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October 10, 2018 Use OASIS to Reduce Cost and Increase Efficiencies Procuring complex integrated professional services is easier and faster with GSA’s One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services OASIS. OASIS offers flexible contracting solutions for your complex professional service needs to reduce duplication of contracting efforts. OASIS and OASIS Small Business (SB) are multiple awards, IDIQ contracts that provide flexible and innovative solutions for complex professional services. Last Chance to Sign Up! Join us in a virtual conference as we celebrate the launch of Acquisition Open Opportunities! The “Acquisition Open Opportunities Summit: Endless Possibilities” will be kicked off by Lesley A. Field, Deputy Administrator, OFPP on Thursday, October 11, 2018 from 1:00 p.m. -3:00 p.m. ET.  During this virtual conference, you will hear success stories from Acquisition Open Opportunities participants. Sign up to learn how this platform can help your organization! “See” you there! (For more information on Open Opportunities, visit here.) Free Classroom Training in Washington, DC, is Here! FAI is pleased to announce a fabulous array of free FAC-C and FAC-COR classroom training in metropolitan Washington, DC, for FY2019. There is no tuition cost charged to students or their agencies for this training. Review the schedule and enroll in these classes as soon as you can.  Seats will fill quickly. Registration is LIVE for Gateway U (Oct 29 - Nov 9)! Acquisition Gateway University is a two-week program of daily webinars designed to help you get the most from the tools and resources on the Gateway. Topics for this session cover acquisition planning, market research, live demos of the IGCE tool, and much more! Gateway U is open exclusively to federal agency personnel. Earn 1 CLP for each fully attended class.  Register today! Is It Accessible? Did you know that any information technology (IT) the Federal government buys, builds or uses must, by law, be accessible for persons with disabilities? Section508.gov/buy has step-by-step guidance on how to address accessibility in contracting and procurement. Agency Tools Now Available for all 10 Govt-.wide Categories Great news - Agency Profile Reports (APRs) for nine spend categories are accessible in the new Gov-Wide Category Agency Profile Report tool!  These tools were introduced in the September monthly dashboard demo, and there is a summary of the available user views and helpful information in an APR Playbook on the Gateway.  LEARN MORE. Do you have something that you would like to see featured in Acquisition Today that is appropriate to be shared across the government-wide acquisition workforce community, or general feedback?  Please email us at contact@fai.gov. Click here if you have news article to submit. It’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month by Ari Lazarus Consumer Education Specialist, FTC October is spooky enough with its ghouls and goblins. National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is here to remind us how to stay safe and secure from real (and maybe even scarier) threats – malware and scammers. Read more > FTC sues car dealerships for fake recall notices by Seena Gressin Attorney, Division of Consumer & Business Education, FTC A recall notice for your car or truck signals a serious safety defect that you should try to get fixed quickly. According to an FTC lawsuit, a group of auto dealerships counted on people doing just that when they sent fake mailers marked “URGENT RECALL NOTICE” to more than 21,000 vehicle owners, most of whom did not have recalls. Read more > Charity scams follow hurricane’s wake by Colleen Tressler Consumer Education Specialist, FTC As Hurricane Michael barrels its way toward Florida's Gulf Coast, scammers continue to con people who want to help those affected by past hurricanes. Case in point: The FTC and its state and local partners are getting reports about sham charities following Hurricane Florence’s devastating impact on North and South Carolina. Read more > Car dealer and marketing firm called out for bogus recall notices By Lesley Fair Here’s something likely to make consumers start firing on all cylinders: receiving an “URGENT RECALL NOTICE” in the mail with a “warning” that their vehicle “may be under an important factory/safety recall.” But according to an FTC lawsuit against the Passport group of car dealerships in the Washington, D.C., area, the vast majority of people who received those notices didn’t have a vehicle subject to an open recall. The complaint offers object lessons about a marketing campaign that took a seriously wrong turn, resulting in settlements with the dealerships, Passport’s president and vice president, a marketing firm, and the firm’s CEO. Read more > Federal Sector Information NEW 'DIGEST OF EEO LAW' ISSUED  BY EEOC WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the latest edition of its federal sector Digest of Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEO Digest), which is available on the EEOC’s website. “The Digest of EEO Law is a great resource for the federal sector EEO community,” said Carlton Hadden, Director of OFO.  “We welcome your comments or suggestions for future topics by emailing us at federalsectorEEO@eeoc.gov.” The EEO Digest, a quarterly publication prepared by OFO, features a wide variety of recent Commission decisions and federal court cases of interest. The Digest also includes hyperlinks so that stakeholders can easily access the full decisions which have been summarized. This edition of the Digest contains summaries of noteworthy decisions issued by EEOC, including cases involving: Compensatory Damages, Complaint Processing, Dismissals, Findings on the Merits, Mixed Motive, Remedies, Sanctions, Settlement Agreements, Stating a Claim, Summary Judgment, and Timeliness. The summaries are neither intended to be exhaustive or definitive as to the selected subject matter, nor are they to be given the legal weight of case law in citations. In addition to the quarterly Digest, Commission federal sector decisions are available on the EEOC's website. The public may also receive federal sector information updates and news items via GovDelivery and Twitter.  ================== Learn practical lessons about how to thrive internationally from seasoned executives at the U.S. Commercial Service's Discover Global Markets: Indo-Pacific conference on December 10-12 in Salt Lake City, Utah. "Trade Talks" bring together some of the best leaders in the aerospace, defense and cybersecurity sectors to share their tips and lessons learned on topics ranging from foreign military sales and materials innovations in manufacturing to U.S. economic security.   "Panel sessions are really good because I get to see how other people have succeeded in markets that I'm currently targeting. That helps a lot to avoid mistakes." – Jeremy Leahman, Filtroil Choose to attend sessions on a variety of topics: Sales Channels & Project Pipeline Understand what constitutes a Foreign Military Sale and how to leverage it for new market development; Learn which governments in the Indo-Pacific region are responding to rapid growth in air passenger traffic by launching and financing a robust pipeline of airport projects;  Determine how and where military modernization plans and security threats are driving opportunities for defense exports in key markets; and Assess sales prospects in civil aviation in the region – “the growth engine of the world” – as new airports + new routes = increased opportunities for exports of aircraft and aircraft parts. Supply Chain Optimization See how to safeguard your supply chain using data visualization, analytics and blockchain; and Learn how innovative materials and processes are being integrated into the aerospace supply chain in ways that shorten production times, decrease the development cycle, and allow companies to enter new markets. Exporter Toolkit Both novice and experienced exporters will obtain valuable updates on export compliance, new strategies to safeguard technology and the latest on protecting data from cyber threats. Create a customized conference experience The unique format of this conference allows participating firms to create a customized experience targeted to their firm's needs that may include:  Pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with our 15+ U.S. Commercial Diplomats, foreign buyers and U.S. OEMs seeking suppliers for their large projects in the region; Roundtable discussions to learn from and network with expert presenters on market opportunities in the region, the aerospace supply chain, cybersecurity, export compliance; and Dynamic plenary sessions on space commerce and innovation and disruption in the supply chain. Please visit the Discover Global Markets website for more details. SBA State Trade and Export Promotion (STEP) grants may be available to help eligible small businesses enter and succeed in the international marketplace. Check with your local International Trade Specialist or Contact An Office Near You to see if STEP funds may be available for your participation at Discover Global Markets: Indo Pacific. Connect with Indo-Pacific Markets via these opportunities Learn More Sign Up for Event Updates Join the conversation #DiscoverGlobalMarkets Trade Winds Indo-Pacific India | Bangladesh | Sri Lanka May 2019 Learn More Sign up for Trade Winds Updates Discover Global Markets SPONSORS Want to know more about what we do, visit us at export.gov. Find your nearest U.S. Commercial Service office here.