With Fiscal Year 2017 closed out, EZGovOpps decided to put together a small report which could illustrate the spending push that many Federal agencies enact in the fourth quarter, particularly in the final month of September. Using the EZGovOpps Awards software module, available in all EZGovOpps subscription plans, our analysts compared the number of contracts awarded during an early part of the fiscal year, in this case April, with the final contracts awarded in September for years 2015 through 2017. This...

UPDATE 3/16/2018: A DIUx-sponsored contract for cloud services took a major hit this week, with DOD shrinking the value from almost-$1 billion to only $65 million. Get the full scoop here.  After our primer on contract action types, EZGovOpps will provide a look at the “Other Transaction Authority” (OTA) that DOD holds. This authority allows for DOD to enter into transactions other than contracts, grants or cooperative agreements. Growing in use, these types of OTA transactions can reach up to...

After major acquisitions that have consolidated certain portions of the Federal market-share, including the Leidos acquisition of the Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) subsidiary last year, and the announcement this year of UTC’s purchase of Rockwell Collins for $30 billion, creators of Federal procurement tools utilized by both agencies and contractors alike are now undergoing a similar phase of consolidation. On the market intelligence side, Onvia announced on October 5th that it agreed to be purchased by Project Diamond...

After discussing the power of the National Defense Authorization Act, from spurring small business procurement to elevating Cyber Command to a Unified Combatant Command status, EZGovOpps is now covering another major change in the DOD structure that could be implemented in the FY18 NDAA: the creation of a brand-new military branch known as the Space Corps. After using the FY17 NDAA to elevate Cyber Command, the House Armed Services Committee moved in June 2017 to move control of space missions...

Publicly traded corporations involved in Federal contracting present a unique understanding of the environment through mandated public reporting requirements. With data compiled by CNBC, EZGovOpps can analyze the contracting success of the Top 10 publicly traded companies in Federal contracting, their overall investment in the Federal sector, and predictions for future rankings. Pulled from 2015, which was also a big year for WOSBs, the data carries both expected and unexpected patterns for publicly-traded companies involved in the Federal space. Most...

Homeland Security has an opportunity called “Data Center Support Services” (the DCSS for short) which has a multitude of first-generation awardees currently in place for the DHS. The scope of this opportunity is to provide comprehensive information for the DCSS to the Customs and Border Patrol (or CBP) Office of Information Technology (OIT) in addition to Enterprise Operations, Enterprise Infrastructure, Enterprise Architecture, and Common Services. The planned support will cover the following offices: CBP Headquarter Offices in Washington, DC, CBP Data...

UPDATE: The VA is facing two major obstacles to a new EHR implementation with Cerner. The first obstacle, a skinny FY18 funding bill known as the Make America Secure Appropriations Act for DOD-funding, includes a provision which limits full IT-funding to the VA until it can explain, among other issues: its sole-source solicitation to Cerner, how the DOD platform can be replicated, and a strategic implementation plan. The second obstacle, reported on August 24th, is a lawsuit from EHR vendor CliniComp,...

Latest Update: Now that we have entered Fiscal Year 2018, take a look at our FY18 Forecast series for some of the other major contracts expected from Federal agencies. Update: With President Trump’s signature on December 12th, the MGT Act was officially codified as a part of the FY18 NDAA.  Update: The MGT Act was passed in the Senate as an amendment to the FY18 NDAA, like other issues with contracting impact which have been passed in the NDAA in years...

With the House of Representatives approving a new Omnibus Appropriations bill this week which could fund the Federal government until the end of Fiscal Year 2017, and a Senate vote due soon, EZGovOpps has put together some analysis on the procurement impact of the spending plan as well as budget comparisons. The budgets we will compare, in particular, are the spending plans President Trump unveiled for FY18 (covered by EZGovOpps here and here), and the similar proposal from the President...