An Affirmative Action program is a management tool designed to ensure equal employment opportunity. The programs are required as per regulations placed by the US Department of Labor. These regulations are described in Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam War era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974. However recent developments in the US Department of Labor have resulted in new regulations be emplaced. These regulations have been specifically targeted towards Federal Government Contractors and their rules in complying with AAPs. As of August 24, 2018, the Federal Contract Compliance Programs or OFCCP (part of the Department of Labor) issued a new directive. Called Directive 2018-07, the directive’s intent is to verify whether contractors are complying with their affirmative action program (AAP) requirements. The new directive will include:

• Annual certification of compliance with AAP requirements by contractors.
• Revising the neutral scheduling method to increase the likelihood of compliance reviews for contractors that failed to give certification.
• Compliance checks to verify contractor compliance with AAP requirements.
• Requesting the AAP from contractors that request extensions of time to give support data in response to a scheduling letter for a compliance review.
• Eventually, the annual collection of AAPs from federal contractors.

The directive is a result of an US government study that estimated that up to 85% of government contractors do not support current AAPs. The reason for such a high rate of non-compliance is due to limitations in previous regulations which relies on the government contractor’s voluntary and unsupervised compliance. However, the contractor can be specifically targeted for a compliance audit. In addition, OFCP suspects that many contractors engage in “back-end compliance” by waiting to receive notice of an OFCP compliance audit and preparing their AAPs right after.

The new Directive is a new proactive shift in OFCP procedure and government involvement in company regulation. However, with this new shift comes the possibility of government overarching policies. Whatever the case maybe it is definitely a benefit for those who depend on AAP’s for equality and protection.

Sources:

https://shawe.com/articles/the-ofccp-issues-a-flurry-of-directives-and-other-resources/https://

www.natlawreview.com/article/you-might-be-federal-government-contractor-better-check-now

Is the time of humans behind the wheel ending in the foreseeable future? Most Americans today are aware of the future of self-driving vehicles, cars that can take you to and from your destination autonomously. What used to be a dream has turned into a reality, a typical commute to work will be free of any driving, one can sip their coffee and eat their breakfast behind a self-steering wheel. We can say this with confidence because self-driving cars aren’t a thing of the distant future or even the foreseeable future, they are a thing of the present. Companies like Uber, Tesla and Waymo are testing their cars on the streets; Other companies like Apple are hinting at their own development. Waymo for instance has announced that it is almost ready to become the first self-driving ride hailing service. Over the past year, in 25 U.S. Cities, over 600 Waymo self-driving vehicles have been on the road, catering to the transportation requests of some 400 plus members of its early rider program. These individuals have trail-blazed the path ahead using the self-driving cars as transportation to school, the mall and other populated areas.

While Waymo is showing that automated driving can be done, Tesla among other companies is working on turning every car on the road into a vehicle capable of such maneuverability. Tesla has had cars that can cruise on the highway for the past couple of years, however its newest software “Version 9” will finally begin to enable full self-driving features.

Apple has recently put its steak in the self-driving game as well. A new Apple patent describes a software that has the car inform riders the route it is going to drive. Apples goal is trying to desensitize the ride, keeping riders not surprised by sudden changes in route. Apples autonomous car initiative, “Titan, seems to be surging upwards in growth after the tech giant hired prominent engineers from both Waymo and Tesla.

Source:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/21/17762326/waymo-self-driving-ride-hail-fleet-management

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/21/apple-self-driving-car-patent-predicts-future-moves.html

Other Transaction Authorities, commonly known as OTAs, have been in use since the 1950s, but only recently have they become “critical to rapid prototyping in the defense realm,” according to Washington Technology.

Other Transaction Authorities are a business tool allowing procurement through means other than by the Federal Acquisition Regulations; in other words, as defined by Oles Morrison, OTAs describe “streamlined procedures that federal agencies may use to procure innovative research or prototypes.”  Other Transaction Authorities thereby give the Department of Defense and military services a much more efficient acquisition process—saving years of red tape and potential protest—and have drawn much praise and excitement; however, OTAs have also drawn criticism for lacking quality screening and fairness.

Other Transaction Authorities have helped the military accelerate innovation in all sorts of functions, especially in the IT field where the evolution of technology vastly exceeds the pace of a traditional acquisition process using Federal Acquisition Regulations. According to Air Force Director of IT Acquisition Process Development Maj. Gen. Sarah Zabel, some vendors have brought in their ideas and have been given a contract the same day. With the ability to procure needed services as soon as possible rather than services which were needed months or years ago, OTAs have found a lot of popularity in the defense realm for their speed. Additionally, OTAs have proved very useful in engaging small businesses and other non-traditional defense suppliers, diversifying the acquisition portfolio as Department of Defense OTAs must use a non-traditional defense contractor, have all of its participants be small businesses, or have at least a third of its total cost paid by parties other than the government.

Taking advantage of the efficiency, flexibility, and accessibility afforded by Other Transaction Authorities, the Department of Defense’s use of OTAs has grown exponentially from less than $500 million in 2013 to more than $2 billion in 2017. However, Other Transaction Authorities have also received their fair share of criticism.

Strictly speaking, Other Transaction Authorities are not subject to the FAR or DFARS and not subject to procurement statues; they are simply contractual actions. Thus, criticism of both lack of public transparency and proposal integrity weighs heavily, considering the transparency of typical acquisitions. Likewise, the award process draws concern: Just this year, the Government Accountability Office ruled in favor of Oracle America, which argued that a follow-on OTA was made without adequate notice or competition. Therefore, the GAO will review OTA usage, a win for OTA detractors. However, the GAO will only review an agency’s award decision to assess whether the agency was correct in choosing to use an OTA over traditional procurement contract; protesting an agency’s award decision after proper use of OTA is still unprecedented.

