FBO.gov vendor guilty

      The president of the contracting firm that operates the FBO.gov and FedBizOpps.gov federal acquisition websites has pleaded guilty to criminal hacking.

      Ariel Manuel Friedler, of Arlington, VA, president of Symplicity Corp., admitted to conspiring to hack into the computer systems of two competitors to its education software. Sentencing is Aug. 1, the Justice Department announced.

      Alok Dhir, CTO of Symplicity, also has been charged, according to FederalNewsRadio.

      Symplicity officials told FederalNewsRadio the company’s federal work is completely separate and not affected.

      GSA awarded the FBO.gov contract to Symplicity in 2007.

More information: Justice Dept. press release: http://goo.gl/i52bMT
FederalNewsRadio article: http://goo.gl/YvCafz
GSA release: http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/102782

Rung goes to OMB

      The General Services Administration’s top acquisition policy executive Anne Rung is leaving the agency to become a senior advisor to the Office of Management and Budget.

      Rung has been associate administrator of the GSA’s Office of Governmentwide Policy since August 2013.

      There has been speculation that she may be named the next administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, but that has been unconfirmed. The OFPP position is vacant since the departure of Joe Jordan in December.

Fewer GSA schedules?

      The General Services Administration is seriously considering more professional services schedules contract consolidations, according to a report by Federal News Radio.

      The idea being considered is to consolidate all GSA schedules that currently provide professional services, including MOBIS, professional engineering, finance and accounting and others, into a single extra-large schedule, said Tiffany Hixson, Federal Acquisition Service regional commissioner for the Northwest Arctic Region, FederalNewsRadio reported.

      Hixson said GSA currently negotiates up to 7 schedule contracts with the same vendor. Under the plan, GSA could reduce the number of contracts it manages by more than 500; however, no vendors would lose their contracts.

More information: Federal NewsRadio article: http://goo.gl/YvCafz

Single word change

      Several advocates are pressing for a single word change in the Federal Acquisition Regulation that would improve small business contracting, according to the Washington Post.

      Currently, prime contractors must allocate a portion of their subcontracts, if any, to small businesses. The revision would require a portion of primes’ total contract dollars to go to small businesses.

More information: Washington Post story: http://goo.gl/GwDal3