October 19, 2004

It is with great pleasure that I announce the selection of Marion Veber
as the Norfolk Regional Center’s newest branch chief in the
Acquisition Management Division.

Mrs. Veber has approximately 20 years of federal contracting
experience. She has previously worked with both the U.S. Navy and Coast
Guard in PA, NY, DC and VA with a broad base of experience including
unique and complex acquisitions in the areas of supplies, services, IT,
telecommunications, etc. Most recently she was responsible for
procuring the USCG’s DGPS equipment suite and has overseen a $60 million
naval engineering program for the USCG.

Mrs. Veber has been a Supervisory Contract Specialist since 1993 and is
a member of the National Contract Management Association. She was also
the recipient of Vice President Gore’s Hammer Award for expeditious
acquisitions utilizing cutting edge technology.

Please join me in congratulating Mrs. Veber as she embarks on a new
career with NOAA and NRC.

JACK O. SALMON, JR.

Director, Acquisition Management Division

Eastern Administrative SupportCenter

November 17, 2003

FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) REQUIRES CONTRACTOR REGISTRATION ON
CENTRAL CONTRACTOR REGISTRATION (CCR):

The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) now requires contractor
registration in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database
prior to award of any contract, basic agreement, basic ordering
agreement, or blanket purchase agreement on or after October 1, 2003.
Contractors can register in the CCR database by going to
http://www.ccr.gov.

The full amendment to the FAR can be viewed at:
http://www.acqnet.gov/far/FAC/fac01016.pdf.

September 9, 2003

Restricted Access

Several areas on the AMD homepage are now restricted only to known NOAA/EASC
clients. This has been done in an effort to utilize the web to enhance
"NOAA Only" communication with our clients. Our goal for the future is to
provide on line status of acquisition actions, policy, etc. via these links
on the AMD page. If you are a NOAA/NRC client this change should be
transparent to you, however, if you cannot access a page, please email the
NRC webmaster at webmaster.NRC@noaa.gov and they will set you up for
access. Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

August 22, 2003

SmartBUY Initiative (Requisitioners of Software Please Read)

SmartBUY is one of several e-government initiatives outlined in the President's fiscal year 2004 budget and the updated 2003 E-Government Strategy. This government-wide enterprise licensing initiative is intended to lower the cost of software for individual agencies by purchasing common applications in the biggest bulk possible. SmartBUY, led by the General Services Administration (GSA), will focus on a wide range of software types, including network management, antivirus, database, open source and office automation software such as e-mail. GSA has been tasked to lead an interagency SmartBUY team in negotiating government-wide enterprise licenses for software. GSA is vigorously working to award enterprise licenses quickly, and some agreements may be in place as early as the end of fiscal year 2003.

In a memorandum to agencies, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mitchell Daniels Jr. outlined three requirements for agencies to meet as part of their mandatory participation in the SmartBUY initiative.

The final requirement is to integrate the Department's common desktop and server software licenses under the leadership of the SmartBUY team. In support of this requirement and until more specific guidance is disseminated, HCOs should not renew or enter into new common desktop and server software licensing agreements valued at $100,000 without first contacting the DOC SmartBUY Software Asset Manager, Rita Casazza, to ensure that the contract action has received a waiver from the interagency SmartBUY team and OMB. The HCO should provide the Software Asset Manager and will require with a requisition from our clients the following information:

• Operating unit name;
• Software publisher's name;
• A breakout by dollars into the following categories: software purchases, maintenance, support, and other;
• The name of the source of the software. Is it (a) under a service contract; (b) under a contract administered by another agency; (c) under an interagency agreement; or (d) by a contractor that is authorized to order from a government supply source pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) 51.101;
• The date the waiver is needed by;
• A statement as to the impact of a negative response by OMB; and,
• Point of contact information (name, e-mail address, and phone number) for questions by either OMB or the Software Asset Manager.
  

The interagency SmartBUY team has started working on license agreements for the following software product lines: Adobe, McAfee, IBM, ESRI, SAS, Symantec, Veritas, Corel, ISS, SAP, Microsoft, Oracle, Peoplesoft, Computer Associates, and Novell. These products require the closest coordination of requirements, licenses and agreements.

However, all software license agreements over $100,000, whether new or renewals, are required to be coordinated through OMB.

For more information, government-wide updates and answers to frequently asked questions regarding the SmartBUY initiative, visit GSA's SmartBUY webpage.

June 12, 2003

UNICOR AS A SOURCE

As you may know, the Federal Acquisition Regulations(FAR) identifies Federal Prison Industries (also known as UNICOR) as a mandatory source of certain commodities. Effective May 22, 2003, the FAR was changed to permit the ordering of commodities under $2,500 from other sources (commercial, schedules, etc.) without having to obtain a purchase waiver from UNICOR. Previously, any acquisition that exceeded $25 required a waiver to utilize other than UNICOR for a commodity they carried.