High Risk | The Contracting Education Academy

March 22, 2019 By AMK

Why contracting challenges put VA on the ‘High-Risk’ list

The Department of Veterans Affairs has not updated some of its purchasing regulations since 2008, and the resulting problems created for contracting officers at the agency have caused the Government Accountability Office to designate the problem a high-risk area for 2019.

“The VA acquisition is a huge part of the mission over at the Department of Veterans Affairs. They do about $26 billion in procurements each year, and tens of thousands of procurement actions. Since 2015, we’ve had over 31 recommendations that we’ve done there and, unfortunately, 21 of those remain open, and so the high-risk designation centers on a couple of longstanding weaknesses that they’ve had in the acquisition area,” said Chris Mihm, managing director of the GAO Strategic Issues Team, in an agency podcast.

“First is that they don’t have a consistent and coordinated set of policies and regulations across the department. Second is that there is the importance of just a human capital, to make sure that their people are trained, to make sure that their workloads are being appropriately managed. Third, there’s problems that we’ve seen in terms of data and transparency over the acquisition process. And then fourth, that we’re very concerned about the absence of a strategic approach to procurement at the department.”

Keep reading this article at: https://www.federaltimes.com/management/2019/03/07/why-contracting-challenges-put-va-on-the-high-risk-list/

March 18, 2019 By AMK

VA procurement and security clearance processing land on GAO’s high-risk list

The Veterans Affairs Department suffers from “fundamental management weaknesses and is one of the most challenged in the federal government,” Comptroller General Gene Dodaro told a Senate panel recently.

Leadership instability, high-level vacancies and a lack of accountability are all problems at the sprawling, decentralized VA, which appears three times on the newly released biennial list of high-risk programs compiled by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

VA Secretary Robert Wilkie “has a plan but there’s not a lot of detail” for implementing GAO recommendations in such areas as the department’s outdated procurement system that relies too heavily on expensive emergency procurements, Dodaro said.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.govexec.com/management/2019/03/va-procurement-and-security-clearance-processing-land-gaos-high-risk-list/155354

March 11, 2019 By AMK

DoD’s acquisition and contracting sees little improvement on GAO’s ‘high-risk’ list

Despite sweeping legislative and department changes over the past five years, progress on the Defense Department’s systems acquisition and contracting management remain basically stagnant on the Government Accountability Office’s 2019 High-Risk List of areas that are most vulnerable to waste, fraud and abuse.

The list, released last Wednesday, states efforts to shore up problems with DoD weapons systems acquisition remain “unchanged” since GAO’s last high-risk list in 2017. GAO made the same assessment of the Pentagon’s contract management issues, though with a few positive caveats.

The two items on the high-risk list account for almost $2 trillion in taxpayer funds — about $1.66 trillion in investments of 86 major weapons systems and $300 billion in annual contracted services for the Pentagon. Both of the items have been on GAO’s high-risk list since the early 1990s.

At the same time, GAO points out that the government’s inability to address climate change is causing national security issues and will cost DoD more money.

Keep reading this article at: https://federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main/2019/03/dods-acquisition-and-contracting-sees-little-improvement-on-gao-high-risk-list/

April 11, 2017 By AMK

DHA achieves an acquisition first for the agency

The Homeland Security Department’s acquisition struggles have been in Congress’ crosshairs for years and were again highlighted in the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk list this February.

A new GAO audit, however, suggests progress addressing those issues.

Released this week, the audit states all 26 acquisition programs GAO reviewed met department-approved cost, schedule and performance baselines to measure progress “for the first time since GAO began its annual assessments” three years ago, with more than half the programs on track to meet initial cost goals.

The audit covers DHS acquisitions over fiscal 2016, which total approximately $7 billion spent on ships, surveillance technology at the border, screening equipment at airports and other equipment.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2017/04/dhs-achieves-acquisition-first-agency/136849

February 24, 2017 By AMK

Despite improvements, DoD is still top offender on GAO high-risk list

The government’s highest risk department is making improvements, but still has miles to go before it gets off the Government Accountability Office’s radar.

The Defense Department once again makes up a sizeable chunk of the GAO’s High-Risk List and is the most represented government department on the list.

Despite having some programs on the list for more than two decades, DoD is making headway in the realms of supply chain management and weapons system acquisition.

But DoD isn’t out of hot water yet. The Feb. 15 report still gives low marks, even for a list of bruised programs, to the department’s base management, its ability to weed out duplicative offices and the auditability of DoD’s finances.

Keep reading this article at: http://federalnewsradio.com/defense/2017/02/despite-improvements-dod-still-top-offender-gao-high-risk-list/

The Department of Veterans Affairs has not updated some of its purchasing regulations since 2008, and the resulting problems created for contracting officers at the agency have caused the Government Accountability Office to designate the problem a high-risk area for 2019.

The Veterans Affairs Department suffers from “fundamental management weaknesses and is one of the most challenged in the federal government,” Comptroller General Gene Dodaro told a Senate panel recently.

The Homeland Security Department’s acquisition struggles have been in Congress’ crosshairs for years and were again highlighted in the Government Accountability Office’s High-Risk list this February.

The government’s highest risk department is making improvements, but still has miles to go before it gets off the Government Accountability Office’s radar.

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