Winter 2020 Service Contractor Magazine

Winter 2020

Trends in Civilian Agencies and International Development

ALSO INSIDE: 6

17

SOUNDING POLICY SPOTLIGHT: BOARD TOP 2020 CONTRACTING Professional Services Council TRENDS

34

FIVE TRENDS IN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING

40

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE… BEYOND THE BUZZ Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 1

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Navigating the Government Contract Compliance LandscapeProfessional Since 1991 2 / Service Contractor / Winter 2020 Services Council

Winter 2020

12 MARK GREEN AT THE PSC 7TH ANNUAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

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36 What’s Ahead in 2020?

Election Year Opportunities for Contractors

4 President’s Letter 6 Sounding Board

10 CIDC Development Conference Raises the Bar 14 PSC 2020 Law Enforcement Conference 15 Diagnosing the Future of Health at the PSC FedHealth Conference 17 Policy Spotlight: Top 2020 Contracting Trends 19 Working for You 22 Bill Tracker

34 Five Trends in Government Contracting 35 Business Forecast Scorecard 38 Six Steps to Preparing Your

Marketing Budget and Plan 42 Zero Trust: Evolving the Federal Government’s Security Model 44 Member Value 47 Event Spotlight 49 Event Happenings

AQUIRING A FEDERAL CONTRACTOR: DOING YOUR DUE DILIGENCE

40 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE… BEYOND THE BUZZ

Cover illustration: Allison Weinstock

Service Contractor

is a publication of the Professional Services Council 4401 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1110 Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: 703-875-8059 Fax: 703-875-8922 Web: www.pscouncil.org All Rights Reserved For advertising or to submit articles or items for the Member News section, contact: Pheniece Jones jones@pscouncil.org

P S C S TA F F David J. Berteau President & CEO berteau@pscouncil.org Alan Chvotkin, Esq. Executive Vice President & Counsel chvotkin@pscouncil.org Cate Benedetti Vice President, Government Relations benedetti@pscouncil.org Joe Carden, CAE Vice President, Marketing & Membership carden@pscouncil.org

Professional Services Council

Paul Foldi Vice President, International Development foldi@pscouncil.org Ryan McDermott Vice President, Defense & Intelligence mcdermott@pscouncil.org Melissa R. Phillips, CMP Vice President, Events & Operations phillips@pscouncil.org

Robert Piening, CPA, CGMA Vice President, Accounting & Finance piening@pscouncil.org Bradley Saull Vice President, Civilian Agencies saull@pscouncil.org Matthew Busby Director, Membership busby@pscouncil.org Michelle Jobse Director, Vision Forecast jobse@pscouncil.org

Cassie Katz Director, Marketing katz@pscouncil.org Andrea Ostrander Director, Events ostrander@pscouncil.org Pheniece Jones Director, Media Relations jones@pscouncil.org Jean Tarascio Senior Manager, Events tarascio@pscouncil.org Donald Baumgart Manager, Vision Forecast baumgart@pscouncil.org

Karen Holmes Office Manager holmes@pscouncil.org Daniel Catlin Associate, Membership catlin@pscouncil.org Alexandra Gomez Executive Assistant gomez@pscouncil.org Allison Weinstock Associate, Digital Marketing weinstock@pscouncil.org

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 3

PRESIDENT ’S LETTER

T

he numbers 2020 stand for perfect vision, and for PSC, this year means we will try to help our members and readers see more clearly. This issue of Service Contractor is part of that effort.

We open with a message from our newly elected board chairman, Roger Krone, CEO of longtime member Leidos.

He clearly lays out on page 6 some of the big challenges facing contractors this year and how PSC will help meet those challenges.

The federal government obligates more than $300 billion each year in services contracts. A substantial part of that is in the Defense Department for national security, but nearly half of those funds come from civilian agencies. It’s imperative that these civilian agencies thoughtfully spend the funds appropriated. This issue of the magazine focuses on those agencies, and we’ll report on funding patterns in the next issue.

Civilian agencies include the special case of international development contracts from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Paul Foldi summarizes December’s PSC Development Conference, with extensive remarks from USAID administrator Mark Green that firmly acknowledge the important contributions that our members make around the world.

PSC’s February Federal Law Enforcement Conference cuts across a number of civilian agencies. Andrea McCarthy of HARP, chair of the conference planning committee, offers highlights on page 14.

Federal health programs are another major area of emphasis at PSC. Pat Tamburrino, Jr, of LMI, chair of the March PSC FedHealth conference planning committee, describes better ways to approach the market on page 15.

Beyond those conferences, PSC is organized for member engagement around a series of internal councils, one of which is the civilian agency council. Bradley Saull, VP for civilian agencies, highlights ways to strengthen the industry partnership with those agencies on page 19.

For years, PSC and our international development company members have worked with USAID to improve that agency’s business forecast information. Building on that, in 2019 PSC initiated a new tool for contractor business development. Many federal agencies provide forecasts of future contracts. On page 35,

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Paul Foldi describes the first-ever PSC business forecast scorecard, evaluating each agency against 15 key characteristics.

Since we released this scorecard, many agencies have asked how they can improve their score. As they do so, our members will benefit from better, more timely, and more interactive data from those agencies. It’s one of the many ways that we continue to support your efforts.

Looking more broadly, this issue of the magazine includes additional advice for all government contractors, regardless of your agency customer.

Bank of America’s Ed Spenceley notes five trends in government contracting (page 34).

Charles McPhillips of Kaufman and Canoles, P.C. highlights due diligence responsibilities (page 36).

Kelly Waffle of PSC partner Hinge Marketing offers six steps to improve budgets and plans (page 38).

The magazine also continues our series of CEO columns with Rob Baum of Techflow exploring, “Artificial Intelligence – Beyond the Buzz,” on page 40.

As we expand the use of artificial intelligence, we need better security. See the update on Zero Trust by Cisco’s Steve Vetter and Andy Stewart on page 42.

Finally, no edition of Service Contractor is complete without Alan Chvotkin’s policy spotlight (page 17), Cate Benedetti’s extensive bill tracker (pages 22-33), and Matt Busby’s update on membership value (page 44).

We will cover all these issues and more at our annual conference at the Greenbrier, April 26-28. Registration is open now, and rooms are filling fast, so sign up. I look forward to seeing all of you there.

Government contractors are dedicated to supporting all agencies. Each of you continues to pursue this in your work every day. At PSC, we are committed to helping you. As always, we welcome your input, your perspectives, and your support.

David J. Berteau

Professional Services Council

Professional Services Council

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 5

Sounding Board

Growing and Strengthening PSC’s Reach

by Roger Krone, Chairman & CEO, Leidos; Chairman, PSC Board of Directors

I

t is truly an honor to serve as your chair for the coming year. The professional services sector is an essential partner with the federal government, often overshadowed by larger platform companies with bigger manufacturing footprints and real estate portfolios.

But make no mistake about it, services companies like mine and the 400 other member companies we have at PSC have a critical impact. They are integral in virtually all aspects of the government’s operations.

We are proud of our work, and we are proud of our employees who are passionate about our customer missions.

That is the reason that PSC is such a critical organization – it provides a clear and consistent voice for all services companies and their employees – an advocate on important issues that affect us collectively.

I have seen the organization grow a lot in recent years – internal management and finances have stabilized, while at the same time member engagement and member value are increasing rapidly.

But we have much work to do in the years ahead – budgets are uncertain, innovation must get underway, regulation is looming, and there isn’t enough talent to spread around.

We must continue our efforts to expand and strengthen our ability to reach decision makers and help shape our future.

We also need to grow our presence on the Hill and partner more closely with the news media and our government agency partners.

I look forward to the journey ahead and I look forward to working with you in the chair capacity in 2020.

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Professional Services Council

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Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 7

What’s Ahead in 2020?

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Professional Services Council

Election Year Opportunities for Contractors

by David J. Berteau, PSC President and CEO

2020

is a presidential election year, America’s quadrennial exercise in democracy. The voters elect the president to lead the executive branch, and the president then appoints individuals to thousands of political positions across the agencies. Hundreds of those are senior positions that require the president to nominate and the Senate to confirm each individual. They then serve at the pleasure of the president.

These leaders are responsible for shaping programs and policies, building requirements and budgets for them, and managing their implementation. This is the way election results affect governance in the US. Aligned with these political appointees are thousands of career senior executives across the government. They provide expertise, experience, and competent management over time and across administrations.

Studies show that the average Senate-confirmed appointee serves for about two years, though some serve longer or move from one position to another within the administration.

The final year of a four-year term presents special challenges, as appointed officials depart and are not immediately replaced.

Often, appointees will be asked either to commit to staying until the end of the four-year term or depart now so that someone can be put in their place. This can lead to a higher-than-usual number of positions that are vacant or filled by “acting” leaders.

PSC member companies provide support to every federal agency through contracts and depend on leadership at every Professional Services Council

level for program direction, innovation, funding and continuity.

What does an election year mean for them?

All of these appointees affect and influence programs and contracts in every agency. Sometimes that influence is most apparent when a position is vacant. That is because decisions that can’t be made while the position is vacant will be deferred or altered, which in turn may delay or change programs and contracts. Too many vacant billets can have a visible impact on an agency’s contract obligations and other decisions. Important work may be deferred or stopped altogether.

However, there is a rosier side to this. My experience shows that leaders can get a lot done in the last year of a four-year term.

Groundwork has been laid, supporting data and analysis have been assembled, coalitions have been built, and the final year can see implementation.

Contractors can be part of this. If you know your customer well, you can see what they need from you to bring these ideas into execution. White papers, innovative solutions, time-saving process efficiencies, and technology updates can all play a role.

Many political appointees plan to serve for no more than a four-year term. That means they care about the legacy they leave, and contractors can build on that to propose and offer tried and true ideas to help cement those legacies.

What will happen in 2020? Using history as a guide, you can use this year with your best government customers to help them achieve lasting success and lay the groundwork for governing in the next decade. At PSC, we stand ready to help. 3 Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 9

CIDC Development Conference Raises the Bar

by Paul Foldi, PSC Vice President for International Development

2019

saw the seventh annual conference for PSC’s Council of International Development Companies, and it was indeed, one for the ages. Thanks to the hard work of CIDC members and the leadership of our Executive Advisory Board, our constructive advocacy and thought leadership efforts are well-received and in fact sought out by decisionmakers in the federal government. This acknowledgement and appreciation was made manifest both by the number of government officials who attended the entirety of our event and the top-tier presenters we were able to attract. Similarly, the record number of attendees and sponsorships each set new benchmarks and are indicative of the value our members place on this event. For those who were not able to attend, a brief re-cap is provided below. For those wishing to purchase the video replay of the conference in its entirety, please follow www.pscouncil.org/psc/Events.

Conference Kickoff

PSC’s President and CEO David Berteau welcomed attendees and provided a summary of the rather tumultuous preceding twelve months. Starting with a reminder that at our 2018 conference, no one would have predicted the ensuing 35-day partial government shutdown, Berteau cautioned the audience of the possibility of another. He then recounted the funding battles between the White House’s requested 25% cut to the Department of State and USAID’s budget, to the restoration of those funds by Congress, to the subsequent attempts by OMB to rescind some of those funds in August and PSC’s role in defeating those efforts.

State Department and the Foreign Assistance Funding Nexus

Our first headliner was James “Jim” Richardson - the Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources at the U.S. Department of State. Jim is well known to CIDC from his previous work at USAID where he served as Assistant to the Administrator in USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning and

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Coordinator of USAID’s Transformation Task Team, and he graciously acknowledged the excellent relationships he developed with PSC/CIDC while he was leading AID’s massive reorganization efforts. As with his prior interactions with CIDC, Jim was candid and detailed in his presentation regarding his new role as the coordinator for both the funding and policy aspects and his work to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of foreign assistance by enhancing strategic alignment, performance input, data use, and interagency coordination.

He touched on his efforts to referee the $35 Billion in U.S. aid spending between the sometimes-competing priorities of the State Department and USAID and the importance that data played in these decisions – data that is amply (though as our audience reminded him – not always completely accurate or up to date) on USAID’s [Foreign Assistance Dashboard.] https:// explorer.usaid.gov/

From “OPIC” to “DFC”

We next heard from Adam Boehler, Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) who joined CIDC’s Chair and CEO of Devis, Cristina

Professional Services Council

Mossi, for a “fireside chat.” Our conference was one of Boehler’s first public appearances since he was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in to his position.

Boehler reminded the audience that Congress had recently passed the Build Act which created the DFC, largely to counter growing Chinese “Debt-Trap Diplomacy” whereby recipient countries, unable to re-pay their loan to Beijing would find their natural resources and infrastructure mortgaged to China.

Boehler noted that the US approach to financing emphasized the necessity for maintaining sovereignty for all recipient nations and driving recipients’ global development while increasing their self-reliance. Recent examples of such efforts included justconcluded investments such as a power generation project in El Salvador and a natural gas pipeline in Mexico. He ended by noting there is always strength in numbers, with the DFC looking to partner with other nations’ finance institutions, including the Japan Finance Corportation, the African Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank.

USAID Digital Strategy in the New Age

Chris Burns, Director at USAID’s Center for Digital Development and Michelle Parker, senior policy advisor, detailed the agency’s new draft Digital Strategy in a panel moderated

by Chemonics CEO Susi Mudge. Both speakers were quick to thank those in the audience who had commented on some of the ten prior drafts of the Strategy and cautioned that the document was still not final.

The speakers highlighted the two core objectives of the Policy. The first objective is to improve humanitarian assistance through the responsible use of digital technology. The new Strategy outlines Principles for Digital Development that include data driven analytics, open source and standards, privacy and security, collaboration with the user in the design stage, and sustainability. The second objective is to strengthen openness, inclusiveness and the security of a country’s digital ecosystems, increasing the growth of private sector-led digital economics, strengthening partner government commitment and capacity to foster digital ecosystems that align with established best practices, and increasing communities’ adoption of and capacity to securely use and contribute to digital ecosystems.

