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Cost Estimating NewsBrief: May 9, 2025
GSA, Partners Unveil Website for Federal Acquisition Regulation Reform
(Executive Gov) The General Services Administration has announced the launch of a website that will provide updates on efforts to modernize the Federal Acquisition Regulation, or FAR, to streamline the federal procurement process. GSA said Tuesday it collaborated with the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Defense and NASA to launch the Revolutionary FAR Overhaul page at Acquisition.gov. “This overhaul is a game-changer for industry,” said Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. Read More
Republican Legislators Introduce Bill to Modify Decades-Old Missile Export Regulation
(Executive Gov) Republican legislators have introduced the Missile Technology Control Revision Act, which would remove outdated regulatory barriers preventing allies from getting access to critical missile technology. Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Mich., one of the bill’s proponents, said Monday that the legislation can serve as a “force multiplier” that empowers the United States and its allies to address shared threats today and in the future. “We cannot allow bureaucratic red tape to hinder our national security,” Huizenga commented. Read More
Trump administration releases first wave of acquisition regulation changes
(Government Executive) The Trump administration is moving quick on its promise to conduct a massive overhaul of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, a project being called Revolutionary FAR Overhaul. FAR is the subject of one of two executive orders President Trump signed in mid-April to reform how the federal government buys goods and services. In documents released Friday, the administration is proposing the elimination of significant portions of the FAR. What would remain are only those provisions required by law or are “essential to sound procurement.” Read More
After first successful audits, Marines focus on making them sustainable
(Federal News Network) The Marine Corps is DoD’s only military service that’s managed to pass a financial statement audit. But the way it’s gone about it isn’t the sort of thing you’d want to do over the long term. The current process is expensive, time-consuming, and filled with manual workarounds. But officials say they recognize those issues, and the next step is to make those successful audits more sustainable. The first clean audit, covering fiscal year 2023, involved a lot more than one fiscal year’s worth of work that went into it. Read More
Lessons for US deputy secretaries on effective federal management
(McKinsey & Company) A bipartisan law passed in 2011 established a new management role within US federal agencies: the chief operating officer (COO), which is generally undertaken by agencies’ deputy secretaries. These officials are tasked with developing and implementing policies to promote operational efficiency, including managing personnel, formulating budgets, overseeing program design, and setting strategic priorities. As such, they are essential to advancing their departments’ agendas and sustaining momentum on core initiatives. But they also face unique institutional dynamics that make operational transformations challenging in the federal environment. Read More
How cloud, AI and cybersecurity work hand in hand to protect government systems, data
(Federal News Network) Cybersecurity. Cloud. Artificial intelligence. The interdependencies of these three technologies is helping public sector agencies anticipate and defend against new and ever more lurid threats to their sensitive data and to their operations. Agencies are addressing their increasing need for cloud and AI capabilities by adopting accredited commercial clouds. This move provides them with the latest technology essential for advanced AI, while also helping them achieve parity with high cybersecurity standards and tactics, such as zero trust. Read More
NASA Stennis Releases First Open-Source Software
(NASA Explore) NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, has released its first-ever open-source software, a peer review tool to facilitate more efficient and collaborative creation of systems applications, such as those used in its frontline government and commercial propulsion test work. “Everyone knows NASA Stennis as the nation’s premier rocket propulsion test site,” said David Carver, acting chief of the Office of Test Data and Information Management. “We also are engaged in a range of key technology efforts. This latest open-source tool is an exciting example of that work, and one we anticipate will have a positive and widespread impact.” Read More
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