DOD Issues New Contractor Rulings

This article was posted on Washington Technology.com on 1/11/3008 by Matthew Weigeit, author for Federal Computing Week. It has some interesting implications for systems integrators. See Below for the an excerpt from the article;

"Systems integrators will no longer be able to provide support to the Defense Department on the awarding of contracts that the integrators have a financial interest in, under a new interim rule.

The rule is a response to congressional concerns in the fiscal 2007 Defense Authorization bill. Lawmakers said they are concerned about conflicts of interest and the potential for a company to end up evaluating itself or its competitors in making contract awards, according to a Senate report on the bill.

The potential for problems grows as DOD contracts out more work relating to acquisition, engineering and managing major programs, the report said.

The Government Accountability Office discourages agencies from letting lead systems integrators have too much influence in contracting decisions. Agency officials must be vigilant about protecting their agency’s interests, a 2006 GAO report said.