Moderator Mudge probed the speakers on the details of the effective implementation of the Strategy and how it hinges on USAID’s ability to appropriately meet partner countries where they are on their digital evolution. In response, they noted the new Strategy will strengthen local systems and interoperable capabilities, address digital inequities, literacy needs and the gender digital divide, and implement digital programming guidance for missions. USAID will also shift to a default position of using digital technology. This includes mandating digital payments, incorporating the Principles for Digital Development in all USAID procurement and programming, and developing cybersecurity and data privacy protective measures. In wrapping

Professional Services Council

up their engaging presentation, they noted that USAID will continue to invest in positioning the workforce to succeed in the digital age and will appoint mission-specific Digital Development Advisors, dedicated to studying and understanding the digital network for their mission in foreign countries.

DDI: Working Better, Together

Our second all-star panel focused on USAID’s new Bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation (DDI) that is in the process of being stood up as part of the agency’s aforementioned transformation efforts. The panel – moderated by CIDC Vice Chair and Managing Partner at Palladium, Santiago Sedaca – included Kimberly Rosen, E3 Acting Assistant Administrator; Julie Cram, E3 Deputy Administrator; and Tim Meisburger, Director, Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance.

Panelists noted that programming out of DDI is intended to be more integrated and will result in more comprehensive development programs impacting the whole country, rather than specific sectoral programs. Additionally, DDI is “integration actualized,” resulting in breaking down some of the existing policy stove-pipes, with DDI serving as one giant coordinating mechanism. DDI will serve as the “connective tissue” that ties all the agency’s bureaus together. Sedaca pushed panelists to help the audience understand better the difference between “Hubs” and “Centers.” Hubs were described as have many “spokes” emanating from them based on the type of programming – for example Private Sector Engagement, Youth, Gender – and should be seen as cross-sectoral. Centers are focused sectoral experts – similar to what they are now. DDI is intended to be much more crosssectoral driven and less personality driven than current structures.

In wrapping up, panelists noted the still-fluid nature of the DDI, and welcomed additional feedback, promising to return to CIDC for follow-on briefings and consultations.

Administrator Green’s Closing Keynote Address

USAID Administrator Mark Green helped draw our event to a close with remarks that demonstrated a virtual sea-change in terms of how AID now appreciates the role of CIDC members in providing needed support to both the agency and donor recipients. Please see the adjacent article for more on his remarks.

Conclusion

Best-ever CIDC Conference…until the 2020 Conference. But don’t wait until next December; engage with CIDC now!

Since 2013, Paul Foldi has served as PSC’s VP for International Development Affairs, working closely with CIDC members to drive their issues before the executive and legislative branches. Prior to PSC, Foldi served on the Senate Relations Committee staff of thenSenator Richard Lugar (R-IN). From 1996-2003 he was a Foreign Service Officer with the US Department of State, serving in Pakistan, Nicaragua and numerous positions in Foggy Bottom.

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 11

USAID Administrator Mark Green’s Remarks at the Professional Services Council’s 7th Annual Development Conference ADMINISTRATOR GREEN: Thank you for those kind words. We were out back talking about some of the challenges that we all see in the world today. Being up here sort of reminds me of the story of the millionaire’s pool party. As the story goes, there was a party around a pool at a millionaire’s home, and the host got up and he said to his guests, “I tell you what, I’ll give a million dollars or the hand of my daughter to the first guy who will swim across this pool.” Trick was the pool was filled with man-eating alligators.

There were no takers, but as he turned to walk away, he heard a splash. He turned around. Sure enough, there’s a guy in the pool, fighting his way across. Eventually gets across, gets out, standing there, dripping wet. And the millionaire runs over and said, “You know, that it is the bravest, the most courageous thing I have ever seen. So what’s it going to be? A million dollars or the hand of my daughter?” And the guy looked at him and said, “Neither. I just want to know who the hell pushed me in the pool.”

And I know that all of us these days feel like that on occasion, given all that’s going on.

In all seriousness, thank you. Thanks, team, and thanks to all of you for the kind welcome. You know, as I look back over my time at USAID, now two years and a little bit, there are few partners, few stakeholders who have done more to help the Agency pursue our historic mission than all of you and who you represent.

You were the ones delivering results in some of the toughest settings I know, getting tougher by the day. You are helping us shape and meet key objectives. You’ve served as experienced, constructive counsel to the Agency, and you have helped us as we go through our transformation process, a process that will hopefully better prioritize our investments and work to make sure that we are all doing everything that we need to do to help countries on their Journey to Self-Reliance.

As you know, to operationalize that notion, we have launched an ambitious process to transform USAID and really to reshape how we pursue our work. It’s been an interesting process. We began by asking our staff and our partners for the best ideas and reforms that they could find. New ideas, old ideas, from recent administrations, from no administration, whatever we could do that would help all of us here extend American leadership in a rapidly changing world. And I guess more to the point, we ask all of you -- we ask you what it would take to make us and USAID better partners. What would it take to better empower you to do that which you do best?

In the early days of Transformation, we met with the PSC Executive Advisory Council to solicit ideas and suggestions. All told, more than 60 PSC members directly contributed feedback to our efforts. Your ideas guided reforms that touched upon everything from streamlining our business processes, to better equipping our 12 / Service Contractor / Winter 2020

workforce, to changing how we partner by evaluating and elevating your role in local engagement.

You were honest and constructive in your counsel. Okay, sometimes aggressively so. You told us that, despite our best intentions, our partnering, procurement, and award management policies have become too complex and too prescriptive. But that helped us to adapt our focus and shape the path of transformation.

And so we streamlined the cost proposal review process to reduce the administrative burden. We revised our policy guidance and training around monitoring and evaluation and learning, because we share your belief that active, adaptive, and collaborative award management is the best way to ensure that all of us meet our goals.

You were honest and constructive in your counsel.

Okay, sometimes aggressively so. You told us that, despite our best intentions, our partnering, procurement, and award management policies have become too complex and too prescriptive.

You said that our procurement workforce was not sufficiently resourced or empowered to handle the increasing demands of acquisition and assistance. And so we worked to hire additional contracting staff with more to come. We’ve already approved a 30 percent increase in our contracting officer workforce, approximately 40 new Foreign Service Officers. But we know that hiring alone isn’t the answer. And so we’ve also worked on improving the experience and capabilities of our staff and Professional Services Council

creating more development opportunities to increase retention rates. Steps that will help us keep our best and brightest at USAID, complemented with talented new hires, and alleviate a pain point for your hard work.

You also said that USAID had lost sight of your value as our longstanding development partners, who can strengthen the capacity of our partner countries. You reminded us that progress on the Journey to Self-Reliance is not the absence of international partners, but those partners playing the right role in U.S. foreign assistance. And so we reassessed our local engagement approach.

We wanted to capture the key role that you play in building local capacity. And so we created a capacity strengthening indicator. Each Mission will now report on the capacity building progress of local partners that received some awards.

We will measure our success by how well you equip those partners to implement programs. Starting this year, we will regularly engage in a dialogue on effective sub-award management.

So really what I am saying today is I want to thank everyone here for all that you have done. But I also want to thank all of you for what you are doing right now, armed with some of the reforms that we’ve undertaken and those that we have begun. On top of all of that, I want to thank you for everything that you’re going to do, because we have lots of work ahead. For everything that you have done, I truly salute you.

The members of this organization, this Coalition, have embraced the opportunities. We’ve observed a greater commitment to data driven designs like pay for performance models. And we’ve witnessed an openness to phased acquisition procurement, which lowers the barriers to entry, reduces management burdens, and cuts delivery time. We’ve seen a significant increase in co-creation, which we believe, I believe, is critical to harnessing innovation.

In Fiscal Year 2018, we challenged ourselves to increase the use of co-creation for new awards all across the world in all of our geographic regions. In 2019, thanks to you, we met or exceeded our goals in four of the six regions in which we work. That could never have happened without all of you, your willingness to push the envelope, your willingness to embrace new ideas.

Two weeks ago, Senior White House Adviser Ivanka Trump and I announced several new programs under the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. Near the top of that list was our work with one of your members, Palladium, who is helping us to expand women entrepreneurs’ access to credit in Colombia.

There is Cambodia, where the sustainable management of the country’s natural resources is a challenge that we all recognize, but one, quite frankly, that we at the Agency weren’t entirely sure how to best address. And so we issued a request for information, collecting inputs from potential partners to help guide our thinking. That led us to another one of your members, who partnered with us to help Cambodians conserve biodiversity and protect their forests, so they can enjoy them for generations to come. There’s Bangladesh, where inadequate access to nutritional food combines with water, hygiene, and sanitation challenges to create health challenges for children and their mothers. And so once again, we turned to you and your members, and we engaged in a robust co-design process, working closely together to develop activities that incorporated the best ideas from each of us; USAID, and all of you are partners, you’re members.

Now, we’re working together to expand Bangladesh’s access to nutritional foods, improve hygiene practices, and empower Professional Services Council

women to make informed decisions on food consumption habits. Membership of the PSC is showing the world why you are true pioneers of development. We couldn’t succeed without you. And I promise we won’t try. (laughter) And so, again, thank you for everything that you’ve done.

Thank you for what you were doing and how you embraced reform and change. And now, thank you for what you will do, what we will do in the months ahead. You see, it’s critical that we continue to fine-tune and hone these reforms, because together we’re confronting some of the biggest challenges in the world today, challenges that demand we work as efficiently and effectively as possible, as partners for progress. These challenges are in some of the areas where we work most often, but the most demanding environments that any of us can imagine. Like the instability caused by violence, poor governance, and fragility, left unaddressed, these issues contribute to a cycle of crises that prompt people to flee from their homes in search of safety and opportunity.

We see this in regions like the Sahel, where a mix of extremism, environmental degradation and unresponsive governance structures have contributed to large destabilizing population movements. Foreign global health, the spread of infectious diseases, high infant and maternal mortality rates, and limited access to health care services robs communities and countries of their hidden potential.

Each of these is a threat to self-reliance and prosperity.

Again, we know that we can’t possibly succeed, our country can’t succeed, those countries, those peoples cannot rise without all of you. Sometimes you ask what it is that gets me up at night as Administrator: the fact that we have 71 million people displaced. We have families displaced: mothers and children.

People are not where they were. They’re not where they’re going to be. And as they’re in motion, the challenge to all of us is to find ways to reach out to those people where they were, where they are. And again, when they’re in motion, we need to find ways to deliver key interventions, health services, nutritional interventions. We need to find ways to provide connectivity to the world around them, both in basic education, and just an understanding of the world.

I get up in the middle of the night because I worry about children being born in camps, growing up with kids and not really having a sense of the world around them. And then someday when those gates open and the fence comes down, God-willing, we somehow expect them not to be vulnerable to the worst kinds of forces that we can imagine, exploitative forces, extremist forces, and that to me is the great challenge that we face as a community.

But there are lots of reasons for us to be optimistic. Quite honestly, it’s the work that you do each and every day that gives me that optimism. We’ve partnered with you to deliver services, to produce outcomes in settings that, I don’t know, test all of us, test technologies, test ideas over and over again that you have been delivering and you will deliver.

So again, my message to you today is how grateful I am as Administrator, how grateful we are as an Agency for your friendship and your partnership. We believe in true collaboration and we’ll keep that collaboration going because there’s lots of work to do. Thank you.

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 13

PSC 2020 Law Enforcement Conference

by Andrea C. McCarthy, President, HARP; Chair, PSC Law Enforcement Conference Planning Committee

O

ne valuable way to acquire timely intelligence about what is going on in our dynamic and ever-changing industry is by selectively participating in core industry events.

If your company is looking to either expand within or move into the Federal Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice space whether in the U.S. Department of Justice or the U. S. Department of Homeland Security, the upcoming PSC Law Enforcement Conference is a must-attend event.

The PSC Federal Law Enforcement Conference is being held on February 25, 2020, at the Westin Arlington Gateway hotel. To optimize your day, the program runs from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Following the official program, there is an optional luncheon which provides the chance to keep networking and gain even more insights into this important customer set via industry leaders and PSC senior staff.

What is particularly insightful about the PSC Federal Law Enforcement Conference is that it gives audience members both the big picture of what is going on in these agencies from speakers such as the DHS Chief Human Capital Officer Angela Bailey and Jeffrey Sallet, the Associate Executive Assistant Director, Finance and Facilities Division. Knowing the big picture helps provide great background information for relevant customer call meetings you likely have scheduled in the coming months.

These Government leaders set the stage for our mission-focused discussions: Drugs and the Opioid Crisis as well as Innovation Labs and the National Vetting Center. These in-depth panel discussions will provide valuable customer background information which is likely pertinent to any upcoming RFPs. We will once again have our FBI Industry Day panel featuring a number of key Bureau Contracting Officers. As an continued page 16

Feb. 25, 2020 | 8 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. | Westin Arlington Gateway | Arlington, VA The PSC Federal Law Enforcement Conference brings senior executives from across industry and government together to discuss key law enforcement initiatives. Given the administration’s focus on law enforcement and security, this is an opportunity for industry to engage with key government executives on law enforcement challenges. Speakers from FBI, DOJ, DHS, and other law enforcement agencies will discuss their priorities and industry leaders will discuss where the market is headed.

Register at www.psclawenforcement.org

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Professional Services Council

Diagnosing the Future of Health at the PSC FedHealth Conference

by Pat Tamburrino, Jr., Vice President, Health & Civilian Agencies, LMI; Chair, PSC FedHealth Conference Planning Committee

A

s we consider how to approach issues in the federal health care consulting domain, do either of these facts come as a surprise? First, the United States spends a greater percentage on health care than any other country in the world, and a large share of that spending comes from the federal government. In 2017, the United States spent about $3.5 trillion, or 18 percent of GDP, on health expenditures, more than twice the average among developed countries.

Of that $3.5 trillion, $1.5 trillion, is directly or indirectly financed by the federal government.1 Second and notably, for all of our spending, we rank behind all of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in life expectancy, a fact largely attributed to opioid deaths and suicide. The CDC reports that for the third year in a row, the life expectancy in America is decreasing.

We know we can do better.

