Winvale Blog

Recently, there has been a shift in the traditional way government manages mobile devices. Many of today’s U.S. federal agencies are moving from RIM’s blackberry devices to Apple’s iPhone. One reason for this movement is that government employees are tired of being forced to use their out of date government issued Blackberry’s. They have been asking their IT management to allow them to use their personal Apple devices at work for some time now. Agencies are now seeing that Apple products are more technologically sound and they are starting to make the switch.

A few weeks ago, the General Services Administration (GSA) decided to distribute iPhone’s (along with some android devices) to a portion of their employee base which clocks in at 17,000. In response, GSA Chief Information Officer, Casey Coleman, stated, “We actively seek to be progressive in our adoption of new technologies so that we can learn the lessons which will inform our client and customer agencies as they seek to go…

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Each year, business leaders are challenged to develop and revise strategic plans for their organization and to think through the specific tactics to achieve goals. Often these plans for the future state of the organization include thinking about the skills needed. An organization can hire new skills, but often it is more effective (on the basis of cost and productivity) to invest in leadership training. Almost any leadership training can be enhanced and reinforced with an eMentor program which connects people based upon their current and future skills, their needs and job requirements and the personality and world view. 

We all know that an organization’s ability to grow and prosper is tied to the organization’s ability to attract and retain employees who can help them to achieve their goals. Strategically, the people at the top need to be thinking about the future state of the organization, and the skills that will be needed in the future - and pushing for effective leadership…

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Mobile Device Management is a growing solution in both the public and private sector. The United States Chief Information Officer Steven Van Roekel launched an initiative in January to increase the adoption rate of Mobile Technologies and by the end of March a comprehensive federal mobile technologies strategy should be released. The January initiative allowed for an interactive internet-based “National Dialogue on the Federal Mobility Strategy.” This allowed for public and private sector personnel to submit comments on the future on mobile technology in the government. Some of the core objectives listed in the draft of the federal strategy were:

• Build mobile technologies and services for reuse and share common services among agencies and public developers

• Efficiently manage mobile and wireless acquisition, inventory, and expenses

• Create a government-wide foundation to provide mobility services and functionality needed in all agencies

• Foster collaboration among government…

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Change is one of the most reliable components found within the task of managing an $80 billion dollar IT budget for the US. Vivek Kundra exemplifies this as the former Public Sector CIO accepts the new role of EVP/ emerging markets for none other then the private sector, cloud-friendly app Salesforce.com. 

A longtime proponent of cloud computing, Kundra has worked closely with US Agencies to mandate the cloud-first- initiative. Many Topics and policies such as data center consolidation, FISMA compliance, virtualization and open cloud have been under discussion. Additionally, heavy hitters like social and mobile technologies to benefit Government migrations to the Cloud were examined.  His efforts to bring Government agencies to the cloud are instrumental in their value to the Cloud-First Initiative 2012. Now faced with the opportunity to fill rather large shoes, Steve VanRoekel has been selected to carry out initiatives Kundra began for our Government’s secure arrival to the…

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For any contractor interested in selling its’ products on a GSA Schedule, it is pertinent that you become familiar with, as well as compliant with the Trade Agreement Act (TAA). The TAA outlines where products the government purchases can be manufactured. As GSA Schedule solicitations contain TAA provisions, when applying for a GSA Schedule, your product’s Country of Origin (COO) must be included in the proposal, compliant with the TAA, and accurate.

Determining a product’s COO can be complicated. While products that are wholly made in one country are simple to designate a COO for, most products contain numerous parts made in various countries. In these cases, the product’s COO is classified by Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.225-5 as “the country in which the product has been substantially transformed into a new and different article of commerce with a name, character, or use distinct from that of the articles from which it was transformed”. Once a product’s COO has been…

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The pricing portion of a GSA Schedule is the most complex part of the contract. Since the US federal Government is the world’s largest volume buyer in the world, they expect to receive the lowest price possible for products and services. Therefore, every contract established with the GSA must include a price-reduction clause. This requires companies to give the government equal or better than their best customer price.

Just recently, Oracle Corp., the world’s second- biggest software maker agreed to pay $199.5 million plus interest to settle allegations that the companies failed to provide a price that it was giving another customer. The accord resolves a lawsuit claiming Oracle induced the GSA to buy $1.08 billion in software from 1998 to 2006 by providing inaccurate and incomplete information to GSA.

This amount is the largest obtained by GSA under the False Claims Act, a Federal law that allows citizens with knowledge of fraud (aka whistleblowers) by the United States…

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