It’s been three months since the department announced it was closing down its shared services operations, and many questions remain unanswered.
The Health and Human Services Department’s decision to wind down its acquisition services for outside agencies has left customers scrambling to fill the void and a number of unanswered questions.
HHS announced in June that it would no longer offer assisted acquisition services for non-HHS customers through its Program Support Center, and gave them until Sept. 30, 2020, to find alternative providers. The center works for HHS and 19 other agencies on a fee-for-service basis, administering more than $1.4 billion in contracts per year, Federal News Network reported. Also, the department put four officials associated with the Program Support Center on paid leave between April and June, Bloomberg News reported.
“As the result of an internal review that is ongoing, [the Program Support Center] has determined that it does not have the policies, procedures, or internal controls necessary to conduct assisted acquisitions for agencies outside of HHS,” said Melissa McAbee, acting head of contracting at PSC, according to a report in Bloomberg News. As of mid-June, the center was managing 250 contracts for agencies besides HHS, including the Defense Department and Environmental Protection Agency.
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