There appear to be some certainties in the healthcare landscape. For example, Telehealth is a push across all federal agencies, especially to meet the needs of those in rural regions and to treat mental health. In fact, VA telehealth app usage increased 235% in 2019. Veterans are certainly being given more ways to access health care within VA’s network and through approved non-VA medical providers in your community, i.e., community care providers. Further the market is seeing similar initiatives with the Chronic Care Act which aims to improve at-home care, increase Medicare Advantage flexibility, give Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) more options and expands telehealth capabilities for those with multiple chronic conditions. continued page 16 American Health Care: Health Spending and the Federal Budget MAY 16, 2018 | HEALTH CARE https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20190109.546126/full/

1

March 25, 2020 • 7:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. • Silver Spring, MD The fourth annual PSC Federal Health Conference will bring senior executives from across industry and government together to discuss critical policy and acquisition priorities in civilian and military health.

Speakers from HHS, VA, and DoD will discuss their needs and challenges so that industry can better determine where the federal health market is headed.

This half-day conference will be your opportunity to share ideas with senior government and industry leaders in an extensive dialogue on federal health agencies, future policy and procurement trends and their implications on your company.

Register at www.fedhealthconference.org

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Law Enforcement Conference from page 16

added benefit for small businesses, we have invited both the DOJ and DHS Small Business leaders to join us for discussions during the networking sessions.

Understanding what our potential Government clients are thinking is a valuable way to stay ahead of agency trends in

Federal Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice management, technology and acquisition. Staying informed means staying engaged -- smartly. Hundreds of your industry colleagues will be attending the PSC Law Enforcement Conference on February 25, 2020. We hope you will be able to join us too! 3

FedHealth Conference from page 16

These programs will have great impact on the baby boomer generation, estimated at greater than 72 million by 2030.

The 2020 PSC Federal Health Conference on March 25, 2020, in Silver Spring, Maryland will bring senior executives from across industry and government together to discuss critical healthcare priorities and how our industry can support key government customers in our shared health and wellbeing. Invited speakers include Lt. General Ronald Place, the Director of the Defense Health Agency; Dr. Richard Stone, Executive in Charge of the Veterans Health Administration; and Kimberly Brandt, Principal Deputy Administrator for Policy & Operations, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Their view from the top insights will help you understand the strategic environment in which your government customers or potential customers are operating. Other topics of relevance for better healthcare delivery and cost containment will be covered in panels covering national health priorities such as the Opioid crisis, HIV/AIDS, suicide prevention.

Another session will include technology disruptors such as digital health innovations utilizing Block Chain technology, Artificial Intelligence, Precision Medicine, and Natural Language Processing to name a few that are force multipliers addressing current problems such as drug shortages, access to care, provider usability, and new shared risk models for delivering value, enhanced contracting abilities, evaluation of cost and quality performance in real-time, and improved health outcomes. It is important that our industry guide these technology implementations and assure that government

16 / Service Contractor / Winter 2020

program managers have the knowledge of what these technologies provide while still providing a quality stakeholder and citizen experience.

Finally, we plan to conclude the program with several acquisition leaders across federal health agencies. We even hope to have an update from the team at the National Information Technology Acquisitions and Assessment Center within NIH on the follow-on work for Chief Information Officer – Solutions and Partners IV (CIO-SP4).

Understanding what our potential customers are thinking is a valuable way to stay ahead of agency trends in healthcare.

Staying informed means staying engaged and we have a federal health community within PSC to help you do so. Hundreds of your industry colleagues will be attending the PSC Federal Health Conference on March 25, 2020. We hope to see you there! 3 About LMI: LMI is a consultancy dedicated to improving the business of government, drawing from deep expertise in advanced analytics, digital services, logistics, and management advisory services. Established in 1961, LMI is a trusted third party to federal civilian and defense agencies, free of commercial and political bias. Our people are passionate about what they do and the variety of customers they work with. LMI professionals are authorities in the defense, national security, and health markets, with pedigrees steeped in distinguished government service. Our purpose-driven culture attracts the most skilled and experienced talent to provide innovative solutions to intricate problems.

Professional Services Council

Policy Spotlight

Top 2020 Contracting Trends for Civilian Agencies

by Alan Chvotkin, PSC Executive Vice President and Counsel

shutterstock.com / FrankHH

T

he federal contracting community is used to changing and innovating based on markets, requirements and priorities.

Last year was no exception and 2020 is likely to include big changes in the federal acquisition marketplace. PSC has a robust legislative and regulatory agenda to support our members’ interests, as well as serving as a conduit for commentary on emerging congressional and executive branch actions. PSC also provides numerous venues for member company engagement in setting policy and engaging with federal officials. Below is our first look at some of the top contracting trends likely to affect civilian agency acquisition policy in 2020.

Supply Chain Risk Management: Federal agencies and Congress have been active in targeting perceived threats to and vulnerabilities in the industrial base’s supply chain. This year will see new regulations for contractors restricting the use of products and services from Huawei and other Chinese companies, and the government-wide Federal Acquisition Security Council will continue to elevate security within the federal acquisition process.

Companies can expect more restrictions and new procedures for vetting your supply lines and subcontractors when selling in the government marketplace.

GSA Schedules Consolidation: The General Services Administration is marching forward with its implementation to consolidate all 24 Multiple Award Schedules into one single schedule for products, services and solutions. The new consolidated MAS Contract has been issued for new entrants and the transition of existing schedules to the new consolidated MAS Contract is underway. But GSA continues to issue additional changes, including the January 2020 “refresh” banning certain equipment and services to calculating past performance, with more to come.

Category Management/Best in Class (BIC) Spending: Category Management remains a top administration management and acquisition policy priority. BIC spending has doubled over the past five years and the designated vehicles will continue to grow as federal agencies identify eligible spending they can move to a BIC. As the government continues to prioritize spending through BICs, companies not on the vehicles may be left out of some of these markets entirely.

FBO to beta.SAM.gov: The General Services Administration’s roll out of the FedBizOpps replacement hit a few bumps last year and industry continues to raise concerns over its features and functionalities. Look for clarity as GSA works out the kinks. But keep an eye on what happens if federal agencies opt out of the new site.

Professional Services Council

Security Clearance Reforms: In October, DoD established the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency and integrated the government-wide security clearance background investigation mission from OPM. Coupled with the expected release of Trusted Workforce 2.0, a complete overhaul of the end-to-end clearance process affecting all federal agencies in early 2020 may bring more changes to the way companies recruit and hire cleared personnel.

Small Business Runway Extension Act Implementation: The law and new SBA regulations that took effect in January 2020 allows companies to remain eligible as a small business by changing how the government calculates “small.” As a result, many companies will stay smaller longer—potentially impacting competition in the set-aside markets and in the government’s and industry’s small business contracting plans.

Fiscal Year 2021 Appropriations: With the 2020 election underway, Members of Congress will want to spend more time campaigning in their districts and less time voting in Washington.

Will Congress and the administration enact the necessary appropriations before the Oct. 1 start of fiscal year 2021, shutdown some or all of the government, punt on spending decisions by enacting a Continuing Resolution, or adopt some combination of these actions? Contractors should prepare for all four scenarios.

War for People Continues: The knowledge-based and technology services market is competitive. Companies are competing for talent with each other, with the government, and with the commercial sector—especially for high-skilled and cleared personnel. As available talent with the necessary skills continued on page 45

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 17

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Professional Services Council

Working for You:

by Bradley Saull, PSC Vice President for Civilian Agencies

Strengthening the Government-Industry Partnership

T

he PSC Civilian Agencies Council focuses on the acquisition policies and strategies of the civilian agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Energy and others. The Civilian Agencies Council conducts programs to inform member companies about civilian agency initiatives, and serves as a forum for greater dialogue between PSC and the civilian agencies through regular meetings, timely programs, and various other forums. In 2020, the Civilian Agencies Council is taking on important issues within the civilian agencies and offers many opportunities to engage with federal government customers.

PSC Law Enforcement and FedHealth Conferences

The 2020 PSC Federal Law Enforcement Conference will be on February 25, 2020, in Arlington, VA, where senior executives from the government technology and professional services industry will convene to hear from top government officials across federal law enforcement agencies. Register today and join your fellow federal law enforcement colleagues for the PSC law enforcement event of the year. Conference planning committee Chair Andrea McCarthy (HARP) has more about this conference on page 15.

The 2020 PSC Federal Health Conference will be held on March 25, 2020 in Silver Spring, MD, and will bring senior executives from across industry and government together to discuss critical policy and acquisition priorities in civilian and military health. Speakers from HHS, VA, and DoD will discuss their needs and challenges so that industry can better determine where the federal health market is headed. Conference planning committee Chair Pat Tamburrino (LMI) has more about this conference on page x.

There is a charge for industry attendees at these programs, but government employees can attend for free.

HHS Program Support Center Bombshell

We continue to follow developments after HHS said in June 2019 that its Program Support Center (also known as PSC) will only support acquisitions within HHS. Questions remain whether HHS desires to get out of the assisted acquisition business entirely (except NIH NITAAC). Several government officials have indicated that awards made over the last four years by the HHS PSC must be moved to other agencies or absorbed by the home agency by Sept. 30, 2020. In talking with member companies impacted, if it is IT-related work, NITAAC may be an option (subject to their capacity). Non-IT work is likely to

be transferred to GSA or other assisted acquisition services like Interior (subject to their capacity). However, a larger question looms whether other agencies (outside GSA or NITAAC) are considering similar policies to only undertake assisted acquisitions within their department.

PSC Calls Out SAMHSA For Blocking Contractors

We continue to share with Congress and stakeholders the concerns of member companies at the actions by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

In early 2018, we learned that most future training/technical assistance contracts would not be awarded. In summer 2019, evaluation contractors experienced similar impacts. SAMHSA leadership incorrectly views contractors as “middle-men” or “overhead,” and that these important program elements can be “insourced” or pushed as additional tasks for grantees.

Yet SAMHSA staff and grantees do not have the capacity to do this work with the required level of attention to detail and standardization necessary. PSC will continue to engage with SAMHSA and HHS on communicating the value of contractors to the government.

Security Clearance & Suitability Delays

To address the growing concern about personnel security and suitability delays, PSC is working on a multi-association basis with DHS to address reciprocity policy issues as well as with the new DoD Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) on background investigation processing times.

PSC is working to make sure that the civilian agency element of suitability is appropriately addressed in future policy and implementation so that each agency does not make up their own policies/procedures.

PSC Finds Agency Business Forecasts Valuable for Companies But Have Room for Improvement

Based on PSC’s analysis of 15 key characteristics, two dozen government agencies—including the departments of Agriculture and Defense—need work to improve their business forecasts, according to a first of its kind report prepared by the Professional Services Council (PSC). PSC shared the results with the Administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Michael Wooten, and with the covered agencies, with a goal of producing better data for companies to compete for U.S. government work. Work on the 2020 scorecard will begin shortly.

Be involved by sharing your experience with the PSC staff. continued page 20

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from page 19

Fighting Civilian Agency Use of LPTA

PSC welcomed the October 2 Federal Acquisition Regulation proposed rule that would limit civilian agencies’ use of the lowest price technically acceptable (LPTA) source selection and publicly provided its comments on Dec. 2, 2019. We are awaiting the final rule in early 2020 and will be monitoring agency implementation.

Civilian Agency Supply Chain Risk Management

An ongoing issue for action in 2020 and beyond will be how civilian agencies approach the concept of supply chain risk management among their contractor and vendor base. In October, PSC led a multi-association industry letter on interim regulations regarding telecommunications products and services from certain Chinese companies in contractors’ supply chains. In our comments, PSC urged the government to act expeditiously to implement an annual certification through the System for Award Management (SAM) database, rather than requiring companies to make offer-by-offer representation.

On December 13, the FAR Council issued an Interim rule to implement this requirement. PSC welcomes this decision but remains concerned about the far-reaching consequences

of the initial regulations and the pending implementation of phase two.

Reverse Industry Days

PSC is working with several agencies to host future Reverse Industry Day programs. Pioneered originally at the Department of Homeland Security in 2015, the key objective of a Reverse Industry Day is for government employees to better understand the parallel action industry is taking during the government’s acquisition lifecycle. PSC participated in seven Reverse Industry Day programs in 2019 and plans are underway for a Reverse Industry Day with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in February 2020.

Get Engaged

The Civilian Agencies Council has a broad portfolio with many opportunities to engage with senior government officials and your peers. This report is just a brief overview of our extensive work to date, with many more offerings coming in 2020. Please engage with us on our programming and recommend additional areas of interest to you via policy@pscouncil.org. 3

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Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

H.R. 190 Expanding Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses Act, Marshall (R-KS)

SUMMARY Would raise the threshold for sole-source contracts to disadvantaged small businesses to $7 million for manufacturing and $4 million for others, and eliminate option years from the cost consideration.

STATUS Passed the House (415-6) on 1/16/19. Related bill: S.673.

Encouraging Small Business Innovation Act, Rouda (D-CA)

H.R. 206

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would allow Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) to invest in small businesses that participate in SBIR and STTR programs; and allow SBA to increase the past performance rating of contractors in SBIR and STTR programs and mentor a business seeking to participate in one of those programs.

Passed the House (voice vote) on 1/14/19.

H.R. 226 Clarity on Small Business Participation in Category Management Act,Velazquez (D-NY)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would require the SBA Administrator to report federal spending on best-in-class vehicles and the number and the dollar amount of small business contracts.

Passed the House (414-11) on 1/9/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

SUMMARY

STATUS

Allows prime contractors to choose to count lower-tier contracts with small businesses toward their goals, requires federal agencies to collect additional data on subcontracting goals, and establish a dispute resolution process for payment issues between subcontractors and prime contractors.

Passed the House (voice vote) on 1/8/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92

H.R. 227 Incentivizing Fairness in Subcontracting Act,Velazquez (D-NY)

H.R. 246 Stimulating Innovation through Procurement Act, Finkenauer (D-IA)

SUMMARY Allows federal agencies to help businesses that participate in the SBIR or STTR programs with

commercializing their research and to provide those small businesses with technical assistance on bids.

STATUS Passed the House (voice vote) on 1/14/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law

on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

H.R. 247

Federal CIO Authorization Act, Hurd (R-TX)

SUMMARY Makes the federal chief information officer and chief information security officer positions,

making both presidential appointments, and directs the CIO to submit a proposal to Congress for consolidating and streamlining IT across federal agencies.

STATUS

Passed the House (voice vote) on 1/15/19.

