This week on Off the Shelf, Moshe Schwartz, president of Etherton & Associates, shares his insights and analysis of the key acquisition, supply chain, and industrial base provisions contained in the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  Schwartz gives some background on the key factors shaping the NDAA, with a particular focus on the Congressional concerns regarding the growing capabilities of near-peer adversaries and the overall threat profile.  He highlights the...

This week on Off the Shelf, Bill Gormley, president of the Gormley Group, provides the latest update on the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), including his thoughts on the FAS reorganization and what it means for customer agencies, GSA, and industry.  Gormley also shares the latest operational trends in the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program, including key contracting trends shaping the market (e.g., EPA processing,, TDR expansion, and price evaluation procedures).  He also discusses the...

Greg Giddens, co-founder and partner at Potomac Ridge Consulting, joins Off the Shelf for a discussion of the key procurement trends at the Department of Veterans Affairs (the VA).  Giddens discusses the VA’s IT and supply chain modernization efforts, including the agency's embrace of best value methodologies, including use of statement of objectives and performance-based contracting. He also highlights the progress the VA has made in the Med/Surg Prime Vendor program. A former senior...

Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, joins Off the Shelf for a review of some of the key procurement events of 2023.   Allen highlights the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) reorganization and its impact on FAS operations and explains the potential positive impact on customer agencies and contractors through the restructuring of the management structure to eliminate regional stovepipes and enhance customer focus.  He also discusses the slow march towards Transactional...

Townsend Bourne, partner at Sheppard Mullin, joins Off the Shelf for an examination of a series of cyber policies, regulations, and certifications that are in various stages of government review and/or public comment.  Bourne provides her insights on many of the key cyber policies and programs that will impact government and industry, and gives her thoughts on FedRAMP modernization and the draft OMB memo laying the vision for future operations.  She also shares key takeaways for contractors...

This week Brian Conrad, acting FedRAMP director and program manager for Cybersecurity, joins host Roger Waldron on this week's Off the Shelf, to give an update on The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP).  Conrad outlines the cloud cybersecurity mission and structure of FedRAMP, and addresses the impact and changes reflected in the FY 2023 statutory authorization (the FedRAMP Act) and what it means for stakeholders across government and industry. He also discusses the...

Jason Miller, executive editor of Federal News Network, joins Off the Shelf for a wide-ranging discussion of the procurement news of the day. Miller shares his thoughts and analysis of key procurements like the Department of Veterans Affairs' recent VA TGN2 awards and POLARIS. He also outlines the history of VA TGN2, and the current post award prospects for debriefings and their implications.  Miller also discusses the recent POLARIS protest and what it means for the procurement moving...

This week on Off the Shelf, David Black, partner at Holland & Knight, Ken Dodds, vice president and GovCon Industry Expert at Live Oak Bank, and Jon William, partner at PilieroMazza, provide an update on key small business policy, regulatory, and legal trends shaping the federal market.  Topics include the impact and federal response to the Ultima decision, the GAO-Court of Federal Claims bid protest split on the evaluation of mentor-protégé past performance, SBA changes to the...

This week on Off the Shelf, host Roger Waldron interviews Deloitte Managing Director Roger Sion, leader of the Enterprise Contract Vehicle G0-to-Market team in Deloitte’s Government & Public Services Sales Excellence organization. Sion shares his insights regarding the state of the interagency contracting market. He highlights the current role the portfolio IT GWACs and governmentwide professional services contract vehicles are playing in supporting customer agencies and providing...

This week's Off the Shelf is dedicated to cainine-assisted warrior therapy and the impact assistance dogs have on veterans suffering from physical limitations and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).    Paws for Purple Hearts is a non-profit organization dedicated to training assistance dogs for placement with individual veterans or veterans care facilities.  On this week's show, Danielle Stockbridge, Virginia Site Manager for Paws for Purple Hearts, explains what canine-assisted warrior...

Alex Canizares, partner at Perkins Coie, joins Off the Shelf for a discussion of the evolving cybersecurity framework and what it means for government contractors. Cybersecurity has become a foundational performance requirement for government contractors. In a wide-ranging discussion Canizares first addresses the cybersecurity basics starting with what is controlled unclassified information and moving on to discuss the basics of NIST 800-171, the standard FAR based safeguarding clause, and...

