According to an industry group study, most federal agencies aren’t sharing details about  their upcoming acquisitions needs as well as they could.

The federal government has room to improve in providing effective contracting forecasts to industry, according to the Professional Services Council, which represents some 400 companies that work with federal agencies.

PSC’s second Federal Business Forecast Scorecard, which evaluated 60 agencies on 15 “key attributes” necessary for an effective forecast, found 28 of the agencies reviewed “needed improvement,” while five agencies—including the Air Force, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Agriculture Department — do not provide forecasts.

PSC rated 16 agencies as “good,” which represented an improvement from PSC’s 2019 forecast.

“PSC is pleased to see substantial improvement in several agencies even as we continue to encourage all federal agencies to refine the information made available to industry,” Alan Chvotkin, PSC executive vice president and counsel, said in a statement. “Clear project needs enable contractors to plan for the needed personnel and resources to compete successfully for U.S. government contracts, thus resulting in better proposals and shorter award decision timelines allowing programs to commence in timely fashion. The benefit to agencies is that companies can prepare better and earlier in the procurement lifecycle to perform on contracts. Agency needs are met, measurable results are achieved, and competition keeps costs down.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2020/07/agencies-could-use-improvement-contracting-forecast-data/167043/