Low-Wage Federal Contractor Employee Back Pay Act, Norton (D-DC)

H.R. 339

Would require the federal government to compensate employees of federal contractors that provide retail, SUMMARY

food, custodial, or security services who are placed on unpaid leave as a result of a lapse in appropriations.

STATUS

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 1/8/19.

H.R. 424

Department of Homeland Security Clearance Management and Administration Act,

Thompson (D-MS)

SUMMARY Would require DHS to review and adjust, as necessary, all sensitivity level designations for security clearances throughout the department, and conduct additional reviews every five years.

STATUS Passed the House (voice vote) on 1/29/19.

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Professional Services Council

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

H.R. 499 Service-Disabled Veterans Small Business Continuation Act, Chabot (R-OH)

SUMMARY Would allow all surviving spouses of service-disabled veterans to retain the federal contracting preference, amending current law which allows for the contracting preference for spouses of 100% service-disabled veterans.

STATUS Passed the House (423-0) on 11/13/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: S.3008

require federal agencies to consider contractor training programs during contract

H.R. 533 Toawards,

Brown (D-MD)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would require the head of each executive agency to consider the existence of comprehensive training and education programs to develop a contractor’s workforce in the evaluation of offers for any contract in an amount greater than $25 million.

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 1/14/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

A bill to establish the Office of Critical Technologies and Security, Ruppersberger (D-MD) H.R. 618

Would establish an Office of Critical Technology and Security in the Executive Office of the SUMMARY

STATUS

President to coordinate policy and actions that will maintain United States technological leadership with respect to critical emerging, foundational, and dual-use technologies and ensure supply chain integrity and security for such technologies.

Referred to the Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence on 1/24/19.

Related bill: S.29.

Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act, Pressley (D-MA)

H.R. 678

Would provide back pay to certain low-wage contractor employees from the lapse in SUMMARY

appropriations that began on December 22, 2018.

STATUS Referred to the Committees on Appropriations, and Oversight and Reform on 1/17/19. Related bill: S.162.

H.R. 824 Fairness for Federal Contractors Act, Norcross (D-NJ)

SUMMARY Would provide back pay to certain contractor employees from the lapse in appropriations that began on December 22, 2018.

STATUS

Referred to the Committees on Appropriations, and Oversight and Reform on 1/28/19.

H.R. 1016 Pay Workers What They’ve Earned Act, Horsford (D-NV)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would cover certain costs incurred by federal employees and contractors as a direct result of a covered lapse in appropriations, including expenses for loans and credit cards, and any fees, fines, or interest.

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 2/6/19.

H.R. 1065 Social Media Use in Clearance Investigations Act, Lynch (D-MA)

SUMMARY Would direct the Office of Management and Budget to report on the feasibility and legality of

allowing the federal government to examine social media activity during security clearance investigations.

STATUS Passed the House (377-3) on 2/11/19.

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Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

H.R. 1076 Fair Chance Act, Cummings (D-MD)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would “ban the box”, by prohibiting the federal government and federal contractors from requesting that an applicant disclose criminal history record information before the applicant has received a conditional offer.

Ordered to be reported by the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 3/26/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: S.387.

SUMMARY

STATUS

Requires the Office of Management and Budget, within one year after the date of enactment, to issue guidance that requires each agency to accept electronic identity proofing and authentication processes to qualify for prior written consent for the disclosure of the individual’s records when requested by a Member of Congress.

Signed into law on 8/22/19 (P.L. 116-50).

H.R. 1079 Creating Advanced Streamlined Electronic Services for Constituents Act, Graves (R-LA)

H.R. 1158 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, McCaul (R-TX)

SUMMARY

STATUS

H.R. 1177

Provides Fiscal Year 2020 Appropriations for the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce and Justice, as well as the science-related agencies and those covered by the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.

Signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-93.

Stop the Shutdowns Transferring Unnecessary Pain and Inflicting Damage In The Coming Years (Stop STUPIDITY) Act, Spanberger (D-VA)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would automatically renew funding for federal departments and agencies, at the previous year’s funding levels, in the event of a future lapse in appropriations, with the exceptions of the legislative branch and the Executive Office of the President.

Referred to the Committee on Appropriations on 2/13/19. Related bill: S. 198.

H.R. 1204

OIRA Insight, Reform, and Accountability Act, Mitchell (R-MI)

SUMMARY Would codify current practices at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for centralized

review of regulations and expand OIRA reviews to previously excluded agencies.

STATUS Referred to the Committees on Oversight and Reform, and Judiciary on 2/13/19.

H.R. 1212 Federal Contract Deadline Fairness Act, Thompson (D-CA)

SUMMARY Would prohibit agencies from including a contractor’s inability to deliver goods or complete work

on schedule as a result of a lapse in federal appropriations in any past performance database.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 2/13/19.

H.R. 1213

Federal Contract Worker Fairness Act, Thompson (D-CA)

SUMMARY Would provide that each federal contract worker impacted by a lapse in appropriations in the Federal

Government shall receive compensation.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 2/13/19.

VA Procurement Efficiency and Transparency Act, Wittman (R-VA)

H.R. 1577

Would require the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Secretary to record information in FPDS on the SUMMARY

amount of any cost or price savings realized by using competitive procedures in awarding such contract.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Veterans Affairs on 3/6/19. Related bill: S. 341.

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Professional Services Council

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

H.R. 1615 Verification Alignment and Service-Disabled Business Adjustment (VA-SBA) Act, Kelly (R-MS)

SUMMARY Would move the certification of SDVOSB applications from the Department of Veterans Affairs to

the Small Business Administration.

STATUS Passed the House (voice vote) on 11/13/19.

H.R. 1648 The Small Business Advanced Cybersecurity Enhancements Act, Chabot (R-OH)

SUMMARY Would establish small business cybersecurity assistance units within each small business development center to receive and share cyber threat indicators and defensive measures.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Small Business on 3/8/19.

H.R. 1668 The Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act, Kelly (D-IL)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop recommendations for appropriate use and management of Internet of Things devices and require OMB to issue guidance that agencies and contractors must meet based on NIST’s recommendations.

Ordered to be Reported by the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 6/12/19. Related bill: S.734.

H.R. 1865 Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Pascrell (D-NJ)

SUMMARY Consolidated eight Fiscal Year 2020 Appropriations bills and provided funding for agencies

including Health and Human Services, State and USAID, and Transportation.

STATUS Signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-93.

H.R. 1912

DHS Acquisition Documentation Integrity Act, Torres Small (D-NM)

SUMMARY Would require the Department of Homeland Security to maintain acquisition documentation that

is complete, accurate, timely and valid for each major acquisition program (defined as having total expenditures of at least $300 million over its life-cycle costs).

STATUS Passed the House (voice vote) on 5/14/19.

H.R. 2022 The ESOP Business Act, Bucshon (R-IN)

SUMMARY Would deem certain Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) companies as a small business concern

for the purposes of any Federal procurement programs.

STATUS

Referred to the Committees on Oversight and Reform, Armed Services, and Small Business on 4/2/19.

H.R. 2083 Homeland Procurement Reform Act, Correa (D-CA)

SUMMARY Would require the Secretary of DHS to procure one-third of items for a frontline operational

component from small businesses, to the maximum extent possible.

STATUS Passed the House (voice vote) on 6/10/19. Related Bill: S. 1055.

H.R. 2109 Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment (BRAVE) Act, Rice (D-NY)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would allow the VA Secretary when awarding contracts to give preference to companies that employ veterans on a full-time basis. Any misrepresentation of status may result in debarment from VA contracting for not less than five years.

Passed the House (voice vote) on 6/24/19. Related bill: S. 1621.

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Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

Shutdown Guidance for Financial Institutions Act, Wexton (D-VA)

H.R. 2290 Would require financial regulators to issue guidance encouraging financial institutions to work with

SUMMARY

consumers and businesses affected by a Federal Government shutdown.

STATUS Passed the House (voice vote) on 9/19/19. Related bill: S.2919.

H.R. 2322 Accelerated Payments for Small Businesses Act, Balderson (R-OH)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would permanently restore prompt payments to small businesses and small business subcontractors government-wide.

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 4/15/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: S.2852.

H.R. 2342 Retain Act, Ryan (D-OH)

SUMMARY Would provide a contracting preference for an offeror that certifies they will retain jobs performed in the U.S. and uses products substantially manufactured in the U.S.

STATUS Referred to Armed Services and Oversight and Reform Committees on 4/18/19.

Small Business Payment for Performance Act, Stauber (R-MN)

H.R. 2344 Would permit contractors to submit an invoice after a federal agency issues a unilateral change order

SUMMARY

on a construction project and request the agency pay 50 percent of the billed costs when the change order is complete.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Small Business on 4/18/19. Related bill: S. 2853.

Clarifying the Small Business Runway Extension Act, Stauber (R-MN)

H.R. 2345 Would require the Small Business Administration to issue a final rule implementing the Small Business

SUMMARY

Runway Extension Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–324) by December 17, 2019.

STATUS Passed the House (voice vote) on 7/15/19.

H.R. 2500 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, Smith (D-WA)

SUMMARY Authorizes appropriations for Fiscal Year 2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense, military construction, and defense activities of the Department of Energy, and for other purposes.

STATUS Passed the House (220-197) on 7/12/19. Related bill: S. 1790, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

H.R. 2575 AI in Government Act, McNerney (D-CA)

SUMMARY Would establishes the AI Center of Excellence within the General Services Administration and requires OMB to issue guidance on the use of AI for federal agencies.

STATUS Ordered to be reported by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on 12/19/19. Related bill: S. 1363.

H.R. 2794 Defense Small Business Advancement Act, Torres Small (D-NM)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would permanently reauthorize the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program and require DoD’s Office of Small Business Programs to establish performance goals and conduct periodic reviews of approved agreements between mentors and proteges.

Referred to the Committee on Armed Services on 5/16/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: S. 1320.

26 / Service Contractor / Winter 2020

Professional Services Council

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

Training Acquisition Leaders and Elevating New Talent Act (TALENT Act), Cisneros (D-CA)

H.R. 2944 Would establish a public-private exchange program for the acquisition workforce to temporarily

SUMMARY

STATUS

assign a member of the acquisition workforce to a private-sector organization or an employee of a private-sector organization to the Department of Defense.

Referred to the House Committee on Armed Services on 5/23/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

H.R. 3014 Accelerating Defense Innovation Act, Thornberry (R-TX)

SUMMARY Would permanently reauthorize the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program.

STATUS Referred to the Committees on Armed Services, Small Business, and Science, Space, and Technology on 5/23/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and

H.R. 3401

Security at the Southern Border Act, Lowey (D-NY)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Provides emergency funding and policy direction for Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency for operations at the southern border.

Signed into law on 7/1/19; P.L. 116-26.

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would provide certain acquisition authorities for the Under Secretary of Management at DHS, including designating the USM as the Department’s Chief Acquisition Officer responsible for approving, pausing, modifying, or canceling major acquisition programs.

Reported by the Committee on Homeland Security on 8/30/19.

H.R. 3413 DHS Acquisition Reform Act, Crenshaw (R-TX)

Contracting Credit Equality Act, Velazquez (D-NY)

H.R. 3428

Would provide prime contractors with the ability to double the value of a subcontract for purposes of SUMMARY

the subcontracting goals when they contract with a business in Puerto Rico.

STATUS Referred to the House Committee on Small Business on 6/12/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, Sensenbrenner (R-WI)

H.R. 3972

Provides that major executive branch rules shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of SUMMARY

approval is enacted into law.

STATUS Referred to the Committees on the Judiciary, Rules, and the Budget on 7/25/19. Related bill: S.92.

H.R. 3494

Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act

for Fiscal Year 2020, Schiff (D-CA)

SUMMARY Authorizes appropriations for the intelligence community’s programs for fiscal year 2020.

STATUS Passed the House (397-31) on 7/17/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: S.1589.

H.R. 3633 Women and Minority Equity Investment Act, Kelly (D-IL)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would amend participation requirements for SBA’s 8(a) and 8(m) programs to allow a socially or economically disadvantaged individual or individuals to retain 51 percent or more ownership stake to qualify.

Referred to the House Committee on Small Business on 7/9/19. Related bill: S. 1981.

Professional Services Council

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 27

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

Small Business Acquisition Transparency Act, Houlaham (D-PA)

H.R. 3638 Would provide contracting officers with the ability to provide unsuccessful offerors of certain

SUMMARY

task or delivery orders a brief explanation as to why the offeror lost the award.

STATUS Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on 7/9/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

American Business for American Companies Act, DeLauro (D-CT)

H.R. 3802 Would prohibit the head of a federal agency from awarding a contract to any foreign incorporated entity

SUMMARY

that is an inverted domestic corporation or any subsidiary, or any joint venture if more than 10 percent of the joint venture is held by a foreign incorporated entity that is an inverted domestic corporation.

STATUS Referred to the Committees on Oversight and Reform, and Armed Services on 7/17/19. Related bill: S.2139.

Budget Act, Yarmuth (D-KY)

H.R. 3877 Bipartisan

Increased the FY2020 and FY2021 discretionary budget caps on defense and nondefense spending SUMMARY

implemented by the Budget Control Act of 2011, and suspended the public debt limit through July 31, 2021.

STATUS Signed into law on 8/2/19 (P.L. 116-37).

FedRAMP Authorization Act, Connolly (D-VA)

H.R. 3941 Would codify the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program within GSA and make certain

SUMMARY

changes designed to enable the government to better leverage cloud computing services.

STATUS Ordered to be reported by the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 12/19/19.

Whistleblower Act, Connolly (D-VA)

H.R. 4147

SUMMARY Would extend current whistleblower protections for federal contractors and grantees to

subcontractors and subgrantees.

STATUS Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on 8/2/19. Related bill: S.2315.

of Defense Ethics and Anti-corruption Act, Speier (D-CA)

H.R. 4277 Department

Would impose new requirements on government contractors, including extended employment SUMMARY

STATUS

bans for DoD and industry, additional reporting on lobbying activities, and subjecting defense contractors to FOIA. Referred to the Committees on Armed Services, Judiciary, and Oversight and Reform on 9/10/19.

Related bill: S.1503.