Other Transaction Authorities are becoming more widespread, growing as a percentage of defense contract dollars, but going into the future, OTAs will most likely not replace the traditional acquisition process. Traditional acquisitions based on FAR and DFARS have provided many effective services and tools before, and many future services and tools will need to be procured through a process that draws heavily from standardized, well-known regulations. At the same time, OTAs are a tool that can create flexible and fast provision of innovative services. Therefore, federal agencies including the Department of Defense will continue to use both traditional acquisitions and Other Transaction Authorities, for some situations call for quality and transparency while others call for speed and flexibility.

Sources:

https://www.transform.af.mil/Portals/18/documents/OSA/OTA_Brief.pdf?ver=2015-09-15-073050-867https://federalnewsradio.com/acquisition/2017/10/ota-contracts-are-the-new-cool-thing-in-dod-acquisition/

Microsoft is offering a free version of its Teams corporate chat app, available for groups ranging from two to three hundred users. This version is designed for startups and small businesses.

The new version provides 10GB’s of data storage, with extra 2GB’s for each individual user. Microsoft also provides free online versions of Office that allows users to edit flies, documents, slides and spread sheets. Microsoft is trying to lure users who do not want to pay initially, especially small startup businesses, and convert them into paid users’ overtime.

It seems like Microsoft Crop. is giving more attentions to small businesses. “We’re kind of flipping the model on its head,” said Lori Wright, general manager for Microsoft’s Office 365 collaboration apps. “The competition looks at this as a way to get into enterprises and larger business, but that’s a place we’ve been successful for a long time. To us, this is really about expanding the opportunity down to small and medium-sized businesses who haven’t necessarily been Office 365 customers.”

Teams Allows you to communicate with large groups of people instantly. Imagine being able to talk with different teams around the office simultaneously; Discuss plans from your own computer instead of having to walk to the meeting room. Microsoft Teams does that, and more. Microsoft Teams is the hub for teamwork in Office 365 that integrates all the people, content, and tools your team needs to be more engaged and effective. With it you can video chat, make audio calls and preform many more communication methods. The best part, you can use teams alongside the rest of the Office 365 suite.

Earlier this year Microsoft provided the same free version of Teams to educational users. Report shows that by the end of March 2018, more than 200 thousand organizations are using Teams, with 8 million active daily users. Users of free version of Teams have the option to upgrade to paid Office 365 plans, which has more storage space and wider access to Cloud based Microsoft Office software.

On top of teams, Microsoft will also provide a new set of analytics tools such as corporation calendar and email to provide an in depth personalized insights of staff as it is a perfect tool to track for work. All those tools would bring significant benefits to small businesses.

Reference: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/on-small-business/microsoft-offers-businsses-a-free-version-of-teams-its-slack-rival/2018/07/12/f4a2db72-85ff-11e8-9e06-4db52ac42e05_story.html?utm_term=.812dc6e39cb6

Family Man Brett Kavanaugh has been nominated by the current president of the United States, to serve as one of nine members on the Supreme Court. He was vetted and recommended to the president by the Federalist society and the Heritage foundation along with a long list of other qualified officials. Among those officials who were brought to the attention of, but not chosen by the president are three other stellar choices for the conservatives Judge Thomas M. Hardiman, Judge Raymond M. Kethledge and Judge Amy Coney Barrett, each have contributed greatly to the justice department. Kavanaugh was selected to join the supreme court after serving 12 years as a Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit, which has produced a number of justices.

Brett Kavanaugh was born February 12 1965 to Edward and Martha Kavanaugh. In a recent interview Kavanaugh called his mother a “trailblazer.”, and the reason he decided to create a career in justice. After graduating cum laude from Washington School of Law at American University in 1978, Martha Kavanaugh, became prosecutor in Montgomery County, Maryland, Brett’s home state. During Kavanaugh’s childhood he recalls listening to his mother’s closing arguments at the family dinner table. His mother’s passion for the law inspired him to go to Yale Law school, where he eventually graduated from in 1990. Three years after his law school graduation Kavanaugh served as Justice Anthony Kennedy’s clerk, the justice who he is now replacing. In the late 1990’s along with Kenneth Star, Kavanaugh was a key member of the independent counsel, which produced the report that served as the basis for president Bill Clinton’s impeachment. Following which he served in the Bush White house from 2001 to 2006. And finally finished his career to date as a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals. Where he has issued approximately 300 opinions and has delivered numerous speeches.

At 53, Kavanaugh is known as a family man, he currently coaches his daughter’s basketball team and has been a committed member of his community for years. Along with family religion also plays a major part in Kavanaugh’s life and effects his judicial decisions. Kavanaugh is a stalwart for religious freedom. Russell More, President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention said he is confident Kavanaugh will be a strong defender of the freedoms guaranteed by the constitution and Bill of Rights, especially our first freedom of religious liberty. Kavanaugh will continue to uphold his values and morals in the highest court in the land.

In the upcoming weeks Judge Kavanaugh will embark on a busy schedule of courtesy calls and visits to key members of the senate judiciary committee and other senators where he will discuss with them his judicial philosophy, past rulings and public statements. To assist his process the white house will roll out an intensive campaign to sell the nominee to the senate and the American public. He has to be voted in by the legislative branch by the senate. But until then there is no settled justice because the senate has not decided yet.

Sources:

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2018-07-09/trump-says-he-cant-go-wrong-with-his-top-court-contenders

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/martha-kavanaugh-mother-brett-kavanaughs-supreme-court-nominee/