Here is a quick look at the key findings and recommendations of the final draft report of the Acquisition Advisory Panel. Comments on the report, released Dec. 22, are due Jan. 5, 2007. The following points are largely based on language in the executive summary, although numerous passages have been edited for length and clarity. To read the executive summary or the full report, click here.
Findings: According to the panel’s discussions with agencies and their inspectors general and the Government Accountability Office, government frequently fails to invest in requirements definition, which the panel found is crucial to achieving the full benefits of competition.
Recommendation: Agencies should establish centers of expertise in requirements analysis and definition -- and they should make it a policy to express advance approval of the requirements from the main stakeholders, including program managers and contracting officers. Recommendation: The General Services Administration should establish a market research capability to monitor services acquisitions by government and commercial buyers, collect publicly available information and maintain a database of information regarding transactions.
Findings: Although commercial buyers rely extensively on competition, government agencies often award task orders without seeking competitive bids. In other cases, agencies fail to clearly state their requirements, which is a prerequisite of meaningful competition. Recommendation: Civilian agencies should follow the Defense Department’s policy of notifying all eligible contractors of order opportunities available through multiple-award task order-based contracts.
Recommendation: In the interest of transparency, agencies should notify other contractors after making sole-source task order awards. Recommendation: For single orders with an expected value in excess of $5 million, in which a statement of work is required, agencies should provide a clear statement of the requirements, disclose the significant evaluation factors, provide a reasonable response time for bids and document the selection decision. In these cases, agencies should also arrange post-award debriefings for the losing bidders.
Recommendation: GSA should establish a new services schedule for information technology that would reduce the burden on contractors that usually results from a lengthy process of negotiating labor rates when the pricing of most services is requirement-specific. Finding: Commercial buyers rely on competition for the pricing of goods and services, using well-defined requirements that facilitate competitive, fixed-price offers.
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
Technorati