Protecting Innocent Consumers Affected by a Shutdown Act, Waters (D-CA)

H.R. 4328 Would amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to prevent adverse actions against federal, DC, and

SUMMARY

contractor employees impacted by partial government shutdowns with respect to their credit reports.

STATUS

Ordered to be Reported by the House Committee on Financial Services on 9/20/19.

Continuing Appropriations Act, 2020, and Health Extenders Act of 2019, Lowey (D-NY)

H.R. 4378

Provided continuing FY20 appropriations to all federal agencies through November 19, 2020.

SUMMARY

STATUS

Signed into law on 9/27/19; P.L. 116-59.

Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act, Pallone (D-NJ)

H.R. 4459

Would require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to publish a list of companies deemed by SUMMARY

STATUS

federal authorities as posing national security risks to telecom networks and prohibits federal funding to purchase, rent, lease, or otherwise obtain any covered communications equipment or services from companies on that list.

Passed the House (voice vote) on 12/16/19.

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Professional Services Council

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

H.R. 4727 Department of Homeland Security Mentor-Protege Program Act, McEachin (D-VA)

SUMMARY Would authorize a DHS mentor-protégé program for the purpose of assisting the protégé firm to compete for prime contracts and subcontracts of the Department.

STATUS

Passed the House (voice vote) 12/9/19.

H.R. 5130 Capturing All Small Businesses Act, Veasey (D-TX)

SUMMARY Would double the lookback period for small businesses that use the employee-based size standard from 12 to 24 months for manufacturing companies.

STATUS

Passed the House (voice vote) on 1/8/20.

H.R. 5146 Unlocking Opportunities for Small Businesses Act, Hagedorn (R-MN)

NEW

SUMMARY Would require contracting officers to consider the past performance of a joint venture when evaluating a participant’s offer for a federal prime contract.

STATUS

Reported by the Committee on Small Business on 12/19/19.

H.R. 5247 Stop Unfair Bid Shopping (SUBS) Act, Peters (D-CA)

NEW

SUMMARY Require prime contractors to list cerain subcontractor agreements and post-award modifications for Army Corps of Engineer contracts. Subcontract changes that result in over 10% cost reduction may be returned to the federal government.

STATUS

Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on 11/21/19.

H.R. 5329 Freedom from Government Competition Act, Steube (R-FL)

NEW

SUMMARY Establishes a policy that the Government should refrain from providing a product or service if it can be procured more economically from a commercial source.

STATUS

S. 24

Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform on 12/5/19. Related bill: S.2990.

Government Employee Fair Treatment Act, Cardin (D-MD)

SUMMARY Provides furloughed federal employees with back compensation for any lapse in appropriations that begins on or after December 22, 2018.

STATUS Signed into law on 1/16/19; P.L.116-1.

A bill to establish the Office of Critical Technologies and Security, Warner (D-VA)

S. 29

SUMMARY

Would establish an Office of Critical Technology and Security in the Executive Office of the President to coordinate policy and actions that will maintain United States technological leadership with respect to critical emerging, foundational, and dual-use technologies and ensure supply chain integrity and security for such technologies.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 1/4/19.

Related bill: H.R.618.

S. 92

Regulations from the Executive In Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, Paul (R-KY)

SUMMARY Provides that major executive branch rules shall have no force or effect unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted into law.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 1/10/19.

Related bill: H.R.3972.

Professional Services Council

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 29

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

End Government Shutdowns Act, Portman (R-OH)

S. 104

Would provide continuing appropriations to prevent a government shutdown if appropriations SUMMARY

STATUS

bills or a continuing resolution has not been enacted. The bill would reduce the appropriations by 1% after the first 120-day period and by an additional 1% for each subsequent 90-day period until appropriations legislation is enacted.

Referred to the Committee on Appropriations on 1/10/19.

Freedom to Compete Act, Rubio (R-FL)

S. 124

Would prohibit employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act from using non-compete SUMMARY

agreements in employment contracts.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on 1/15/19.

S. 154

Department of Veterans Affairs Contract, Leadership, and Ensuring Accountability and

Reform (CLEAR) Act, Tester (D-MT)

SUMMARY Would require VA services contracts to include measurable metrics regarding cost, schedule, and

fulfillment of contract requirements, and a plan of action and milestones for the provision of the service.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on 1/16/19.

Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act, Smith (D-MN)

S. 162 Would provide back pay to certain low-wage contractor employees from the lapse in

SUMMARY

appropriations that began on December 22, 2018.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 1/16/19. Related bill: H.R.678.

Stop the Shutdowns Transferring Unnecessary Pain and Inflicting Damage In The Coming

Years (Stop STUPIDITY) Act, Warner (D-VA)

SUMMARY Would automatically renew funding for federal departments and agencies, at the previous year’s

funding levels, in the event of a future lapse in appropriations, with the exceptions of the legislative branch and the Executive Office of the President.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Appropriations on 1/22/19. Related bill: H.R. 1177.

Modernizing the Trusted Workforce for the 21st Century Act, Warner (D-VA)

SUMMARY Would require agencies to update procedures for security clearances that will help to reduce the backlog and wait times, enable better information sharing with industry, expand innovative techniques and remote technologies for investigations, and support a shift to continuous evaluation.

S. 198

S. 314

STATUS Referred to the Select Committee on Intelligence on 1/31/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into

law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

S. 341

VA Procurement Efficiency and Transparency Act, Gardner (R-CO)

SUMMARY Would require the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary to record information in FPDS on the amount of any cost or price savings realized by using competitive procedures in awarding such contract.

STATUS

Referred to the Committee on Veterans Affairs on 2/5/19. Related bill: H.R.1577.

S. 387 Fair Chance Act, Booker (D-NJ)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would “ban the box,” by prohibiting the federal government and federal contractors from requesting that an applicant disclose criminal history record information before the applicant has received a conditional offer.

Reported by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 4/10/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: H.R.1076.

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Professional Services Council

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

S. 429 Cyber Security Exchange Act, Klobuchar (D-MN)

SUMMARY Would establish a voluntary exchange program between applicable federal agencies and private sector institutions for cybersecurity positions.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 2/7/19.

S. 469 Emergency Relief for Federal Contractors Act, Cortez Masto (D-NV)

SUMMARY Would allow certain contractor employees to take penalty-free distributions from retirement accounts during a lapse in appropriations in the federal government.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Finance on 2/13/19.

S. 492

Disabled Veterans Rebuilding Infrastructure to Vitalize our Economy Act, Peters (D-MI)

SUMMARY Would create a goal that five percent of certain transportation spending be extended to Service- connected Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works on 2/14/19.

S. 673

Expanding Contracting Opportunities for Small Businesses Act, Ernst (R-IA)

SUMMARY Would raise the threshold for sole-source contracts to disadvantaged small businesses to $7 million for manufacturing and $4 million for others, and eliminate option years from the cost consideration.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on 3/6/19. Related bill: H.R.190.

S. 734

The Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act, Warner (D-VA)

SUMMARY Would require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop recommendations for appropriate use and management of Internet of Things devices and require OMB to issue guidance that agencies and contractors must meet based on NIST’s recommendations.

STATUS Reported by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 9/23/19.

Related bill: H.R.1668.

S. 1055 Homeland Procurement Reform Act, Shaheen (D-NH)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would require the Secretary of DHS to procure one-third of items for a frontline operational component from small businesses, to the maximum extent possible.

Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 4/4/19.

Related Bill: H.R. 2083.

S. 1271 Defense Acquisition Decision Making Streamlining Act, Rounds (R-SD)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would create a pilot program where each Service Acquisition Executive recommends a major defense acquisition program for a “skunk works” pilot program as described in the Department of Defense’s Better Buying Power 3.0 memorandum.

Referred to the Committee on Armed Services on 5/1/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92.

S. 1320 Defense Small Business Advancement Act, Heinrich (D-NM)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would permanently reauthorize the Department of Defense’s Mentor-Protégé Program and require DoD’s Office of Small Business Programs to establish performance goals and conduct periodic reviews of approved agreements between mentors and proteges.

Referred to the Committee on Armed Services on 5/6/19. Modified text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related Bill: H.R.2794.

Professional Services Council

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 31

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

S. 1385 Contracting and Tax Accountability Act, Kennedy (R-LA)

SUMMARY Would prohibit government from awarding a contract or grant unless the contractor or grantee

certifies in writing that the contractor or grantee has no seriously delinquent tax debts.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 5/9/19.

S. 1503 Department of Defense Ethics and Anti-corruption Act, Warren (D-MA)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would impose new requirements on government contractors, including extended employment bans for DoD and industry, additional reporting on lobbying activities, and subjecting defense contractors to FOIA. Referred to the Committee on Armed Service on 5/16/19. Related bill: H.R.4277.

S. 1589

Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020, Burr (R-NC) SUMMARY

STATUS

Authorizes appropriations for the intelligence community’s programs for Fiscal Years 2018-2020 and includes provisions to reform and modernize the security clearance process.

Reported by the Select Committee on Intelligence on 6/11/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: H.R. 3494.

S. 1621 Boosting Rates of American Veteran Employment (BRAVE) Act, Baldwin (D-WI)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would allow the VA Secretary when awarding contracts to give preference to companies that employ veterans on a full-time basis. Any misrepresentation of status may result in debarment from VA contracting for not less than five years.

Referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on 5/22/19. Related bill: H.R. 2109.

S. 1790 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, Inhofe (R-OK)

SUMMARY Authorizes appropriations for Fiscal Year 2020 for military activities of the Department of Defense,

for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, and for other purposes.

STATUS Signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related Bill: H.R. 2500.

S. 1877 Government Shutdown Accountability Act, Lankford (R-OK)

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would impose an automatic continuing resolution in the event of a lapse in appropriations and prohibit Members of Congress from receiving salaries and conducting unrelated floor actions until appropriations legislation is enacted.

Reported by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 6/19/19.

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would amend participation requirements for SBA’s 8(a) and 8(m) programs to allow a socially or economically disadvantaged individual or individuals to retain 51 percent or more ownership stake to qualify.

Referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on 6/26/19. Related bill: H.R.3633.

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would prohibit the head of a federal agency from awarding a contract to any foreign incorporated entity that is an inverted domestic corporation or any subsidiary, or any joint venture if more than 10 percent of the joint venture is held by a foreign incorporated entity that is an inverted domestic corporation.

Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 7/17/19. Related bill: H.R.3802.

S. 1981 Women and Minority Equity Investment Act, Cantwell (D-WA)

S. 2139 American Business for American Companies Act, Durbin (D-IL)

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Professional Services Council

Bill Tracker: 116th Congress-Second Session (2020) NEW

Newly introduced since last issue

S. 2315

Major action taken since last issue

Bill became law since last issue

Whistleblower Act, Braun (R-IN)

SUMMARY Would extend current whistleblower protections for federal contractors and grantees to subcontractors and subgrantees.

STATUS Reported by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 6/19/19.

Investment, and Controls Review for Computer Hardware, Intellectual

S. 2316 Manufacturing,

Property, and Supply Act, Crapo (R-ID)

SUMMARY Would require a plan for strengthening the supply chain intelligence function and would establish

a National Supply Chain Intelligence Center.

STATUS Referred to the Select Committee on Intelligence on 7/30/19.

S. 2421 Disaster Contract Transparency Act, Scott (R-FL)

SUMMARY Would require state and local governments to have an advance contract for debris removal

services to be eligible for assistance for debris removal under the Stafford Act.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 8/1/19.

S. 2852 Accelerated Payments for Small Businesses Act, McSally (R-AZ)

SUMMARY

STATUS

NEW

Would permanently restore prompt payments to small businesses and small business subcontractors government-wide.

Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 11/13/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: H.R. 2322.

S. 2853

NEW Small Business Payment for Performance Act, McSally (R-AZ)

SUMMARY Would permit contractors to submit an invoice after a federal agency issues a unilateral change

order on a construction project and request the agency pay 50 percent of the billed costs when the change order is complete.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on 11/13/19. Related bill: H.R. 2344.

S. 2919 Shutdown Guidance for Financial Institutions Act, Van Hollen (D-MD)

NEW

S. 2990 Freedom from Government Competition Act, Thune (R-SD)

NEW

S. 3008 Service-Disabled Veterans Small Business Continuation Act, Cornyn (R-TX)

NEW

SUMMARY Would require financial regulators to issue guidance encouraging financial institutions to work

with consumers and businesses affected by a Federal Government shutdown.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on 11/20/19. Related bill: H.R.2290.

SUMMARY Establishes a policy that the Government should refrain from providing a product or service if it

can be procured more economically from a commercial source.

STATUS Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on 12/5/19. Related bill: H.R.5329.

SUMMARY

STATUS

Would allow all surviving spouses of service-disabled veterans to retain the federal contracting preference, amending current law which allows for the contracting preference for spouses of 100% service-disabled veterans.

Referred to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on 12/10/19. Text included in S.1790/ FY20 NDAA, signed into law on 12/20/19; P.L. 116-92. Related bill: S.499.

Professional Services Council

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 33

Five Trends in Government Contracting Ed Spenceley, Senior Vice President, Bank of America

W

ith government spending on the rise across many federal agencies, there are new opportunities for contractors who supply goods and services. Government contracting still presents some unique challenges, however. Below we outline five trends that are shaping the government contracting industry.

Rising Defense Spending

Since 2015, federal defense spending has increased by $130 billion, reaching a total budget of $716 billion in 2019. Higher spending is projected to continue: the Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the United States would spend more than $7 trillion on defense over the next decade.1 With military spending on the rise, many types of businesses will see accelerated growth, from those who build ships, drones and advanced weapons to those who supply food and services to the growing defense-related workforce.

Shifting Competitive Landscape

Amidst greater spending, the rules for securing government contracts are also changing. In order to improve procurement processes, the government is requiring competitive bidding for large dollar-value, multiple-award contracts of $100 million or more.6 These contracts are no longer awarded to a single firm, and small businesses are being granted more opportunities to compete for subsets of those larger contracts.7 Navigating this increasingly competitive landscape will bring greater challenges as more firms vie for a piece of the pie.

