Procurement

David J. Burke, 75, a retired Air Force colonel who was an authority on weapons procurement and later became an executive with Digital Equipment Corp., died April 13 of esophageal cancer at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif. After living for many years in Alexandria, he moved to Portsmouth, R.I., in 2006. Col. Burke joined the Air Force in 1955 and was a navigator during the Vietnam War. From 1974 to 1977, he worked at the Pentagon, monitoring global military developments in a high-level situation room.

The big idea: If change is "the only constant," as Francois de La Rochefoucauld put it, why is it that change efforts cause such uproar and often fail? And what happens when the change leader is an outsider, the changes are not readily connected to profitability and the organization has its own strong and highly successful culture? The scenario: SNCF is a 32 billion-euro state-owned rail company in France running on more than 19,000 miles of train tracks, managing 246,000 people operating in 120 countries.

After reading a newspaper article's report that a particular armored vehicle had dramatically cut fatality rates in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and other senior defense officials traveled 80 miles northeast to Aberdeen Proving Ground in spring 2007 to see for themselves how the V-shaped hull of the costly Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle deflected the worst blast effects of buried explosives. Within weeks, and after some pointed demands for the MRAPs from Capitol Hill, Gates decided to make...

Laurence A. Stone, 98, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who was a longtime ordnance officer before becoming a specialist in military procurement matters, died March 31 at a retirement facility in Napa, Calif. He had congestive heart failure, a grandson, Richard Rosenberg, said. Lt. Col. Stone served in the Army from 1939 to 1965 and was an ordnance officer during World War II. After the war, he spent more than three years with U.S. occupation forces in Germany, leading a unit that rebuilt military vehicles.

At a time when federal spending is facing sizeable possible cuts, one law firm is betting on a future with more government contracting work. Covington & Burling, the District's largest law firm, is making an aggressive push to grow its government contracting practice. Despite maintaining the city's largest law firm by the numbers — with more than 500 attorneys in Washington — Covington's government contracts group has historically hovered between five and seven attorneys, led by one partner.

The big idea: If change is "the only constant," as Francois de La Rochefoucauld put it, why is it that change efforts cause such uproar and often fail? And what happens when the change leader is an outsider, the changes are not readily connected to profitability and the organization has its own strong and highly successful culture? The scenario: SNCF is a 32 billion-euro state-owned rail company in France running on more than 19,000 miles of train tracks, managing 246,000 people operating in 120 countries.

A high-ranking Labor Department official appointed by President Obama to oversee a job-training program for veterans has resigned after an inspector general's investigation found that he had violated federal procurement rules and ethics principles. Raymond M. Jefferson , assistant secretary of the Labor Department's Veterans' Employment and Training Service, submitted his resignation Tuesday. Jefferson engaged in "a pattern of conduct . . . ...

Laurence A. Stone, 98, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who was a longtime ordnance officer before becoming a specialist in military procurement matters, died March 31 at a retirement facility in Napa, Calif. He had congestive heart failure, a grandson, Richard Rosenberg, said. Lt. Col. Stone served in the Army from 1939 to 1965 and was an ordnance officer during World War II. After the war, he spent more than three years with U.S. occupation forces in Germany, leading a unit that rebuilt military vehicles.

The time is now for the federal government to move forward aggressively with plans to consume IT as a service in the cloud. Thus far, we have seen only baby steps, with individual agencies moving e-mail and perhaps collaboration software to a cloud environment. But in order to meet the goal of operating with reduced budgets while increasing efficiency, a new culture must take shape, starting with revamping the procurement and program-based funding process. In addition, the government needs a champion for the...

IBM has received a grand jury summons from the U.S. Attorney's Office over possible procurement violations between employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and certain IBM employees, the company said Monday. IBM is cooperating with the investigation, it said. The company made the announcement just days after the EPA said IBM had been temporarily suspended from receiving new Federal government contracts or assistance. A suspension from one U.S. government agency is respected by other...

