Industry can help shape contracting requirements and should give agencies information on the work done in commercial markets to help customers address requirements before the government starts an acquisition initiative, a GSA executive has told ExecutiveGov.
Chris Hamm, director of GSA’s Federal Systems Integration and Management Center, said the government’s goal should be to have the communications that occur between buyers and sellers in everyday transactions.
“The federal procurement system is not built to do that because we want to increase the amount of fairness and equity so that everyone has the opportunity,” FEDSIM’s leader said to ExecutiveGov.
“Whenever you are trying to buy something complex, you’ve got to write it down and talk to people.”
Hamm spoke to ExecutiveGov ahead of his Thursday keynote address to the Potomac Officers Club — owned by this website’s parent company Executive Mosaic — for the “Innovation in Acquisitions” breakfast event in Falls Church, Va. to conclude the POC’s “CIO Speaker Series”
The 16-year GSA veteran, who started as FEDSIM director in the fall of 2014, also pointed to increased attention on cyber defenses at agencies as one trend that has grown in prominence over the past year in light of the breaches on the Office of Personnel Management.
Hamm said the Defense Department is also starting to form cyber defense requirements that are similar manner to the Department of Homeland Security‘s continuous diagnostics and mitigation effort.
“We’ve got some work with the Cyber Command and the Marine Corps trying to secure the networks and identifying the people that are on their IT networks,” Hamm said.