Growing Audit & Compliance Requirements

With outdated IT infrastructures and high-profile cybersecurity issues making headlines, Congress initiated legislation calling for a comprehensive update of government IT systems2 in 2016. Signed into law in 2017, the Modernizing Government Technology Act now makes technological innovation a requirement for federal agencies looking to improve their cybersecurity systems and leverage digital, mobile and cloud technologies to operate more efficiently and better serve constituents. These changes open doors for IT contractors who provide software, data analytics, cloud computing and more.3 In fact, the value of contracts involving IT products and services was $74.8 billion in fiscal year 2019.4

U.S. military involvement in the Middle East in the early 2000s prompted a rush of defense spending and a need for government contracts to be executed swiftly – creating an environment where inefficient and even fraudulent actions could go unnoticed. When that effort started to scale back near the end of the decade, the government began to pay closer attention to its contracts.

This resulted in strengthened compliance requirements designed to curb costs, mitigate fraud and hold contractors and their business practices to a greater degree of scrutiny. To keep up with the more stringent requirements now in place, contractors need to proactively improve their internal controls, processes and procedures. This could entail enhancing codes of ethics and strengthening monitoring activities to improving employee trainings, refining sourcing standards and disclosing cost and pricing data.8

Shortage of Skilled Labor

Staying Competitive in a Land of Opportunity

1

Washington Post, 2019 FedScoop, 2017 3 Deloitte CIO Insights, 2018 4 Bloomberg Government FY19 Top 20 Contracting Opportunities 5 Federal News Network, 2019

6

2

7

IT Overhaul & Cybersecurity

Even as contract opportunities increase, contractors who win engagements are finding it challenging to fill the positions needed to complete the work. This issue is due in part to a shortage of skilled workers in some industries. At the same time, contractors have also faced obstacles with obtaining security clearances required for their employees to begin work. While the government has recently made strides in reducing the backlog of security clearances, the number of pending cases still sits over 250,000, creating a significant bottleneck.5

34 / Service Contractor / Winter 2020

Looking ahead, contractors have many opportunities to look forward to, especially in the areas of defense and IT. To thoroughly seize these new prospects, however, firms will want to train their workforces to fill skilled labor needs, prepare to make competitive bids and comply with new compliance standards. Staying nimble in a changing landscape will help ensure a prosperous future. 3

Vertical IQ Government Contractors, 2018 Venable - Important Changes on the Way for Small Business Contractors, 2018 8 Deloitte Government audit: Managing contractor risk in a changing regulatory environment, 2015

Professional Services Council

PSC Issues First Annual Federal Agency Business Forecast Scorecard

by Paul Foldi, PSC Vice President for International Development

I

n order to provide potential bidders with pertinent information for possible future needs, many U.S. government agencies produce Business Forecasts. PSC has long applauded those agencies whose forecasts are useful, accurate, and updated in a timely manner – and quietly nudged others to follow their examples. This year, PSC decided to formalize the review process and produce our first annual federal agency business forecast scorecard.

Based on PSC’s analysis of 15 key characteristics, two dozen government agencies—including the departments of Agriculture and Defense—need improvement to their business forecasts, according to a first of its kind report by PSC. The Department of Education and the U.S. Agency for International Development were among those ranked highest. Almost fifty sites were sampled in this inaugural edition.

The purpose of the Business Forecast Scorecard is to evaluate and highlight best practices and features of available and accessible forecasts of CFO Act agencies, among others. PSC had two objectives: (1) identify agencies with exemplary records to encourage similar practices from other agencies and (2) encourage the Office of the Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) to use the scorecard as a starting point for improving the quality of agencies’ forecasts.

While many federal agencies fully recognize the basic tenet that a more fulsome Business Forecast will produce a better-informed marketplace, PSC members have reported to us that this recognition is not universal and often agency rhetoric outpaces their outcomes.

In order for PSC companies to provide their federal customers with more timely, comprehensive and thoroughly researched contract offerings when RFPs are finalized, they rely heavily on the accuracy and comprehensiveness of an agency’s Business Forecast. A forecast, if prepared properly, can provide interested parties with excellent and actionable advance information that will enable them to determine potential future staffing requirements as well as equipment and related project needs and costs. While PSC and the contracting community fully recognize that spending priorities often change on short notice, significant course corrections tend to be the exceptions rather than the rule in the services sector.

It was with this as background that PSC evaluated and rated many of the readily available web-based departments and agencies’ Business Forecasts to provide a template that agencies can use to improve them. Our research focused on 15 defined attributes and data points that, if included and well maintained, will produce effective agency business forecasting tools. These 15 attributed range from frequency of updates, the inclusion of key data—from potential dollar value, length of award, type of instrument (contract, grant, sole source, etc.)—and the ease of customer interface with the data provided.

We applied these 15 key characteristics against almost 50 webbased forecasts and scored each agency then grouped the forecast into only three categories: good, fair and “needs improvement.”

PSC shared the results with the Administrator of OMB’s OFFP, Michael Wooten, and with the covered agencies, in hopes of producing Professional Services Council

Business Forecast Scorecard 2 019

Good

Education USAID HHS - CMS Navy - Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command DOJ DHS - DHS HQ

Fair

DHS - CBP DHS - FEMA DHS - FLETC Interior DHS - ICE State DHS - TSA DHS - Coast Guard DHS - Secret Service GSA - Acquisition Navy - Facilities Engineering Command Energy Labor HUD NASA Agriculture - Animal & Plant Health Inspection Navy - Sealift Command EPA Navy - Supply Systems Command Nuclear Regulatory Commission Transportation Agriculture - Forest Services Agriculture - Food & Nutrition HHS - Procurement Forecast Data Repository

Needs Improvement

Army - PEO Enterprise Info Systems Army - National Guard Bureau Treasury VA Agriculture - Marketing Services (AMS) International MCC Agriculture - Rural Development National Science Foundation Army - TACOM Agriculture - Marketing Services (AMS) Agriculture - Research Agriculture - Food Safety Inspection Agriculture - Farm Production Agriculture - Departmental Services Army - Medical Research & Material Command Navy - Sea Systems Command Navy - Air Systems Command Army - Corps of Engineers As of Oct. 10, 2019

Copyright © Professional Services Council 2019 www.pscouncil.org | policy@pscouncil.org

better data for companies to compete for U.S. government work.

PSC also plans an annual update of agencies’ progress in addressing the 15 key attributes of a quality Business Forecast it identified. 3 Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 35

Aquiring a Federal Contractor: Doing Your Due Diligence

by Charles V. McPhillips, Kaufman and Canoles, P.C.

36 / Service Contractor / Winter 2020

a contract award to the buyer create any type of organizational conflict of interest?

Subcontracts/Teaming Agreements and Joint Ventures (¶¶1.1(b), 1.1(e) and 1.1(f)): If the buyer is picking up obligations under these agreements, then a contractor teammate and/or the Government may need to approve a contractual assignment. If the transaction is structured as a stock purchase, a change in control provision in a subcontract or teaming agreement may come into play, triggering a potential default by the seller and/ or termination rights on behalf of the teaming partner. In a joint venture context, the buyer will want to kick the tires for potential capital calls, indemnification liability and similar obligations to the joint-venture partner.

GSA Federal Supply Schedule Contracts (¶ 1.2): If the target company makes significant sales through the GSA FSS Program, it behooves the buyer to examine the target company’s commercial sales practice disclosure statement and its systems and training practices for compliance with the “most favored customer” pricing requirement under FSS contracts, noncompliance with which could result in financial exposure under the FSS “price reduction” clause.

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shutterstock.com / Niyazz

A

proper due-diligence checklist used in vetting the acquisition of a federal contractor contains all of the elements in a traditional M&A due-diligence checklist – i.e., boxes to check after reviewing real estate, labor, tax, environmental, intellectual property and litigation matters, etc. But in view of the highly regulated environment in which federal contractors toil (whether for DOD or a non-defense agency), the checklist should also include a robust list of issues peculiar to the industry. See our Annotated Due Diligence Checklist focused on just the issues uniquely implicated in an M&A transaction with a federal contractor: https://www. kaufcan.com/news/articles/annotated-due-diligence-checklistacquisition-of-a-federal-contractor/.

Although this federal-contractor add-on lengthens the typical M&A checklist considerably, particular emphasis might be given to the following items: Novation Issues (¶ 1.1): Consider whether the transaction will be structured so as to require novation of existing prime government contracts. If so, how likely is it that the contracting officer with decision-making authority will determine that novation is in the best interest of the Government? Further, the Government will not approve a novation until the acquisition transaction has closed, meaning that there can be a period of uncertainty following the closing. Ominously, the seller will remain liable under the novated contracts post-closing in case the buyer fails to perform under the novated contract. For these and other reasons, the parties often prefer to structure a deal as a stock purchase so that a novation will not be required.

Pending Bids (¶1.1(c)): With respect to the target company’s bids and proposals pending at the time of transaction, the Government will be concerned that the target company’s “intended approach to performance” (i.e., the technical approach, resources, personnel and management capabilities cited in the proposal) might be changed as a result of the acquisition. Among the questions to be examined by the contracting officer include: (i) Does the target company rely upon a parent company’s resources to perform its contracts and will those resources no longer be available? (ii) Will the acquisition affect fully burdened labor rates or G&A rates on cost reimbursement contracts? (iii) Will key management and technical employees of the target company remain in place post-acquisition? (iv) Will employees with necessary personnel security clearances remain? (v) Would

Small Business Issues (¶ 1.4): If the target company relies on small-business or socio-economic set-aside contracts, consider what the fate of these contracts will be after the acquisition. Also, be careful to avoid a trap for the unwary: under the SBA’s “present-effect” rule, letters of intent and MOUs that are tantamount to “agreements in principle” can create affiliation between the seller and buyer before closing, potentially resulting in a premature change in size status of the target company, which would complicate self-certifications in any proposals or bids submitted for small-business or other set-aside contracts after the LOI or MOU is inked, but before closing.

If the target company will remain a small business following the closing, then its size must be recertified within 30 days following the closing. However, the Government is required to terminate any open 8(a) contracts of the target company unless this termination requirement is affirmatively waived by the SBA Administrator based on certifications from the contracting agency(ies) that termination would “severely impair attainment of the [procuring] agency’s program objectives or mission”. Such a waiver must be requested before closing.

Due diligence should be performed to confirm that the putative small-business has made accurate certifications to the Government.

The buyer should be comfortable that the target company does not have any affiliations with other concerns that, upon a protest or audit, might disqualify the target company under existing contracts or pending bids. The buyer should be sure that the target company, in performing under its prime contracts, does not place undue reliance upon an “ostensible subcontractor” that, in actuality, is a large business calling the shots on such contracts (thereby creating affiliation between the prime and ostensible sub). Finally, if the target company has violated the limitation on subcontracting rules under its small business contracts, the penalties “assumed” by the buyer could be significant.

Cost Reimbursement Contracts (¶ 1.7): With your accounting team members, scour the target company’s internal audit reports and any government audits, including DCAA incurred-cost audits, “defective pricing audits,” and audits of requests for equitable adjustments under pending contracts. Incurred-cost audits may particularly shed light on the reasonableness, allowability and allocability of the target company’s direct and indirect costs charged on its government contracts. It is also important to determine if the DCAA has issued any “Form 1s” to the target company regarding disallowed contract costs (e.g., golden handcuff payments).

Also, look at the target company’s internal practices related to compliance with the Truthful Cost or Pricing Data Act (formerly known as the Truth in Negotiations Act and still commonly referred to as “TINA”) in order to get comfortable that the target company has not submitted defective pricing or cost data to the Government, which would entitle the Government to a price reduction on continuing contracts. Also consider whether disclosure of the pending acquisition is required under TINA because it will cause a change in the indirect cost pool applied to current or pending contract awards.

Organizational Conflicts of Interests (¶ 1.9): Consider whether the transaction might result in an OCI, which could arise if the target company (a) evaluates bids, proposals or performance of the buyer under existing procurements, (b) provides systems engineering or has prepared government specifications for procurements being pursued by the buyer, or (c) has obtained Professional Services Council

proprietary information relating to competitors of the buyer. If an OCI will result from a transaction, an OCI mitigation plan must be submitted to the Government to satisfy the requirements of FAR Subpart 9.505.

Facility Security Clearances (¶ 1.10): Consider the ultimate ownership or control over the buyer. If the buyer is subject to foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI), a target company with facility security clearances must notify the cognizant security agency (usually the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, or DCSA) immediately upon entering into discussions for a sale. A greater than 5% foreign ownership interest or 10% foreign voting interest is typically considered substantial enough to create FOCI. If FOCI is implicated in a deal involving a “cleared” target company, a FOCI mitigation plan should be submitted to DCSA (or other cognizant security agency) prior to the closing.

“Exon-Florio Provision”, as updated by the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA) (¶ 1.10): The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is an interagency group with representation from the Defense, State, Homeland Security, Treasury, Commerce, Justice, Energy and Labor departments, together with various intelligence agencies. If an acquisition implicates national security due to the transfer of “control” of the target company’s business, or if even a non-controlling investment implicates U.S. “critical technologies,” “critical infrastructure” or “sensitive personal data”, then the parties should coordinate a filing with CFIUS to obtain a safe-harbor assurance that the transaction will not be blocked or, even worse, subsequently unraveled by the Government. FIRRMA also authorized CFIUS to regulate foreign acquisitions of U.S. real estate connected to air or port operations, or located close to U.S. military installations or other sensitive facilities.

Past Performance (¶ 1.15): The buyer is well advised to review the target company’s past-performance evaluations (or CPARs). It should also review any determinations that the target company was not “responsible” under any prior proposals. Such a finding of non-responsibility would make future contract awards significantly more difficult in related procurement areas.

Intellectual Property (¶ 1.23): The buyer should develop a good understanding of what rights in the target company’s IP have been granted to the Government under past and current government contracts. For example, where software development occurs at private expense, the Government receives only “limited rights” in data and “restricted rights” in software. However, the Government receives an unrestricted license in patented inventions first conceived or reduced to practice in the performance of a government contract. Similarly, the Government gets “unlimited rights” in data and software developed entirely at the Government’s expense while it retains “government-purpose rights” in data and software developed from a mix of private and government expense.

Compliance (¶¶ 1.15 to 1.25): The remaining parts of the annotated checklist focus on the target company’s compliance with various regulatory and FAR requirements, including exportcontrol regulations.

