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- Pass legislation to repeal the $250,000 micro-purchase threshold
- Require three (3) competitive bids for task or delivery orders for goods and services from companies already on federal schedules, IDIQs or GWACs
- Conduct full and open competition for all non-urgent purchases
- Conduct limited competitions for all urgent purchases
- Treat Alaskan Native Corporations (ANC) like other 8(a) businesses, e.g. competing for contracts over $3 million (or $5 million for manufactured goods) and having a socially and economically disadvantaged owner
2. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY
- Require public posting of all task and delivery order opportunities on FedBizOpps website
- Require copies of task and delivery orders awards be made publicly available on the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) website
- Require timely, consistent, and accurate contracting information from all federal agencies on the FPDS website
3. INADEQUATE OVERSIGHT
- Change definitiion of "commercial item" to only those items that are actually sold in substantial quantities in the commercial (non-governmental) marketplace
- For non-commercial goods or services, apply Truth in Negotiations Act (TINA) and Cost Accounting Standards (CAS)
- Rebuild and properly train staff in federal contracting and audit offices that have been cut to the bone over the past decades to ensure these functions are performed by career civil servants
4. CONTRACTOR MISCONDUCT
- Create a centralized database which lists instances of contractor misconduct so that government procurement officials can make informed contracting determinations prior to committing federal funds
- Require the consideration of past contractor misconduct in contract award determinations
5. INHERENTLY GOVERNMENTAL FUNCTIONS
- Congress should revisit and study whether “inherently governmental functions” such as oversight and contract decisions, are being preformed by political appointees or private contractors rather than career civil servants
6. THE REVOLVING DOOR
- Close the loophole that allows former government employees to work for a different department or division of the same contractor they oversaw as a government employee
- Political appointees and Senior Executive Service policymakers (people who develop rules and determine requirements) should take an oath that they will not receive compensation from contractors who were regulated by or benefitted from the policies the official formulated while in public service
Additional Resources
 POGO ’s Contractor Misconduct Database.
POGO provides additional information to the panel reviewing the government’s buying system. August 30, 2005.
POGO 's testimony on DoD's Use of "Commercial" Acquisitions. March 2005.
POGO Report - Politics of Contracting Report, including the revolving doors spinning from the government to the top 20 government contractors. June 29, 2004 .
POGO ’s Senate testimony calling for the suspension or debarment of Halliburton. September 10, 2004.
POGO Report - Federal Contracting and Iraq Reconstruction. March 11, 2004.
POGO Report - Pick Pocketing the Taxpayer: The Insidious Effects of Acquisition Reform Revised Edition. March 11, 2002.
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