Keeping Up with the Changing Federal Acquisition Marketplace
ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) announces the first annual NITAAC Symposium on December 11, 2009 at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Main Campus. This event will bring two of the most influential NIH institutes, Acquisitions and Information Technology, together with leading industry professionals.
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This year's theme, "Keeping up with the Changing Federal Acquisition Marketplace," will address the challenges presented by President Obama's March 4th memo calling for greater contract scrutiny and further spending cuts with guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
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As one of only three agencies authorized by OMB to offer Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), NITAAC is presenting high-level acquisition and logistics speakers who are setting the tone for future IT procurement practices.
Featured speaker Diane Frasier, Head of Contracting Activity, NIH, Director of Acquisition and Logistics Management (OALM) will address government agency purchasing, contracts and program administrators on the latest OMB recommendations and best practices. "With the new administration so heavily focused on strategic sourcing, it's more important than ever that we refocus our efforts and define solutions that meet these new challenges. OMB has already sanctioned NIH purchasing practices and our NITAAC contract vehicles that are available to all federal agencies."
Also speaking is Dr. Jack Jones, Chief Information Officer of NIH and Acting Director of the Center for Information Technology (CIT). Widely recognized for his strategic planning initiatives and setting the IT standards for all of NIH, Dr. Jones will talk about why NITAAC contracts are the preferred IT purchasing vehicles and how they can be easily used by other government agencies.
The response to the Symposium has been overwhelmingly positive with over 300 government employees attending, along with 100 leading industry providers of information technology products and services.
Attendees will learn how to streamline the acquisition of IT product and service requirements through NITAAC's cost-effective Government Wide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs), how to reduce the costs of administering IT purchases, and how to more effectively control the IT procurement process.
This event signifies one of the many changes and improvements being made within NITAAC over the past few months as part of a major initiative to be a more customer driven organization. As we have for over a decade, NITAAC is dedicated to working with every major government agency to provide a streamlined, efficient purchasing process for IT products and services.
NITAAC recently revealed a new logo and identity package that speaks to the streamlined, customer-focused processes being introduced, along with new and more powerful web tools, including new request for quote (RFQ) and request for proposal (RFP) ordering systems that are easy to use, making it faster than ever to place orders for IT products and services.
These changes are part of an on-going series of updates that have taken place since new Deputy Program Director, Rob Coen, and Acting Deputy Director, Wanda Russell, began collaborating several months ago. "The new logo and identity reflect the professionalism of our contracting staff and their dedication to making our government-wide acquisition contracts (GWACs) the contracts of choice," said Russell.
"The changes we are making will position NITAAC as the leading provider of government IT as well as being the only agency authorized to administer three contracts for products, services and solutions. When our users discover how easy it is to place an order, we are convinced that they will continue to repeatedly use our contracts," said Coen.
To register for the NITAAC Symposium go to http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=9e21653c-d797-49bf-8f38-975264426370
SOURCE NITAAC
