Kahua Announces “Kahua-Subcontractor” – a Powerful Project Management Solution Built for Subcontractors
The collaborative suite of apps improves efficiency and reduces risk for contractors with tailored industry best-practices. Kahua, the provider of the world’s premiere collaborative network for real estate and construction project management, announces a powerful solution built specifically for subcontractors. Kahua-Subcontractor’s robust functionality and industry best-practice applications are tailored to the unique needs of subcontractors. The modern intuitive UI, allows contractors to be operational in days, minimizing time-to-value, and enhancing user adoption.
Kahua-Subcontractor’s Project Management and Cost controls allows subcontractors to manage, track, review, and collaborate on all their projects. Kahua improves communication, keeping the field connected to the office, through daily reports, field tickets, photos and drawings, all available on mobile devices and offline when necessary. Also included in the suite is the most powerful job costing solution for the construction industry, Kahua Cost Management, enabling Subcontractors to manage change order requests, budgets, purchasing and pay applications with a schedule of values.
Reverse Auction Rule Announced
On December 7th, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council issued a proposed rule intended to clarify when and how federal agencies should use reverse auctions for contracting, following watchdog criticism that those auctions are not being used as efficiently as possible. Department of Defense, the General Services Administration (GSA) and NASA are proposing to revise the FAR in response to Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, GAO-14-108, Reverse Auctions: Guidance is Needed to Maximize Competition and Achieve Cost Savings, dated December 2013, and GAO report 18-446, Reverse Actions: Additional Guidance Could Help Increase Benefits and Reduce Fees, dated July 2018.
Reverse auctions are a tool utilized by Federal agencies to obtain competitive pricing for an acquisition. Some of the potential benefits of reverse auctions include increased competition, price reductions, and greater small business participation. During a reverse auction, multiple vendors compete with one another to win a contract from the Government by lowering the offered price for which the vendor is willing to sell a particular product or service. The offered price(s), but not the offerors’ identity, may be revealed to all offerors during the auction, and offerors have the opportunity to submit lower priced offers during the auction.
The use of reverse auctions to obtain competitive pricing is not a new concept to the Government or industry. The reverse auction model was introduced in the mid-1990s. Many private companies now offer software and/or services to facilitate reverse auctions, as well as use reverse auctions in their own supply chain management scheme. In 1997, the FAR was also amended to permit the use of reverse auctions in Federal acquisitions. Since then, Federal agencies have been able to use reverse auctions to obtain pricing, while operating within the constructs of the FAR and any supplemental agency guidance. As a result, this rule intends to implement government wide policy and guidance on reverse auctions to ensure a standardized and consistent use amongst all Federal agencies.
Between its 2013 and 2018 reports, GAO reviewed Federal agencies’ use of reverse auctions over almost a decade (between 2008 and 2017). Six agencies were identified as the largest users of reverse auctions, conducting approximately 15,000 reverse auctions in 2016. Through its review of the contract awards that resulted from these agencies’ use of reverse auctions, GAO found that: Reverse auctions are generally used when acquiring commercial products; reverse auctions predominately result in the award of a fixed price contract valued less than $150,000 to a small business; the total annual value of contracts that utilize reverse auctions regularly represents less than one percent of all annual Government contract spending; and most used the services of a commercial reverse auction service provider.
GAO reviewed and analyzed various aspects of agencies’ use of reverse auctions. GAO found that: Confusion exists concerning a lack of documentation about reverse auction service provider fees and their application to Federal contracts; there is a lack of sufficient data available for agencies to verify actual cost savings resulting from a reverse auction; the potential benefits of reverse auctions are not being maximized, as many reverse auctions are resulting in the receipt of only one offer or a lack of interactive competition amongst offerors (i.e., the submission of more than one offer by a vendor); and when reverse auctions are used in the acquisition of items from pre-existing contracts, agencies need to consider the impact of potentially paying two fees, one to use the contract and one to use the services of the reverse auction service provider, when determining whether the use of a reverse auction is cost effective, in comparison to other methods that are available to obtain pricing for an acquisition.
As a result of its findings in 2013, GAO recommended that the Director of the Office of Management and Budget amend the FAR to address agencies’ use of reverse auctions and issue government wide guidance to maximize competition and savings when using reverse auctions. In response, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) issued a memorandum on June 1, 2015, entitled Effective Use of Reverse Auctions. This proposed rule implements the policy of the OFPP memo and addresses some of the concerns in the GAO reports.
Please visit the rule at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/12/07/2020-24936/federal-acquisition-regulation-reverse-auction-guidance
ASA members now have access to new and improved flat pricing – no matter how much you ship, when you ship, or where it’s going.
UPS Discount Details
Members-Only Savings Include:
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Open a new account, or if you are already taking advantage of our UPS savings program, re-enroll and apply the new discounts to your existing account by visiting: www.savewithups.com/asamembers or call 1-800-MEMBERS (1-800-636-2377), M-F 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., ET.
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MORE ACT (The Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment and Expungement Act)
The House passed this decriminalization legislation; however, ASA sent a letter to the House Congressional Leadership expressing our concerns that work in the construction industry entails hazardous tasks with numerous laws, regulations and industry best practices to protect workers and the public. While it is reasonable and responsible for employers to ban marijuana during work hours, on-demand testing for marijuana impairment does not currently exist and impairment can last beyond the subjective high or simple observation tactics. As a result, many employers go beyond the prescriptive steps and implement zero tolerance drug policies.
Any relaxing of federal drug restrictions by Congress must ensure the ability of employers to continue instituting zero tolerance policies that are free from labor and employment law liability. States’ legalization of marijuana has already created complex challenges for employers wishing to maintain a drug-free workforce while following employment laws. Federally declassifying marijuana as an illegal drug would only further complicate employers’ compliance concerns. We remain cautious against advancing the MORE Act too quickly without adequate consideration of its real-world implications for the workforce, and encourage Congress to further study the impact of decriminalization on job site safety and the ability. NOTE: This legislation will not be considered in the Senate.
Paycheck Protection Program & Economic Injury Disaster (EIDL) Loan Alert
On November 24, 2020, a federal judge ordered the Small Business Administration (SBA) to release a complete list of entities that received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Injury(EIDL) loan funding by December 1, 2020, following a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request for the disclosure of loan recipients. Under this order, the SBA was required to release the business name, NAICS codes, zip codes, business type, demographic information, name of the lender, and jobs reported for loans totaling $150,000 or more. To protect these loan recipients, the SBA was not required to release the exact loan amounts for these recipients. Entities that received loans less than $150,000 were also disclosed, including the exact loan amounts along with the name of the lender, though the loan recipient was not disclosed. PPP and EIDL recipients are urged to be vigilant against potential fraud due to the SBA’s disclosure of this sensitive data.
THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR: ASA members who received PPP or EIDL funds are urged to be on the lookout for the following solicitations via emails, letters, phone calls, and social media for the following services:
- The promise of obtaining PPP loan forgiveness in exchange for a fee.
- The request for personal information or specific information related to your loan
- Phishing scams that may use SBA or other federal government logos, closely mirroring email addresses, or phone calls claiming to be federal government employees seeking additional information about a recipient’s personal or business information.
NOTE: These scams may include attempts to access banking information, employee data, or the installation of ransomware or malware on your computer.
If you are unsure whether communications with SBA or other federal agencies related to your PPP or EIDL funds are legitimate, please contact your financial lender or your local SBA office immediately!
