research [Alaska Journal of Commerce] - CH2M Hill has won a new $325-million, eight-year contract to support National Science Foundation research in the Arctic. Program manager Mike McKibben feels the company's third consecutive contract shows a high level of scientific interest in the Arctic and climate change.

BAE Systems relocating within NY Southern Tier [Wall Street Journal/AP] - BAE Systems will continue operations at another facility in New York's Southern Tier after its facility near Binghamton sustained major flood damage. The $40 million in state tax incentives will keep 1,350 jobs in the region.

On visit to Navy submarine contractor in Conn., Panetta says US must protect industrial base [Washington Post/AP] – DOD Secretary Leon Panetta said during a visit to submarine contractor Electric Boat that the United States must protect its military industrial base. He asserted that the defense cut trigger would "hollow out" the military, including fewer new ballistic-missile submarines to replace the aging Ohio class.

Removing Hurdles for Small Businesses [Black Voices News] - Small Business Administration Deputy Director Rachel Baranick told attendees of the Inland Empire Procurement Expo in California that federal contracting can be tough, but represents billions of dollars in opportunities. She touts that her agency provides free comprehensive technical and business counseling, bidding and certification.

Summit aimed at helping women veterans under way in Fayetteville [Fayetteville Observer] - Booz Allen Hamilton recently held a summit focusing on the difficulty faced by women veterans as they return to civilian life. The company coordinates many of the national services for the women.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Names New Ship [EMoney Daily] - General Dynamics has kept up its tradition of naming T-AKE Class Navy supply ships after noted aviation pioneers. The USNS Medgar Evers is named after a World War II Army veteran and important civil rights pioneer.

Canadian with ties to Libya arrested in Mexico [National Post] - Cynthia Vanier, a Canadian who led a fact-finding mission to Libya last summer, and two partners of security contractor Veritas Worldwide Security, which supplied her plane, have been arrested in Mexico for unknown reasons. The three were in Mexico for the payment of $40,000 for use of the plane.

FCC launches cyber planning tool for small businesses [Federal Times] – The Federal Communications Commission's New Small Biz Cyber Planner allows small businesses to create a free cybersecurity plan. The Department of Homeland Security, the National Cybersecurity Alliance and other public and private-sector organizations helped develop the tool.

DOD Contract Announcements
Contract Announcements for November 17, 2011 [Defense.gov] – Bechtel won a $261.6-million Navy contract for naval nuclear propulsion components, Rolls-Royce an $18.8-million Navy contract modification for support of the V-22 AE1107C turboshaft engines and Sterling Foods a maximum $32.5-million Defense Logistics Agency contract for Meal, Ready-to-Eat bakery components.

The Navy handed out small business indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modifications with a maximum aggregate value of $2.2 million to Valley Tech Systems, Advanced Integrated Systems, LC Engineers and New Directions Technologies for advanced technology products in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division's Weapons Prototype Division.

Federal Register Updates
DOD is adopting final rules to:

• Require appropriate consideration of the manufacturing readiness and manufacturing-readiness processes of potential contractors and subcontractors during sourcing for major defense acquisition programs
• Transition the Integrated Acquisition Environment systems to the new System for Award Management architecture
• Notify Congress when awarding a single-award task- or delivery-order contract in excess of $103 million
• Accelerate payments to all small business concerns
• Extend the date for new applications under the DOD Mentor-Protégé Pilot Program and the date mentors may incur costs and/or receive credit towards fulfilling their small business subcontracting goals through an approved mentor-protégé agreement
• Extend the government self-insurance policy to government property provided under negotiated fixed-price contracts that are awarded on a basis other than submission of certified cost or pricing data
• Require offerors to represent whether their ex-DOD employees are in compliance with post-employment restrictions
• Add the contract administration function of maintaining surveillance over contractor compliance with trafficking in persons when they are incorporated in contracts
• Prohibit specification of fire-resistant rayon fiber in solicitations issued before January 1, 2015
• Double the simplified acquisition threshold to support a humanitarian or peacekeeping operation

And a notice to: Propose extending the information collection requirement on requests for equitable adjustment

The GovWin News team follows the latest developments for GovWin from Deltek, the network that helps government contractors win new business every day. GovWin Recon is the team’s daily newsletter highlighting federal government contracting news and analysis from around the GovCon world. Get it delivered to your inbox, free! To contact the team or suggest an item for the Recon, send mail to tips@govwin.com