The above is a quick tour through the Annotated Due Diligence Checklist for the acquisition of a federal contractor, found here: https://www.kaufcan.com/news/articles/annotated-due-diligencechecklist-acquisition-of-a-federal-contractor/. I hope you will enjoy the full tour when the proper occasion arises. 3 Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 37

Six Steps to Preparing Your Marketing Budget and Plan

by Kelly Waffle, Head of Digital Strategy, Hinge Marketing

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t’s that time of year again. You are either preparing your marketing budget or getting ready to implement a new plan.

Part of the reason this framework was created was that most of us become frustrated or ineffective from planning one of three ways: • Legacy budget planning: We take last year’s budget and add some overall budget increase percentage and expect things to work out. They rarely do.

• Consensus budget planning: We run around asking everyone what they would like in a marketing budget. We can’t support everything, and the numbers never add up.

• Ad hoc budget planning: We “wing” it. Let’s build this plane as we move along. Again, there are rarely clear business goals and minimal efficiency is achieved.

We’ve all been there. How about trying something different this year and follow the steps that have been used by Hinge GovCon clients with success—year after year.

These six steps can help almost every government contractor marketer with his or her budgeting or planning process.

Step 1: Start with Your Business Goals

Your marketing budget probably can’t support every initiative.

As you build your marketing budget or review your plan before implementation, ask yourself questions such as: • What segments are the highest priorities?

• What timeframe is the expected growth to take place?

Answers to these—and other—questions will help put focus on your budget or plan.

Step 2: Research Your Target Audiences

You can start with the secondary research you have in-house or can find online; but in many cases, you may want to use a research firm to help you leverage primary research through phone interviews or emailed surveys. A lot of folks feel that they know their audiences, but I have yet to see anyone who did not learn of new audiences through research. In the long term, research reduces risk and saves time.

Step 3: Validate Your Marketing Strategy

Addressing Step 3 could be a lengthy separate article. For now, I would recommend that you spend time assessing your differentiators—which drive your messaging, positioning, and sales engagement. What truly separates your government contracting 38 / Service Contractor / Winter 2020

firm from all the others out there? Spend the time to figure that out and make sure it comes across in your plan implementation. At Hinge, we run differentiators through three tests: • Is it true?

• Is it relevant?

• Is it provable?

Step 4: Select Your Marketing Techniques

Depending on your business processes, there are a number of traditional and digital marketing options available to you.

Constantly be testing and measuring the options you choose.

You probably want some mix of traditional and digital marketing options; but keep in mind that more and more buyers are using digital channels to research business challenges and evaluate service providers. If you decide to create some type of marketing and sales funnel, remember that not all marketing activities work at every stage of the funnel.

Step 5: Set Up Your Tracking Approach

There are a whole host of metrics that you can be tracking with your marketing spend and programs. The key is to start with a few metrics that you can measure on a regular basis. Then build on those with a few more metrics. Some of the types of basic metrics to consider include: • Visibility metrics: website traffic, social media followers, email list size • Expertise metrics: blog traffic, number of speaking engagements, number of social shares • Business impact metrics: number of online form fills, number of proposals, cumulative value of wins You must measure if you want to optimize.

Step 6: Optimize Your Marketing Budget, Plans, and Programs

Step 6 is why you go through this multi-step framework. You want to be able to optimize what you are doing—make it as efficient and effective as possible. Don’t “set it and forget it.”

Depending on the marketing activity, measure your efforts on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. Make changes along the way.

Try out these six steps this year and see if you don’t end up with a better marketing plan and budget that helps your firm get stronger buyer engagement and growth. 3 Professional Services Council

2020 KEY EVENTS Leadership Summit Jan. 26-27 • Washington, DC

Federal Acquisition Conference July 13 • Arlington, VA

Vision Defense Strategic Planning Forum Feb. 18 • Arlington, VA

Tech Trends Conference Sept. 22 • Washington, DC

Law Enforcement Conference Feb. 25 • Arlington, VA

Golf Tournament Sept. TBD • DMV Area

Vision Federal Market Forecast Kickoff March 5 • Arlington, VA

Vision Federal Market Forecast Oct. 28-29 • Falls Church, VA

SCA Training March 10-11 • Arlington, VA

SCA Training Nov. 2-3 • Arlington, VA

FedHealth Conference March 25 • Silver Spring, MD

Defense Services Conference Nov. 16 • Arlington, VA

PSC Annual Conference April 26-28 • Greenbrier, WV

Development Conference Dec. 8 • Arlington, VA

SCA Training June 18-19 • Arlington, VA

Board Meeting and Holiday Reception Dec. 9 • Arlington, VA

View more details at www.pscouncil.org/calendar Sponsorships available for these events. Contact sponsorship@pscouncil.org for more information.

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Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 39

Artificial Intelligence… Beyond the Buzz

by Rob Baum, CEO, Techflow

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rtificial Intelligence (AI) is the new buzz word. AI is seemingly everywhere! AI tools and algorithms are becoming more sophisticated. Processing power is strong, readily accessible, and cheap to use. And the world is becoming a digital marketplace with huge amounts data available. AI is poised to take-off! This primer will give you an idea of what you can expect from AI-driven solutions as we enter a new decade.

What is AI?

AI is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines or computer systems. These processes include learning (the acquisition of information and rules for using that information), reasoning (using rules to reach conclusions) and self-correction.

Initially, AI was crunched on powerful, centralized computers. Today, you see AI being pushed to the edge— computer processing is executed on distributed nodes such as smart devices. And those devices will increasingly know who you are, what you like, and how you do things. The age of personalization will be driven by AI’s ability to understand how someone responds to their environment. You will also start seeing “edge decision-making” in which an “Internet of Things” device can leverage the vast experience of similar devices in different locations to make a decision instead of waiting for one to be made on its behalf. Further innovation with AI will be driven by its ability to correlate unrelated and new data sets in order to uncover relevant connections that will generate fresh and innovative improvements for our lives.

Why is AI for government exciting?

Governments collect enormous amounts of data. AI is driving better decision-making by quickly and intelligently processing ever-growing digital archives. Cloud architecture not only provides access to these large data volumes, it provides

US SEC, Speech by Scott Bauguess, June 21, 2017, “The Role of Big Data, Machine Learning, and AI in Assessing Risks: A Regulatory Perspective” 2 Techopedia.com, “AI in the Army: How Virtual Assistants Will Impact US Military”, Justin Stoltzfus, Sept 13, 2019 1

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the raw computing power to make sense of it. Governments are turning to AI to improve operations and reduce busywork plaguing overworked staff.

For example, the SEC uses AI to help identify scammers who may have engaged in insider trading. In the past, research analysts manually scrutinized disparate data sets for relationships weeks after transactions were completed. AI now rips through volumes of data in real time to flag possibly questionable transactions.1 Many government departments are already using AI to streamline call centers. By making use of AI-powered chatbots, call centers are improving the customer experience, as well as improving response time and delivering more accurate information with fewer resources.2 As an example, the U.S. Army’s interactive virtual assistant, SGT STAR, fielded over a half million questions with 92% accuracy and resulted in a fourfold increase in the time users stayed in session.3 3

Information Week, “Meet SGT STAR, the US Army’s Software Recruiting Agent”, Thomas Claburn, Jan 3, 2007

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shutterstock.com / maxuser

How is AI evolving?

We need to be cognizant of what we trust AI to do.

On one extreme, we may consider only entrusting our AI tools to make simple decisions.

On the other end, complex, life-altering decisions might require some level of human intervention.

Across all branches, government work is often contenttransfer intensive. The data elements from one form often need to be transferred to another form or to a completely different system. Using AI-powered Robotic Process Automation, content can be automatically transferred between systems and forms. This, for example, allows a social worker to spend more personal time with individuals and less time on data entry.4

What areas of AI create concerns?

As with any powerful technology, AI can be deployed to cause harm. One such frightening area of AI use today is the weaponization of AI outside of our borders. Our competitor nation-states are applying AI in cyber-attacks, attack drones, and other malicious projects.

Without proper regulation, AI can be a recipe for disaster, as highlighted in a growing number of popular movies that showcase a chilling projection of a future with AI (think “Terminator”). We need to be cognizant of what we trust AI to do. On one extreme, we may consider only entrusting our AI tools to make simple decisions. On the other end, complex, life-altering decisions might require some level of human intervention. As a result, it will be important to keep control over how much we allow AI to make decisions that impact and run our government and our lives.

The Department of Defense (DOD) is working diligently to ensure that any applications of AI adhere to strict ethical standards and longstanding DOD norms and values. Released last year, the Department’s first-ever AI strategy explicitly requires human operators to have the ability to override any decisions made by a military AI-powered system.5 Over the last decade, our nation has permitted AI to develop unobstructed by federal regulations or standards. Critics are questioning AI’s impact on privacy and civil liberties, as well as the transparency and security of its underlying algorithms.

Around the globe, scientists are drafting standards to build trust in AI algorithms that today often operate in a black box. In May 2019, the U.S. was among 42 countries to approve a new international agreement for building trustworthy AI. Adherence to the agreement will foster innovation and trust in AI as it

4 5

WITI30, Marian Cook, “AI in Government”, May 23, 2017 Washington Post, Aaron Gregg, “Pentagon advisory board releases principles for ethical use of AI in warfare”, Nov 1, 2019

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establishes principles for the responsible development and stewardship while ensuring respect for democratic values.6

What does the future of AI hold?

Most government departments around the world are understaffed and they face massive backlogs in administration.

Unemployment is at an all-time low, and resources are hard to come by, making the delivery of government services inconsistent. AI can begin to take on labor-intensive administrative tasks, speed up internal processes and increase productivity - improving the lives of citizens.

It’s already in the works. After losing more than 16% of its funding and nearly a third of its employees since 2010, the IRS is turning to AI to take over parts of its contracting process. The GSA is deploying dozens of bots within the organization to automate tasks and streamline workflow. And in May 2019, the HHS signed 57 vendors onto a $49 million contract vehicle intended to deliver AI tools. Beyond administrative relief, federal law enforcement is turning to more advanced AI tools, namely facial recognition, to investigate crimes and to control our borders.7 At defense and intelligence agencies, officials are leveraging AI to make sense of the huge volumes of information flooding in from across the globe. As the digital economy opens up more data to more people than ever before, national security could hinge on how effectively we use AI to find the signal(s) in the noise.

Conclusion

Heading into the next decade, AI-powered solutions hold the promise of addressing some of our most critical challenges.

Our digital future and AI are intertwined. Within government, I believe it is fair to expect to see a substantial increase in the use of AI to help drive faster and more informed decision-making.

Robert Baum is the CEO of TechFlow. Robert enjoys reviewing the impact technology is having on government services and finding new areas to apply innovation.ThroughTechFlow, a 25-year old, employeeowned organization, Robert supports the government in the areas of national security, logistics, and digital services. Headquartered in California, TechFlow delivers leading-edge solutions for mission critical problems. Visit www.TechFlow.com. 3

US DOC, May 22, 2019, Fiona Alexander, “US Joins with OECD in Adopting Global AI Principles” 7 NextGov, July 2019, “Government’s AI Reality”, Jack Corrigan 6

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Zero Trust: Evolving the Federal Government’s Security Model!

by Steve Vetter, Federal Strategist, Cisco and Andy Stewart, Senior Federal’s Cybersecurity Strategist, Cisco

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oday’s information technology has fundamentally transformed the way we work. Mobility and the cloud have enabled workers to access applications and data from anywhere. Data, especially from the edge, is about to further transform the way government employees solve problems and deliver services to our citizens. This same technology has rendered traditional approaches to protecting our government systems and data insufficient. Multi-cloud, the edge and mobility have stretched traditional perimeter-based cybersecurity beyond the breaking point. Fortunately, Zero Trust is more than the latest buzzword. Zero Trust, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), is a game changer that has the potential to substantially enhance government agencies’ abilities to protect their technology systems and data.

So What is Zero Trust?

Zero Trust is an approach to help achieve more pragmatic security for today’s world. It is a security architecture and enterprise methodology, not a technology or tool, designed to effectively coordinate today’s challenging combination of technologies, practices and policies. It represents an evolution in our approach to security, focused on delivering a comprehensive, integrated, interoperable, holistic solution approach that integrates multiple vendors’ products and services.

A Zero Trust Architectural framework involves restricting access to system, application and data resources to those users and devices that are specifically validated as needing access. It will then continuously authenticate their identity and security posture to ensure proper authorization for each resource to provide continued, ongoing access.

An effective Zero Trust Architectural framework coordinates and integrates across seven main areas of focus to create an enabling platform as shown. Visibility and Analytics provide the awareness for Automation & Orchestration to coordinate

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security policies and actions across People, Devices, Network(s), Workloads and Data.

Zero Trust Background

The construct, known as “Zero Trust,” is generally recognized to have grown out of the need to protect an organization’s systems and data on multiple levels using a mixture of encryption, secure computer protocols, and dynamic workload and data-level authentication and authorization, rather than relying solely on an external network boundary.

This security concept, known as “de-perimeter-ization” is designed for a world where the traditional network perimeter is less effective as workloads are increasingly being delivered from the cloud and mobile endpoints are becoming the norm for application and data access. Deperimeterization grew out of discussions with corporate Chief Information Security Officers

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(in a meeting hosted by Cisco in 2003) and was formalized in 2004 by the international Jericho Forum group. The term “Zero Trust” itself was created by Forrester in 2010 and has become increasingly popular within the security community over the last decade. Today, the term Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is the generally accepted expression for a security environment that allows “no implicit trust.”

Key Zero Trust Frameworks

Although “Zero Trust” is most commonly identified with Forrester (since they coined the term), many others have identified similar Zero Trust-enabling strategies and frameworks, with the most prominent being (in chronological order): Google’s BeyondCorp (cloud-focused); Gartner’s Continuous Adaptive Risk and Trust Assessment (CARTA) (more threat focused); Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Integrated Adaptive Cyber Defense (IACD) (commercialoff-the-shelf (COTS) tool focus); and NIST’s Draft Special Publication 800-207 Zero Trust Architecture. In recent years, Forrester has broadened their view of Zero Trust to cover both a Zero Trust eXtended Ecosystem and a Zero Trust eXtended Ecosystem Platform.

