When the 114th Congress gets back to work next week, a new corps of leaders will take over important committees. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) will lead the House Armed Services Committee; Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah)will chair the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee; and Republicans will take over the chairs of all the committees in the Senate. Rob Burton is a partner at the Venable law firm, and former Deputy Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he shared his Top 3 for 2015. He said you can expect more oversight in the new Congress.

Rob Burton’s Top 3 for 2015

1. Increased congressional oversight: With the Senate in Republican hands, you can expect more oversight hearings about problems with the acquisition system. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will focus on DoD acquisition and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will be more inclined to have acquisition-related oversight hearings than Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.). On the House side, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue an aggressive oversight agenda, especially with Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) chairing a new oversight subcommittee dedicated to overseeing Transportation, TSA, GSA, HUD and FEMA. Contractors working with those agencies can plan on increased scrutiny form Mica’s subcommittee.
2. More strategic sourcing: This will continue to be a high-profile acquisition initiative in 2015. OFPP and GSA will aggressively push the initiative with the announcement of new SSI vehicles. The initiative just received congressional support in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. Section 836 of the NDAA directs OFPP to promulgate regulations that will require contracting personnel to justify buying decisions to use a non-FSSI contracting vehicle. Small businesses will continue to fight the initiative.
3. Growing number of bid protests and agency corrective actions: The increase in bid protests and agency corrective actions, which we witnessed in 2014, will likely continue an upward trend in 2015. In fiscal 2014, bid protests grew by five percent. Fewer contracting opportunities and a tight budget will force a highly competitive marketplace, which will encourage more protests as incumbents and their competitors aggressively compete for the shrinking number of contract awards.

In our special radio report, Top 3 for 2015, federal experts tell In Depth host Francis Rose what top three concepts, trends or priorities they believe will be important in 2015.

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