procurement integrity | The Contracting Education Academy

June 26, 2017 By AMK

Report shows procurement staffs overworked, impacting competition

“With a noticeable decline in performance since the last survey, state and local government procurement is facing some difficult challenges that may result in unwanted consequences for both buyers and sellers.”

That’s a conclusion drawn from a survey conducted by government business intelligence company Onvia, in a report released last week.

The report shows a 5% decline in performance on the part of procurement officials working for state, local and educational (SLED) institutions of government. And the decline in performance is occurring in spite of 40% of the survey respondents stating that they are working longer hours than ever.

In the report SLED buyers complain that they:

Do not have adequate time to conduct market research and prepare adequate bid invitations and requests for proposals.
Lack staffing resources in the procurement function, and
Face challenges working with end-users and stakeholders.

To better understand the government contracting environment, Onvia surveyed 668 procurement professionals and key decision-makers from state, county and city agencies, plus school and special districts nationwide. 59% of the survey respondents said they operate in a decentralized acquisition environment.

Another report – conducted by IHS Global Insight – documents a 3.4% increase in state and local agency current spending levels. That’s consistent with what 39% of procurement staff surveyed by Onvia said. They predict 4% growth in bid volume in the next 12 months. There’s little doubt this is linked to the recent surge in demand for infrastructure bids stemming from the $200 billion in tax initiatives for these projects approved by voters nationwide last November.

In addition to 24.8% of the respondents saying that they are challenged by conducting pre-bid research and planning, SLED procurement personnel say their top challenges are:

Meeting regulatory, contracting guidelines and rules (18.1%),
Dealing with workload and staffing limitations (17.8%), and
Working with stakeholders and end-users (15.8%).

Given these conditions, it’s no surprise that the next top-ranked challenge faced by buyers (14.9%) is “getting enough participation from vendors.” Four out of ten agency respondents indicate that they are failing to attract enough interest among vendors and contractors to their competitive solicitations. The frustration and inefficiencies within agencies, the report notes, “have negative impacts on the experience of bidders as they compete for work and interact with those involved in the purchase decision.”

The report also documents an 8% decline in the agility of purchasing organizations in the last 12 months. Agility is measured in terms of factors such as wait times for processing bids and making award decisions.

In addition, only 69% of agency staff rate themselves as high or above average in friendly, responsive customer service – down 9% from last year.

Perhaps most troubling, over the last year there was a 6% decline in the percentage of procurement staff reporting above-average or high levels of integrity and transparency (83% down to 77%).

Among the conclusions and observations offered by Onvia are:

“Attracting attention from bidders is not simply a function of agency and contract size. [There is] a strong case for investing in the procurement function itself within an agency, with the goal of providing the most effective buying services.
“Government that provides a more fair, consistent, timely and smooth buying process can attract attention from established bidders that have options on where to focus their marketing efforts and may not have time to bid on every deal.”

The report also contains information about the use of purchasing co-ops and the use of e-procurement systems. To download a copy of the full report, free of charge, visit: https://www.onvia.com/market-research/surveys/survey-government-procurement-professionals-2017

December 27, 2016 By AMK

Top issues going into the new year

As the new year approaches, everyone tends to reflect on where they are and where they’re going.

fischetti-12-2016 This year certainly didn’t go as many had planned — particularly concerning the 2016 elections. For acquisition, this means, like much else, everything is turned on its head.

In the short term, preexisting initiatives and policy from the past administration will continue, under the able stewardship of professional senior executives. It must be stressed, however, that there is scant evidence of what may change with the new administration. There is much conjecture, but no one really knows.

What will be the new administration’s acquisition priorities? Speculation opaquely says increased outsourcing of government activity, but what does that mean?

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/top-issues-going-into-the-new-year

June 17, 2015 By AMK

Weather Service paid retired exec half a million to consult

In a maneuver some would call “writing your own ticket,” a top National Weather Service executive announced his retirement and then set himself up to perform the same work as a consultant, raising his pay by $43,000, according to the Commerce Department inspector general.

Before his contract was terminated in 2012, the official also collected a $50,000 housing allowance and allegedly pressed for the agency to hire a relative, according to a summary of the investigation. The total cost to the government: $471,875.34.

The Commerce IG did not name the “senior official,” but The Washington Post recently identified him as former deputy chief financial officer P. Donald Jiron. His lawyer, Matthew Kaiser, said, “Mr. Jiron has not done anything wrong” because he acted “at the direction of and with the approval of his supervisor at all times.”

Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2015/06/weather-service-paid-retired-exec-half-million-consult/114718

January 30, 2015 By AMK

Air Force suspends, begins debarment process of reverse-auctioneer FedBid

The Air Force has suspended FedBid from federal procurement activity, both new contracts and follow-ons, as of Jan. 26, 2015 and proposed the reverse auction company for debarment.

FedBid’s listing in the System for Award Management (SAM) says the Air Force suspended and is proposing debarment with proceedings pending.

The Air Force wrote in the listing on SAM that it deemed FedBid ineligible for new contracts or follow-on deals “based upon adequate evidence of conduct indicating a lack of business honesty or integrity, or a lack of business integrity, or regulation, statute, executive order or other legal authority, pending completion of an investigation and/or legal proceedings.”

“As promised in our previous reporting on VA’s contracting and relationship with FedBid, the OIG referred FedBid to the Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee for an independent decision whether the company should be debarred. Through the Committee’s processes the Department of the Air Force agreed to be the lead agency,” said an VA OIG spokesperson in an email to Federal News Radio.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federalnewsradio.com/395/3789803/Air-Force-suspends-begins-debarment-process-of-FedBid–

July 2, 2013 By AMK

FEMA official gets two years’ probation for revolving-door relationship with contractor

Private industry frequently considers hiring existing and former federal government employees for their experience, knowledge base and skill set. As a reaction to the continuing perception that high-level federal employees jump from government to private industry and take sensitive government information with them, over the years Congress has introduced complex and often overlapping revolving-door legislation that imposes post-government employment restrictions on certain employees. While many government employees successfully transition to the private sector, failure to observe revolving-door laws and regulations can result in severe consequences for both contractors and government employees. A recent example of what can go wrong for both such parties is the case of Timothy Cannon and the Gallup Organisation.

On April 9 2013 Judge Jackson of the District Court for the District of Columbia sentenced Timothy Cannon, former director of the human capital division at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to two years of probation for conflict of interest violations.

According to Cannon’s plea, he helped Gallup to acquire a $6 million contract, while at the same time pursuing employment with the company. As a result of its alleged employment discussions with Cannon and related conduct, Gallup faces potential liability for civil damages and penalties under the False Claims Act and the Procurement Integrity Act, including treble damages and disgorgement of all money received under the contract. Moreover, these types of case always raise the risk of the contractor’s suspension or debarment, which would preclude any new contract awards for up to three years. This case serves as a reminder for private contractors wishing to hire existing or former government employees that they must have rigorous internal controls in place in order to ensure compliance with post-government employment requirements.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.internationallawoffice.com/newsletters/detail.aspx?g=cb1ea107-d51f-4ad7-b375-00f8a3dad2d7&redir=1

“With a noticeable decline in performance since the last survey, state and local government procurement is facing some difficult challenges that may result in unwanted consequences for both buyers and sellers.”

As the new year approaches, everyone tends to reflect on where they are and where they’re going.

In a maneuver some would call “writing your own ticket,” a top National Weather Service executive announced his retirement and then set himself up to perform the same work as a consultant, raising his pay by $43,000, according to the Commerce Department inspector general.

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