DISTRICT OFFICIALS had high hopes of rolling out new taxi meters by Inauguration Day so that passengers would be able to pay easily with credit cards. Similarly, they have talked about the great savings, environmentally and economically, that would be realized with the installment of energy-efficient streetlights . Both worthy projects, however, have been put on hold because of D.C.'s maddening problems in awarding contracts. In a ruling that should serve as a wake-up call for corrective action, the city's Contract Appeals Board...

The agency overseeing the region's two major airports and managing construction of the $5.6 billion Dulles rail project was warned repeatedly over the past 10 years that it was improperly doling out millions of dollars in contracts, but it did little to correct the deficiencies. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority , already under fire for such ethics abuses as taking Super Bowl tickets from contractors, issued several large no-bid contracts that violated federal transit...

The city's plan to install credit-card-reading "smart meters" in all 6,500 taxicabs in the District has been indefinitely delayed after a panel of administrative law judges ruled Friday that a contract to install the meters was improperly handled. The Contract Appeals Board ruled that the process that ended up selecting VeriFone Systems' $35 million bid was riddled with "pervasive improprieties. " The company beat out seven other firms, including Creative Mobile Technologies and RideCharge, which...

Small businesses that have been federal contractors for more than 10 years, or that have won more than $1 million in government contracts, tend to invest more time and money in seeking work, and submit more bids than their less active counterparts, a new survey shows. The American Express OPEN survey found, on average, these so-called "procurement leaders" leaders spent $233,457 in preparing their bids for federal contracts in 2010, both in terms of staff time and direct expenditures.

Tuesday Social Media Marketing Made Simple. This seminar discusses the best practices to gain the most from a business's social media presence; 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The George Washington University Virginia Science & Technology Campus, 20101 Academic Way, Ashburn, Va. Sponsor: Loudoun Small Business Development Center. Cost: Free. Web site: www.LoudounSBDC.eventbrite.com . Wednesday Greater Washington Business Networking. Create new connections, grow businesses and learn...

For government procurement officials, right about now is when the rubber meets the road. The fiscal year follows a predictable — but not easy — pattern for procurement officials. Early in the year, they face significant uncertainty about how much money Congress will appropriate for them and when. And then over the course of the year, program managers may hold back on sending in requirements and contracting officials at times hold back on purchases. Politicians may argue over funding.

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations has wasted tens of millions of dollars in its peacekeeping operations in Sudan over the past three years, according to the findings of U.N. auditors examining the financial practices of the global body's overseas missions. U.N. officers in Sudan have squandered millions by renting warehouses that were never used, booking blocks of hotel rooms that were never filled, and losing thousands of food rations to theft and spoilage, according to several internal audits by the U.N....

For government procurement officials, right about now is when the rubber meets the road. The fiscal year follows a predictable — but not easy — pattern for procurement officials. Early in the year, they face significant uncertainty about how much money Congress will appropriate for them and when. And then over the course of the year, program managers may hold back on sending in requirements and contracting officials at times hold back on purchases. Politicians may argue over funding.

A federal grand jury has indicted Iranian and Chinese nationals on charges stemming from an alleged plot help Iran acquire advanced metals and other sensitive U.S. technology for its nuclear program, the Justice Department announced Friday. The indictment of the two men was the latest to target what U.S. officials say is a global procurement network operated by Iran to obtain needed parts for its uranium enrichment plants as well as its most sophisticated missiles. At least some of materials appear to have made it to Iran,...

TRANSPORTATION officials in the District put out a request for contractors in July 2010 to provide administration, design and construction for streetcar facilities in Northeast Washington. Of the seven companies that responded, four were deemed qualified and were invited to bid on the project. A panel of experts last fall made a selection and its pick was, in turn, subjected to further scrutiny by city procurement, fiscal and legal officials. But what should be a final, pro forma step — signing a properly negotiated contract — is now...