In part 4 of Federal News Radio's special report, The Obama Impact: Evaluating the Last Four Years, we examine progress the administration has made in the acquisition arena. We rated one initiative as effective (green), three as ineffective (red) and two as more progress needed (yellow). View the details of each initiative through our interactive dashboard.
The Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) issued its annual report to Congress showing that the use of suspension and debarment increased substantially in 2011 over 2009 and 2010.
GSA's System for Award Management is finding its footing after a rough start. OFPP Administrator Joe Jordan said he's watching the systems' progress carefully.
The Government Accountability Office looked at how agencies were complying with the Services Acquisitions Reform Act of 2003. It discovered that while many chief acquisition officers had assumed duties far beyond what the act intended, that might not be such a bad thing.
The office asked for industry comment on how to get better data into the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System. OFPP asked for input on seven questions.
The Veterans Affairs Department said it saved $40 million by using this centralized approach to managing contractors. vendor management organizations also help agencies buy more strategically. OFPP plans to expand strategic sourcing and sets a $2 billion savings goal by 2015.
Federal contractors will have more multi-award contracts to bid on this year, but the number may decline in future years, as agencies consolidate their buying into bigger deals.
The agency released a request for information last month detailing copier and print managed services requirements. GSA awarded a strategic sourcing contract to 11 vendors in September for basic print management services under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative.
Federal Chief Information Officer Steve VanRoekel and Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Joe Jordan released the guidance that highlights possible risks or challenges, and offers checklists, templates and other tools to make the move to this smaller, more outcome based approach easier for agencies.
Joe Jordan has led the Office of Federal Procurement Policy for a little more than two weeks. But he's wasting no time setting priorities. Jordan spoke to In Depth with Francis Rose as part of Federal News Radio's week-long special report, Inside the World's Biggest Buyer.
On the In Depth show blog, you can listen to the interviews, find more information about the guests on the show each day and links to additional resources.
Two former administrators of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Al Burman and Steve Kelman, discuss how acquisition reforms and improvements often fall prey to partisanship. One of OFPP's goals is not only to create acquisition policy, but systems that last beyond one administration. "You want to try to have continuity, as much as you can and keep better management of the procurement system out of partisan politics as much as you can," Kelman said. "If it's just an initiative — if it's forgotten in six months — it's never going to accomplish anything."
Procurement chief Joe Jordan and SBA Administrator Karen Mills highlighted three long-time challenges in a new memo to senior agency officials. Agencies have until July 9 to detail steps they will take to address three areas.
Some small businesses are calling into question the benefits of the Obama administration's strategic sourcing initiative. They say the agencies are mandating the use of the office supplies BPA and putting more than 500 Schedule 75 holders at risk of losing their business. GSA, which runs Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative (FSSI), said there still are plenty of sales to go around as the BPA accounts for less than half of the $1.4 billion office supplies market.
The Senate confirmed the nomination of Joe Jordan as administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, as well as nominations for seven key Defense Department positions.