This week on Off the Shelf, Bill Greenwalt, visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Moshe Schwartz, president of Etherton and Associates, discuss the national security threats and how the Department of Defense (DoD) is responding to deliver the capabilities to meet the challenges facing our nation.   Greenwalt and Schwartz discuss the DoD ‘s changing mindset, focusing on contested logistics, speed of innovation, data driven decision making to improve operations and...

This week on Off the Shelf, Tim Cook, executive director of the Center for Procurement Advocacy (CPA) and Tom Sisti, counsel for the CPA and executive vice president of the Coalition for Government Procurement (CGP) give a Congressional update, outlining the key timelines and milestones for funding the government as we approach the end of the fiscal year. They also discuss the latest on the process and timelines for the National Defense Authorization Act along with highlight some of the key...

This week on Off the Shelf, Sonny Hashmi, Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Commissioner, provides an update on the state of FAS, including outlining the ongoing realignment of the organization. Hashmi addresses the new organizational approach breaking down stove pipes to better respond to customer agency needs and industry partner engagement.  He also discusses the latest on implementation of Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) across the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) and what industry...

Mark Fox, director of Federal Sales at Amazon Business, joins Off the Shelf this week for a discussion on procurement transformation, e-commerce, and the role data management can and does play in supporting the federal mission. Fox shares his insights on the critical role data transparency and management play in transforming supply chains and the procurement functions. The ability to collect and analyze data on strategic sourcing, transactions, and suppliers will drive organizational...

This week on Off the Shelf, Bill Gormley, president of the Gormley Group, provides an update on the MAS program, including processing Economic Price Adjustments (EPA) and other modifications. Along these lines, Gormley shares the latest on the handling of price negotiations across the MAS program. He also discusses where the federal market is heading regarding purchasing channels, access to the commercial market and the role of data management in procurement.  Finally, Gormley highlights some...

This week on Off the Shelf, Tom Voshell, vice president, Federal Program Office at Coupa Software provides his insights and analysis regarding data management and cyber security with a focus on the Department of Defense’s upcoming release and implementation of an updated version of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC 2.0). Voshell discusses the underlying DFARs provisions and NIST 800-171 standard and controlled unclassified information (CUI). He lays out the process,...

This week Peter Hutt, partner at Covington & Burling LLP, joins Off the Shelf for an in-depth discussion of the False Claims Act, including the basics of the law and its impact in the government contracts market. Hutt lays out the history of the law, including liability standards, potential damages and penalties, and the role of qui tam plaintiffs/relators. Each year DOJ releases key statistics on the FCA and Hutt highlights key trends in enforcement activity found in the data. Over the...

This week on Off the Shelf, Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, gives his thoughts, observations, and insights on a host of procurement hot topics. Allen discusses the long winding road of Transactional Data Reporting (TDR) implementation across the Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program. He talks about the prospects for GSA’s IT GWACs (Polaris and Alliant) and OASIS+, and analyzes the impact of the recent Court of Claims Polaris bid protest decision limiting the...

Jason Miller, executive editor of Federal News Network, joins Off the Shelf for a wide-ranging discussion of the key procurement events/trends over the first half of 2023. Miller discusses the current state of transactional data reporting and the slow roll towards implementation, and shares his thoughts on the impact of the Polaris bid protest decision limiting the use of Section 876 for “unpriced contracts” the focus on competition at the task order level. Miller also talks about the...

Jeff Koses, senior procurement executive at the General Services Administration, joins host Roger Waldron on this week's Off the Shelf to give an update on GSA’s key acquisition policy priorities,

Brian Friel, co-founder of BD Squared, joins host Roger Waldron on this week's Off the Shelf for a wide-ranging update on the leading governmentwide, Best-in-Class IDIQ contract programs.

Jonathan Aronie, partner at Sheppard Mullin, joins host Roger Waldron on this week's Off the Shelf, for a reflective and personal conversation. He shares stories and thoughts about his six-month journey battling acute leukemia.

Charlotte Phelan, assistant commissioner of the, Office of Enterprise Strategy Management at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, joins host Roger Waldron on this week's Off the Shelf for a discussion of the role, responsibilities, and priorities of her office in supporting FAS’s government-wide contracting programs.

This week on Off the Shelf, host Roger Waldron leads a wide ranging discussion of the key technologies, including wearables, artificial intelligence, and machine learning that can be used to monitor and enhance warfighter performance.