accountability | The Contracting Education Academy

March 20, 2013 By AMK

Bid protests are worth their costs, former OFPP chief says

Contractors on the losing side of a competitive bidding who protest to the Government Accountability Office do not hurt or game the procurement system as some critics allege, says a forthcoming study.

The percentage of contracts that spark protests is also comparatively small, while the overall impact of the protest procedure is healthy, according to Dan Gordon, the former Obama administration head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy and now associate dean for government procurement law studies at George Washington University Law School.

In an article set for publication this spring in the Public Contract Law Journal, a copy of which was provided to Government Executive, Gordon wrote that “there exist a number of misperceptions concerning bid protest statistics that deserve attention, because these misperceptions can taint judgments about the benefits and costs of protests. In particular, even people quite familiar with the federal acquisition system often believe that protests are more common than they really are, and they believe, inaccurately, that protesters use the protest process as a business tactic to obtain contracts from the government.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2013/03/bid-protests-are-worth-their-costs-ex-procurement-chief-says/61827/?oref=govexec_today_nl

March 12, 2013 By AMK

Former chiefs: Fix procurement to save the Navy

In a remarkably non-partisan moment amidst the current strife over budget cuts and Chuck Hagel, Ronald Reagan’s Navy Secretary and George W. Bush’s Chief of Naval Operations told a Republican-helmed committee that the Navy’s real problem was not the Obama administration’s budget but decades of creeping bureaucracy that have eaten every budget’s buying power.

“I hate to say anything particularly in praise of this administration’s defense policy,” said John Lehman, Navy Secretary from 1981 to 1987 and national security advisor to Mitt Romney in 2012, at a hearing of the seapower panel of the House Armed Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Randy Forbes. But, Lehman went on, a recent report by the Defense Business Board really shows “how to get at the bureaucracy and the overhead.”
The chairman of that study, retired Marine general Arnold Punaro, told AOL Defense at the time that its recommendation for the Pentagon procurement system was, in a phrase, “put a match to it.”

Keep reading this article at: http://defense.aol.com/2013/02/26/john-lehman-gary-roughead-fix-procurement-to-save-the-navy

December 12, 2012 By AMK

Senate approves wartime contracting reform bill

The Senate on Thursday added broad overseas contracting reform to its version of the Defense authorization bill, handing Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., a victory in her six-year effort to crack down on procurement waste in war zones.

The Comprehensive Contingency Contracting Reform Act was introduced in February after a report issued by the bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting told Congress that federal contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan had wasted an estimated $60 billion.

If accepted in a House-Senate conference, the bill would seek to reduce waste in overseas military operations and occupations by elevating oversight responsibility, improving management structures, expanding planning requirements and reforming contracting practices. It would prohibit excessive pass-through contracts and charges to the government and add new oversight responsibilities for inspectors general for contingency operations, according to McCaskill’s staff. And it would remake the contracting process to provide greater transparency, competition, professional education and accountability.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2012/11/senate-approves-wartime-contracting-reform-bill/59874/?oref=national_defense_nl.

November 28, 2012 By AMK

Body overseeing Washington airports called ‘poster child for corruption’

The regional body overseeing Washington area airport projects such as the subway extension to Dulles International Airport is a “poster child for corruption” that needs major management reforms, a House committee chairman said.

“This is a sad chapter for metropolitan Washington and advocates for good D.C. transportation,” Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said at a Friday hearing of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that reviewed a Nov. 1 Transportation Department inspector general report. “The IG found problems with hiring practices, a lack of competition for contracts and ethical violations.”

Mica mentioned contractors providing Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority employees with trips to golf tournaments, tickets to sporting events and concerts, and travel and accommodations amounting to nearly $5,000, as well as “preferential treatment to friends and relatives of board members.”

The board, which employs 1,400 and consists of political appointees made by the Maryland and Virginia governors and the District of Columbia mayor, has been in the news in recent months because of debates over the cost and scope of the Metro extension to Dulles and because of questionable salaries and travel expenses of some employees and board members.

Inspector General Calvin L. Scovel III testified that “MWAA’s policies and practices have not provided the controls needed to ensure accountability, transparency and sound governance.” A lack of internal controls has created a culture that allows questionable contracting practices . . . including initiating work before contract award, awarding sole source and limited competition contracts without proper justification, and providing nonpublic information that gives potential contractors an unfair advantage in competition.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/11/body-overseeing-washington-airports-called-poster-child-corruption/59633/?oref=govexec_today_nl.

October 16, 2012 By AMK

Stricter Pcard rules signed into law

President Obama signed a bill into law Friday that creates stricter rules for federal employees using government charge cards, Federal News Radio reported.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the 2012 Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act in February 2011, and it cleared Congress during the final minutes of lawmakers’ session in late September. Grassley worked on the legislation with Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. In a statement, Grassley said the legislation was created to restore the public’s trust in government spending.

“This bill is about accountability,” he said. “The public trust has been violated by abusive use of government charge cards. By putting some common-sense controls into the law, we can make certain the federal bureaucracy improves the way it responsibly manages the use of these cards.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/oversight/2012/10/obama-signs-new-government-charge-card-rules/58663/?oref=govexec_today_nl.

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