Debarment | The Contracting Education Academy

This commentary originally appeared as a blog post on The White House’s Office of Management & Budget web site.

When the Administration took office, it was clear to us that for too long there was not adequate oversight of contractors, leading to wasted taxpayer dollars, repeated delivery delays, and unacceptable contractor performance. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in wartime contracting during the last decade. That’s why this Administration has focused on cutting waste in contracting, boosting oversight, and strengthening accountability of contractors. And more broadly, earlier this summer the White House launched the Campaign to Cut Waste, a government-wide drive to crack down on fraud, waste, and abuse.

On August 31, the Commission on Wartime Contracting released a report on these challenges. We welcome the report and commend the Commission for shining a spotlight on waste in contracting, on the need to strengthen the contracting function at agencies, on the value of increasing competition in contracting, and on the importance of holding contractors accountable for their performance.

The Administration already has made significant progress addressing each of the issues raised in the Commission’s report, in many cases reversing more than a decade of problems. Whether it is reducing improper payments to contractors and grantees, closing down redundant data centers, or cracking down on nonperforming contractors, we cannot tolerate the wasting of hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

There is a lot in the report, and I want to highlight the main issues raised in it and how the Administration is working on them.

Cutting Waste and Reducing Overreliance on Contractors:

On March 4, 2009, the President issued the Memorandum on Government Contracting, which called attention to the rapid growth in contracting spending, and raised concerns about contracts awarded without adequate competition. The memorandum also addressed issues with contractors performing functions that should be performed by public-sector employees. Agency efforts to reduce waste and demonstrate fiscal discipline are producing results. We cut contracting spending for the first time in 13 years in fiscal year 2010; agencies spent nearly $80 billion less than they would have if contract spending continued to grow at the same rate it had under the prior Administration.

Expanding Competition and Strengthening Contract Management and Oversight:

Over the past two years, significant progress has been made in reducing the use of high-risk contracting methods – including cutting $5 billion in spending on so-called “no bid contracts” last year. Consistent with the Commission’s recommendations, the Administration is strengthening the acquisition workforce by increasing training and certification requirements for those with a key role in oversight of contractors, including those working in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Department of Defense has made improving the defense acquisition system a top priority, and is tracking metrics on cost overruns, schedule delays, competition, the acquisition workforce, and acquisition employee training certifications.

Strengthening the Suspension and Debarment Process for Bad Actors and Improving Contractor Accountability:

Where there are bad actors in the contracting community, agencies have increased their use of suspension and debarment and other tools to deal with irresponsible contractors, consistent with the Commission’s recommendations. For example, in the last 18 months alone, USAID has taken more than 40 suspension or debarment actions – almost double the number of actions taken in the prior seven years combined. OMB has worked closely with the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) to review current agency suspension and debarment practices and to identify opportunities where these practices can be strengthened.

The Commission’s report recommends improving the recording and use of contractor performance data, so that contracting officers have ready access to useful information about vendors’ past performance, and can take this information into account in decisions to award contracts. This Administration has made unprecedented progress in improving the collection of contractor performance data and in making this information publicly available, as part of our commitment to transparency.

For the first time, contractor performance data is posted online to help ensure that the government does business with reputable companies. Data is now available on suspensions and debarments, terminations, and criminal activities of contractors. Data on where contractor dollars are being spent is now posted on http://www.usaspending.gov/ – including down to the sub contract or sub award level for the first time this year. Finally, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued guidance to agencies to enter meaningful assessments of contractor performance into a central database to ensure that the government awards to vendors that can perform.

Our agreement with the broad contours of the Commission’s report and with many of the specific recommendations does not, of course, mean that we agree with all details of the Commission’s recommendations, but we welcome the focus the report brings to the need to continue improving contracting. We simply cannot afford to continue to tolerate the waste of taxpayer dollars that we saw in the past. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress and all concerned citizens in addressing the Commission’s legislative recommendations, as we continue to make strides toward boosting accountability and cutting waste in contracting.

Daniel Gordon is Administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy.

Mandatory suspension or debarment of indicted contractors could have a “chilling effect” on contractor relations, the Defense Department’s top acquisition official told the Commission on Wartime Contracting on Monday.

In February, the congressionally chartered commission released an interim report on how the department could reduce waste, fraud and abuse through enhanced oversight and improved deployment of government resources in contingency contracting.

The report offered 32 specific legislative, regulatory and policy proposals, including limiting the government’s reliance on armed private security contractors. The commission’s final report is due out in July and likely will be considered by Congress for possible legislation.

Defense agreed with most of the suggestions in the interim report and already has begun to implement some, according to Ashton B. Carter, undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. But Carter told the panel that other ideas would do more harm than good.

For example, the commission recommends automatic suspension or debarment for indicted contractors. The group would mandate that suspensions and debarments no longer be subject to the terms of agreements the contractors make with the Justice Department — agreements that allow firms to avoid prosecution in criminal actions. Also, contingency contractors operating overseas should no longer be guaranteed a hearing to dispute facts in a suspension or debarment case, according to the report.

Carter disagreed with those recommendations, noting suspension and debarment officials need the flexibility and discretion to judge each case on its own facts and circumstances.

“There is a potential unintended consequence of turning suspensions and debarments from tools to protect the government’s interest into tools that automatically punish contractors,” he testified. “Such an approach may have a chilling effect on contractor cooperation in identifying and fixing real problems, including those that affect the health and safety of our personnel.”

The department also is not on board with the commission’s recommendation to limit past performance evaluations exclusively to those records in a federal database. Carter argued some contractors could have valuable experience working for foreign governments that should be considered as part of a past performance appraisal.

“We don’t want to erect a barrier for contractors that have not worked for the [U.S.] government,” he said.

Defense also is opposing commission recommendations that would mandate broader governmentwide access to contractor records by oversight personnel and establish offices of contingency contracting at Defense, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Nonetheless, Carter conceded the department’s contingency acquisition process remains too slow and outdated to effectively serve the warfighter. “We have to create a fast lane for contingency acquisitions so requirements are not done in the ponderous usual way,” he said.

Congress recently approved a Defense request to reprogram some of its fiscal 2011 funding. But, the annual budgeting system — and the absence of permanent funding for the rest of the fiscal calendar — has created a constant headache for Defense.

“The budgeting system is not adequate for dealing with ongoing wars,” Carter said, calling for a more rapid system to implement and issue wartime contracts.

Carter is leading Defense’s Better Buying Initiative to increase contractor competition, improve acquisition practices and reduce costs. Thus far, the department has identified $100 billion in unnecessary spending that has been cut and reinvested in warfighting operations. An additional $78 billion has been returned to the treasury for deficit reduction.

— by Robert Brodsky – GovExec.com – March 28, 2011 – at http://www.govexec.com/story_page_pf.cfm?articleid=47439&printerfriendlyvers=1

Daniel Gordon: ‘Progress on Wartime Contracting’

Pentagon resists automatic suspension of indicted contractors

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