Foundational Zero Trust Architectural Considerations

Zero Trust today is really about an orchestrated approach to achieving the “de-Frankenstein-ization” of our current, dizzying approach towards security that uses dozens and dozens of security tools and products in an effort to protect an agency’s data, applications and workloads. With an AI/ML-driven, software defined network environment, agencies can enforce privileged network access, manage data flows, contain lateral movement and provide visibility to make dynamic policy and trust decisions.

A Zero Trust Architecture requires an open, scalable foundation to provide agencies with the means to support any relevant Framework that guides their specific security needs (NIST RMF/CSF, CDM, CJIS, HIPAA, etc.). This foundational approach should be comprehensive in nature and support integrated interoperability across any security policy, governance, identity, orchestration, and event and mobility management tools in which agencies have already made investments.

Importance of Zero Trust to Federal Agencies

The Federal Government has launched numerous “Digital Transformation Initiatives” in order to “harness the power of data” to drive faster, more efficient decision-making to enhance mission outcomes and better serve citizens. The implementation of comprehensive data strategies, enabled by evolving AI datascience algorithms, are essential for agencies to achieve these goals and for our nation’s continued world technological leadership.

Implementing a Zero Trust Architecture that protects data,

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systems and network infrastructures from growing cyber threats is an absolute necessity for any Federal digital transformation success and has been highlighted as foundational to numerous key security initiatives by the Federal CIO. A Federal Zero Trust Architecture must be capable of automatically translating an agency’s mission-focused intent into secure implementation of trust-based policies across the entire network environment at speed and scale.

Key Perspectives for Agencies to Embrace on their Zero Trust Journey

As we advise Federal agencies on their Zero Trust “journey,” there are several critical guiding perspectives that should inform their choices: • Do not allow implicit trust for anyone or anything attempting to connect to key networks, systems, data or other resources; • Explicit authentication and authorization should be made before allowing access, followed by continuous monitoring for changes; • Be able to detect and effectively respond to anomalous activity in real-time; and • Enable comprehensive visibility, analytics and proactive response actions across the entire communications access and security infrastructure.

Summary

One of the simplest ways to think about Zero Trust is to fine-tune the old Russian proverb, popularized by President Reagan: from “trust, but verify” into “Never Trust AND Always Verify.” This applies to every connection, every session and every request for access to critical agency applications, workloads and data. A Zero Trust Architectural approach ensures that every decision to access data by any device, user, or workload is securely authenticated and authorized at the speed of AI/MLenabled networks. Successfully implemented, Zero Trust can help ensure secure and seamless operations across an agency’s entire information technology ecosystem and result in continual trusted access to an agency’s critical workloads, applications and data—thereby enhancing agency mission accomplishment.

To get a more detailed sense of the latest on the state of industries’ ability to support Zero Trust, download a copy of the latest FORRESTER WAVETM - Zero Trust eXtended Ecosystem Platform Providers at https://blogs.cisco.com/security/cisconamed-a-leader-in-the-2019-forrester-zero-trust-wave. 3 Steve Vetter serves as a Federal Strategist for Cisco. Steve has been active in PSC for over a decade, including chairing the IT Management and Budget and NASA Vision Conference panels.

Andy Stewart serves as Cisco’s Senior Federal’s Cybersecurity Strategist. Andy is active in PSC’s Defense Services and Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) efforts.

Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 43

Member Value: What is your Membership Vision for 2020?

by Matthew Busby, PSC Director of Membership

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t’s a new year and you may be considering ways you can take greater advantage of your PSC membership. There is no better time to evaluate your strategic alignment with the Association and reset, reconfigure or repurpose your engagement with us. To help support improved engagement in PSC we have outlined two areas that will help make the most of your membership in 2020.

Key Tools & Resources

PSC offers exceptional engagement opportunities for members at any level in the organization. We understand that, making the most of your membership requires engagement across your company so, to that end we’ve organized our offering to meet the needs of key functional roles within our member companies.

As a result, we have developed a set of engagement recommendations based on these functional roles. This outline can now be found on the PSC Membership Engagement Resource Center. There you can access the PSC Membership

Playbook, a valuable resource to help you understand all the engagement channels offered by PSC and to support your personal engagement strategy.

PSC also offers members a Membership Engagement Session, to help you revisit our offering and establish a foundation for strong participation throughout the year. This is a key activity for ensuring that all your team members are aware of your PSC membership so you can create an organizational engagement plan. If you’d like to organize an individual call or a team-based session contact us at membership@pscouncil.org.

Another excellent stage-setting tool is our Market and Policy Briefing, designed to offer perspectives as they relate to market trends, policy outlooks and insights on key areas impacting your company growth and success. PSC currently offers the Market and Policy Briefing as a quarterly meeting for all members and as a tailored presentation for your strategy, executive and key staff teams. This briefing is an opportunity for our subject matter experts to offer their perspectives on

Welcome New Q4 PSC Members!

Corporate Visions LLC

For more information on PSC membership, contact membership@pscouncil.org.

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trends and challenges in your scope, so you can leverage them for your strategic planning and other purposes.

The start of the year is an excellent time to mark key programs on your calendar, particularly this quarter and the start of Q2.

PSC events are designed to offer you opportunities to network and engage with peers in meaningful interactions against the backdrop of policy focused topics and insights from industry and federal leaders. With a clear view of all the upcoming activities, you can more easily plan your participation with greater efficiency.

The following events can help you get started:

the highest caliber, industry and government leaders together to address current issues facing the government professional and technology services industry. Join us and gain actionable insights over two and half days of networking and informational sessions. This year’s event will feature Kim Herrington, Acting Principal Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting, Office of A&S, Department of Defense; Former Congressman, Tom Davis; and Ann Calvaresi Barr, Inspector General, USAID, among many other leaders and valuable sessions. As a member, you are welcome to attend this event where PSC will address key policy challenges and other issues, we cover in our annual advocacy agenda.

Executive Roundtable Discussions

Upcoming Events

Key Events

Held monthly, these intimate meetings designed for C-Suite and executive leaders offers a platform for PSC to gain insights from our members so we can activate the appropriate channels for addressing industry-wide challenges. If you have not had the opportunity attend and executive roundtable, and you are an executive leader within your company, please attend this information and idea exchange. Feedback from our members is critical to our success and this channel is an excellent opportunity to express concerns and challenges you face in the federal marketplace. The next Roundtable Luncheon will be held Feb. 19 at the PSC Offices.

PSC Annual Conference

Registration for our hallmark event, the PSC Annual Conference, is now open. The PSC Annual Conference is the premier government contracting event for bringing

Other key events include our Federal Law Enforcement Conference on Feb. 25; 2020 Vision Kickoff, March 5th; and Federal Health Conference March 25th.

PSC offers significant opportunities to participate in council, committee and other special events throughout the year. Most of these programs are already included in the cost of your membership so be sure to participate in relevant programs according to your interests or function.

For information on other programs and events, visit our events page. wwww.pscouncil.org/calendar, check out other milestone events under the Events Tab on our web site, or contact our events team, events@pscouncil.org.

We’re looking forward to an exciting year of membership engagement. If you need support getting involved in these activities, don’t hesitate to reach out to any member of the PSC Team. 3

Policy Spotlight continued from page 17

shrinks, agencies and companies can expect the “war for talent” to intensify significantly and should plan accordingly.

New Acquisition Methods: “Outside the FAR:” The use of and spending on other transaction authorities (OTAs) continues to rise, and the methods are evolving. Additional FAR clauses are making their way into these agreements and Congress is exercising additional oversight. Contractors should keep an eye on how agencies execute and management these agreements and whether Congress intends to further shape the future of these agreements.

New Acquisition Methods: “Inside the FAR:” Are you producing slick videos, participating in code challenges and tech demonstrations, or making oral presentations in response to solicitations? If not, you may soon be bidding on federal solicitations using these methods. Companies should prepare to showcase their capabilities in these new ways in 2020.

Integrating Emerging Tech: For the government, technologies such as AI, machine learning and robotic process automation are being deployed into government programs and driving increased efficiency. Expect Congress to monitor successes and failures and consider inserting new requirements.

Potential Death of LPTA? New government-wide restrictions on the misuse of LPTA for knowledge-based services were proposed in late 2019 and are expected to be finalized this

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year. Monitoring agency implementation is a PSC priority and reducing or eliminating the “race to the bottom” should allow companies to bring more innovation and value into their offers.

Agencies Moving to the Cloud: The Pentagon’s JEDI contract continues to grab headlines, but most federal agencies are making less publicized moves to the cloud. Expect the trend to continue with implementation of the government-wide “Cloud Smart” strategy, additional data center consolidation, and a new focus on enterprise-wide clouds.

New Cybersecurity Requirements: Defense contractors will have to hustle to meet new requirements under DoD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program.

The civilian agencies are excluded from CMMC but expect all agencies to continue to update their cybersecurity and cyber hygiene requirements and assessments—and to increase the costs of doing business with the government in the process.

Shrinking PALT? When the government identifies a need, it should be able to obtain goods and services as soon as possible to fill it. That is not the case for many federal agencies. It took two acts of Congress to mandate procurement administrative lead times tracking. Will forcing agencies to measure PALT contribute to reducing it? The implementing regulations are overdue but companies may start seeing reported data soon. 3

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April 26-28, 2020 • Greenbrier • West Virginia Join hundreds of industry leaders for the premier government contracting conference in 2020.

• Take advantage of PSC’s special hotel room rates. Don’t miss charming room options like the Greenbrier’s Superior Rooms, Deluxe Rooms, and Draper Suites. After you register, you will receive a booking link that will give you access to the room block.

• Leave the car at home and reserve your seat on a chartered bus to and from the Greenbrier. Pickup and drop-off locations in Virginia and Maryland.

• Sign up for the additional networking activities before they sell out, including a bunker tour, clay shooting wine tasting, bowling, golf, and more!

• Join us to “Network for Good.” PSC is proud to partner with Generosity Feeds to make an impact on the Greenbrier community by hosting our first ever Pack ‘n Pour. While enjoying drinks and conversations with colleagues, help assemble packages of ready-to-prepare dried foods that will be distributed to local West Virginia schools and food banks. With your help we can accomplish our goal to package ten thousand meals!

Make sure to add this activity to your cart when completing registration online. Special thanks to NT Concepts for sponsoring this activity.

Don't miss the opportunity to network with industry executives and government participants, and attend dozens of panels and breakout sessions on the most up-to-date government services contracting topics.

Register at www.pscconference.org!

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Event Spotlight

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A wide range of top defense officials from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps spoke at the 2019 PSC Defense Services Conference on Nov. 21. More than 150 industry participants attended to hear directly from senior government officials discuss current initiatives aimed at accelerating innovation and delivering capabilities to the future (1). The Honorable Alan Shaffer, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment, Mr. Shaffer emphasized the need for agile, lethal, and rapid defensive and offensive capabilities to protect U.S national security (2, L-R). Maria Proestou, President & CEO of Delta Resources, Michael Niggel, CEO of ACT I, David Berteau,

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President & CEO of PSC, and Chris Devens, EVP at ACT I. (3, L-R): William Moore, Asst. Deputy Chief of Staff for Army (G-4), LTG Darrell Williams, Director of the Defense Logistics Agency, and VADM Luke McCollum, Chief of Navy Reserve. (4). Brad King, CEO of Robbins-Gioia, leads the session: Modernizing DoD’s Business Systems for Improved Training, Logistics and Readiness. (5) Jim Jaska, CEO of Valiant Integrated Services, delivers remarks as Planning Committee Chairman for the inaugural event. Purchase the video library of the conference, which includes recordings of all sessions and keynote speakers at www.pscouncil.org/defenseservices.

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Event Spotlight, continued

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PSC’s seventh annual Development Conference drew more than 200 attendees and packed the room on December 3. USAID sent loads of officials not only to speak at the conference, but several attended our entire event – including Mark Walther, USAID’s Senior Procurement Executive (1). Following opening remarks

by PSC President & CEO David Berteau and VP for International Development Paul Foldi, we heard from Jim Richardson, Director of the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources – better known as “F” – at the Department of State discuss his priorities in the coming year (2). In one of his first appearance since being sworn in as CEO of the newly established US International Development Finance

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Corporation, Adam Berteau and CIDC Chair Cristina Mossi held a fireside chat on the role the DFC would play countering China’s “Debt Trap Diplomacy” (3). Susi Mudge from Chemonics lead an animated panel with officials on USAID’s new Digital Strategy and what implementing partners could do to prepare for it and how it will enhance their work (4). CIDC Vice Chair Santiago Sedaca engaged with senior leaders of USAID’s new bureau for Development, Democracy and Innovation and the improvements the new structure would bring to programmatic implementation (5). Closing our event, USAID Administrator Mark Green thanked the CIDC membership for their continued commitment to development (6).

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Event Happenings

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1. On Oct. 24, PSC hosted a roundtable discussion with JosĂŠ Gonzalez, Director of Human Capital Initiatives for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, regarding the Public-Private Talent Exchange (PPTE) Program.

3. Member executives attended the invite-only Executive Roundtable lunch on Nov. 13. Attendees had the opportunity to get an industry update from PSC President and CEO David Berteau, as well as have a dialogue with peers.

2. PSC’s Marketing and Communications Network met on Nov. 5 and heard from guest speaker Kelly Hinge, Head of Digital Strategy, Hinge Marketing. He discussed the marketing mix and how high-growth GovCon companies plan for, build and measure it.

4-5. On November 15, PSC held a discussion on Supply Chain Risk Management with Bob Kolasky, Assistant Director, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

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Service Contractor / Winter 2020 / 49

Event Happenings, continued

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6. On November 19, PSC hosted executives from the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD(A&S)) who addressed key topics and requirements associated with forming a CMMC Accreditation Body to more than 300 people from industry that attended in person, and via live stream.

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7-10. More than 150 members attended the board meeting and holiday reception on Dec. 13. Members Susi Mudge of Chemonics (7), Kitty Klaus of Easy Dynamics Corporation and Andrea McCarthy of HARP (8) received leadership awards. PSC also recognized out-going chair PV Puvvada of Unisys (10) for his distinguished contributions over the past two years.

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