Acquisition Advisory Panel issues recommendations
December 22, 2006
by Elise Castelli
Federal Times
The congressionally appointed Acquisition Advisory Panel issued more than 80 recommendations for how the government can become a better buyer in a final draft of a report to the Office of Management and Budget and Congress on Dec. 21. … The watchdog group Project on Government Oversight gave mixed reviews to the panel recommendations. Scott Amey, POGO's general counsel, said that if enacted some of the recommendations could solve flaws in federal contracting, but the panel could have gone further. Amey said the panel should have adopted a panelist's suggestion to recommend a clear definition of competition that includes specific measures of what adequate competition for contract awards is. Conflicts of interest involving former government employees now working for private firms also should have been addressed to close the "revolving door" between the public and private sectors, he said. The panel found current laws governing conflicts of interest were adequate. Where the panel did tread, POGO urged adoption of the panel's recommendations to provide government ethics training to contractors. POGO also endorsed a recommendation to allow contractors to protest task orders greater than $5 million awarded under multiple award contracts. While contractors can protest contracts, they currently cannot protest task orders, even though large task orders are competed, according to the panel. POGO also supported the recommendation to narrow the government's definition of commercial service items to those bought in large quantities by private businesses. According to the panel, the current wording allows items not bought in substantial quantities by companies to be considered commercial in the government market and subject to faster, streamlined competition.
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