Calendar of Events | PSC Website

Acquisition and Business Policy Spotlight

November 2023

Happy Thanksgiving, Acquisition and Business Policy Council:

 

On Thursday, November 16, 2023, President Joe Biden signed a Continuing Resolution (H.R.6363), averting a government shutdown and extending the deadlines for four appropriations bills (and their covered departments) to January 19, and the remaining eight bills and their departments to February 2. PSC had previously signed onto a joint letter to congressional leaders, urging expeditious action to: 

1. avoid a shutdown of the federal government; 
2. pass and send to the President a continuing resolution solely as a temporary bridge to full-year appropriations; and 
3. expedite passage of all FY24 full-year appropriations bills.

While PSC welcomes the passage of this Continuing Resolution, we continue to advocate for passage of all FY24 full-year appropriations bills expeditiously. We chronicle all appropriations progress and contractor guidance within PSC's Government Funding and Shutdown Resource Center. 

 

Also this month, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced its upcoming Better Contracting Initiative, intended to improve the Federal Government’s enterprise approach to contracting.

 

PSC seeks your input on the government’s implementation of the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act (FASCSA) Orders, OMB’s draft guidance for Agency use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and any additional issues you may be facing regarding the SAM.gov transfer from Unique Entity Identifiers (UEI).

Mark your calendars! We will be hosting the General Services Administration's (GSA) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at our Contracting Working Group next Thursday, December 30 (register here), and intend to host GSA's Integrated Award Environment in December's meeting. 

 

PSC continues to advocate on your behalf and has submitted industry comments regarding the Department of Labor’s proposed rule increasing the overtime exemption threshold, and NASA's SEWP VI Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) draft Request for Proposals (RFP).

 

We are additionally seeking interest in our upcoming PSC/Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) Internship Program.

 

Thank you,

Sebastian Herrick

Director, Procurement Policy

Professional Services Council

ABPC Policy Update

OMB: Better Contracting Initiative 

On November 8, 2023, OMB announced the next phase of the Federal Government’s enterprise approach, the Better Contracting Initiative (BCI). The BCI is a four-pronged initiative to ensure that the Federal Government is getting better terms and prices when purchasing goods and services, and from who they buy, including small and disadvantaged businesses. OMB has released a fact sheet for the initiative, available here. 

FAR Council: Federal Acquisition Regulation: Implementation of FASCSA Orders 

On October 5, 2023, the FAR Council released an interim rule, titled Implementation of Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act (FASCSA) Orders, which will amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement supply chain risk information sharing and exclusion or removal orders consistent with the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act of 2018. This interim rule will take effect December 4, 2023, and PSC is drafting comments responding to the rule, due to the government on that same date. Please submit any feedback you may have to Lauren Ayers, PSC’s Vice President for Defense and Intelligence, before this Monday, November 27, for consideration of inclusion within our comments. 

ABPC Advocacy

PSC Comments on Overtime Protections Proposed Rule

On November 7, 2023, PSC submitted comments on a Department of Labor proposed rule to revise regulations on exemptions from minimum wage and overtime pay for certain employees (e.g., raising the salary threshold for allowing overtime pay from $35,568 annually to $55,068). PSC emphasized that this rule did not consider cost or performance impacts on government contractors and recommended significant changes to the Department's approach. Click here to read these comments.

PSC Comments on NASA SEWP VI Draft RFP 

On October 23, 2023, PSC submitted comments to NASA responding to its Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) draft RFP. Aside from technical comments, PSC urged NASA to release an additional draft RFP and to differentiate Category C enough from other GWACS to avoid competitive difficulties between government users and also industry. Read the comments here.  

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Contracting Working Group Meeting with Exodie Roe, GSA OSDBU

On Thursday, November 30 at 2:00 P.M. EST, PSC will host GSA Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Associate Administrator Exodie Roe, who will speak on enhancing opportunities for small businesses and recent structural changes within GSA. The format will offer up to 30 minutes for GSA to speak, followed by an audience question/answer segment. Please pre-submit any questions to me at herrick@pscouncil.org before the close of business on Friday, November 24, so we may anonymize and send to GSA for topical consideration. 

 

Thursday, November 30 | 2:00pm | Virtual | Register

PSC-VFIC Internship Program

PSC and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) are teaming up to create an internship program that will provide the opportunity for qualified student interns to get a great start in their careers by working with PSC member companies. To demonstrate interest, please complete our program survey. PSC will compile PSC member responses and submit them to VFIC the week of December 11, with program kickoff expected in the May 2024 timeframe.