Steve Schooner, Jeffery & Martha Kohn associate dean for Academic Affairs and Nash & Cibinic professor of Government Procurement Law at The George Washington University Law School, joines Off the Shelf for a wide-ranging discussion focusing on green acquisition and the role of sustainability policy in the federal procurement market.

Schooner recently received the Coalition for Government Procurement’s Sustainability – Green Excellence Award for his thought leadership on the nexus between federal procurement and sustainability. He outlines key initiatives and policy developments advancing green acquisition in the federal market. He also compares federal green procurement with efforts at the state level and internationally.

Finally Schooner discusses his most recent book recommendation, Craig Whitlock’s Fat Leonard: How One Man Bribed, Bilked and Seduced the U.S. Navy. The book tells the remarkable story of a wide-ranging procurement scandal. It is a cautionary tale of susceptibility, lack of accountability, and individual and organization ethical lapses.

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This week on Off the Shelf, Jason Workmaster, Member at Miller & Chevalier, provides an update on key legal developments in federal procurement.

Leading off the discussion is a briefing on the Federal Circuit’s Percipient.AI decision potentially lowering the jurisdictional bar for task order protests. Workmaster outlines the facts of the case, the legal analysis and the implications for bid protests generally and task orders protests more specifically.

He also gives his thoughts on the recent Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) regarding the semiconductor supply chain. The ANPR is the first step toward regulatory implementation of Section 5948 of the 2023 NDAA (the so-called “889 ban on certain microchips”).

Finally Workmaster talks about other developments in cyber, including NIST 800-171, Revision 3.

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The Gormley Group’s Sean Nulty and Andrew Sisti join host Roger Waldron on this week's Off the Shelf for a deep dive into current trends shaping the contract negotiations and administration under GSA’s Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) program.

Nulty is a managing consultant and director of DC Operations & Training, and Sisti is a principal consultant and GSA Systems Subject Matter Expert for the Gormley Group.

Both are subject matter experts on the MAS pricing policies and procedures. They share insights on the latest involving GSA use of pricing data, including the role and impact of Transactional Data Reporting (TDR), and outline current negotiation trends for options, modifications, and new offers.

They also address how GSA is using horizontal pricing comparisons and automate pricing tools in negotiations. Finally, Nulty and Sisti discuss the role of automated systems and data analytics in the management of MAS contracts, from pricing analysis to Trade Agreements Compliance. GSA is increasingly looking to systems to make decision for contracting officers.

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This week on Off the Shelf, Moshe Schwartz, president of Etherton and Associates, examines the economic, technological, and geopolitical trends that are shaping the federal market. 

Schwartz highlights the accelerating strategic competition among major powers which is reflected in current federal procurement and budget priorities. In this context, the fields of AI and biotechnology are rapidly advancing and are an increasing focus for the federal government. 

Schwartz also provides an update on federal government spending for FY2024 along with the latest on FY2025 budget requests. The show also focuses on the shrinking industrial base and what it means for the customer agency mission support.  

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This week’s guest on Off the Shelf is Tim Keeler, partner, and co-head of the International Trade team at Mayer Brown.   

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) plays a critical national security role regarding the industrial base. Keeler details the inter-agency structure, purpose, and scope of CFIUS, and explains the process and criteria whereby CFIUS reviews certain covered transactions involving foreign investments in the nation’s industrial base that raise national security concerns. 

Keeler talks about the key considerations and practices for potential mergers and/or acquisitions involving foreign investors, and he shares key trends in the CFIUS decision-making process. 

Finally, Keeler provides his thoughts on key trends in international trade and trade agreements.  

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This week on Off the Shelf , Jonathan Aronie, partner at Sheppard Mullin, updates his leukemia journey since his last year’s appearance on the show. He is now back to work full-time and as such the conversation quickly turns to key trends in investigations and audits. 

Aronie outlines the spectrum of “reviews, investigations, and audits” that are part of doing business with the federal government. He continues with his analysis of the oversight spectrum by outlining the key features associated risks for contractors when dealing with GSA’s Industrial Operations Analyst (IOA) reviews, audits, and investigations.

As part of a wide-ranging discussion, Aronie shares best practices and key considerations for contractors dealing with investigations and audits. 

Among other topics, Jonathan gives his thoughts on the role contractor self-initiated internal reviews/investigations can have in mitigating risk. Finally, the discussion concludes with a focus on how of GSA’s legislative proposal addressing “best value” in the federal supply schedules will increase competition, leverage commercial innovation, and deliver enhanced mission support to customer agencies.  

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This week on Off the Shelf, Townsend Bourne, partner at Sheppard Mullin, shares her insights regarding the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA’s) proposed rule implementing the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (CIRCIA). 

At over 400 pages, the proposed CIRCIA rule is a daunting read. Bourne breaks down the rule identifying the key aspects and corresponding impacts for those covered entities.  She discusses the 16 critical infrastructure sectors covered and the corresponding number of private firms that will be subject to the rule, noting that defense infrastructure sector will now be subject to overlapping reporting requirements (CIRCIA and the DFARS/FAR cyber incident reporting requirements).

Bourne also outlines what “cyber incidents” are to be reported, walking through the key tests for reporting .

Finally, she details the mechanics and key features of the reporting process and contrasts the CIRCIA rule with the proposed FAR cyber incident reporting rule.   

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Bob Metzger, shareholder at Rogers Joseph O’Donnell, joins Off the Shelf this week and provides his incisive analysis and insights regarding the federal government’s cybersecurity framework.

Metzger outlines the complex, ever-changing threat environment facing government and industry. From near peer adversaries to independent criminal elements, he frames the threat against the government’s ongoing program and regulatory cyber initiatives.

Metzger analyzes the government’s underlying cyber strategy currently being implemented through procurement regulation, and he gives his take on the FAR’s cybersecurity regulations/clauses and the Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.

Metzger also shares his thoughts regarding the impact of the cyber regulatory framework’s impact on small businesses and the government’s long term access to commercial innovation, and whether the government should move to a more “performance-based approach” to cybersecurity versus the current more prescriptive model outlined in a host of proposed rules.

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This week on Off the Shelf, Alan Thomas, founder and chief strategist at Alpha Tango Strategies, examines the history of the eCommerce platform and shares his thoughts on the acquisition and policy history of the CPI as well as prospects for growth now that the eight follow on contracts have been awarded. 

Thomas highlights the outreach role GSA has played and must continue to play to enhance opportunities for growth in customer agency usage., and he discusses the impact of GSA's new SaaS advance payment policy and what it means for customer agencies and industry. Thomas contrasts this new commercial-like payment policy with the current state of the federal acquisition regulation and the re-regulation of commercial item contracting. 

Finally Thomas talks about the impact of regulatory burdens on competition and access to the commercial market.  

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This week Jason Miller, executive editor at Federal News Network, joins Off the Shelf, for a wide-ranging discussion of the policies, regulations, legislation, trends, and programs shaping the federal procurement market.

Topics include the FAR at 40 years, the new part 40 of the FAR, GSA's commercial platform awards, GSA's new policy on SaaS and advance payments, the impact of CMMC on small business, new grant regulations, and the trends on DoD's PALT for task and delivery orders.  

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