GSA Mobile

Services Acquisition Reform Act Of 2002

INTRODUCTION

CHAIRMAN DAVIS, MR. TURNER AND MEMBERS OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE, THANK YOU FOR INVITING ME TO APPEAR BEFORE YOU TODAY TO DISCUSS IDEAS ON HOW TO IMPROVE THE CURRENT FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS.

CHAIRMAN DAVIS, I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK YOU IN PARTICULAR FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP IN THIS AREA OVER THE YEARS, AND FOR BRINGING THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL ACQUISITION REFORM TO THE ATTENTION OF CONGRESS.

AS YOU KNOW, EACH YEAR, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SPENDS APPROXIMATELY $200 BILLION ON GOODS AND SERVICES IN ORDER TO MEET AGENCY REQUIREMENTS TO PROVIDE GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS AND SERVICES TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. THAT IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S ACQUISITION PROCESS AND REGULATIONS TO FOCUS ON EFFICIENCY, EFFECTIVENESS AND ACCOUNTABILITY. ADDITIONALLY, THE ACQUISITION PROCESS AND REGULATIONS SHOULD BE EASILY UNDERSTOOD BY ALL THE PARTIES INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS AND BE BASED ON COMMON SENSE. FINALLY, WHEN APPROPRIATE, THE ACQUISITION PROCESS AND REGULATIONS SHOULD RESEMBLE COMMERCIAL SECTOR BUYING PROCEDURES.

GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATIONS (GSA'S) ROLE IN IMPROVING THE OVERALL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S ACQUISITION PROCESS

AS YOU KNOW, GSA MANAGES A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE OVERALL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S ACQUISITION PROCESS TO OFFER GOODS AND SERVICES, SUCH AS WORKSPACE, OFFICE EQUIPMENT, COMPUTERS, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, VEHICLES AND FURNITURE TO OUR CUSTOMER AGENCIES. THROUGH THE EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF GSA'S PROCUREMENT AND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT SERVICES, WE HELP FEDERAL AGENCIES TO BETTER SERVE THE PUBLIC. AS ONE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S LEAD ACQUISITION AGENCIES WE RECOGNIZE THE NEED TO CONSTANTLY LOOK FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT-WIDE ACQUISITION PROCESS AND USE GSA'S EXPERTISE TO HELP PROVIDE BEST VALUE FOR ALL AGENCIES AND THE TAXPAYERS.

AT GSA WE RECOGNIZE THE NEED TO PURSUE THIS MORE AGGRESSIVELY BY INITIATIVES AT BOTH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT-WIDE LEVEL AND AT THE INDIVIDUAL AGENCY-LEVEL.

GSA'S CURRENT INITIATIVES FOR IMPROVING THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS:
 

1. GSA ADVANTAGE!
 

ONE EXAMPLE OF GSA'S EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ON-LINE ACQUISITION SYSTEM CALLED GSA ADVANTAGE. THIS SYSTEM USES INTERNET TECHNOLOGY TO GIVE AGENCIES ELECTRONIC ON-LINE ACCESS TO THE GOODS AND SERVICES OF OVER 7,000 VENDORS. THE SYSTEM ALSO ALLOWS AGENCIES TO ISSUE ELECTRONIC REQUESTS FOR QUOTATIONS FOR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. ADDITIONALLY, THE GSA ADVANTAGE SYSTEM HAS THE ENHANCED SEARCH AND INQUIRY FUNCTIONALITY NECESSARY TO MAKE IT A VALUABLE RESEARCH TOOL FOR CONTRACTING OFFICERS LOOKING FOR COMPARATIVE INFORMATION REGARDING THE ITEMS THEY NEED TO BUY. THIS YEAR WE INTEND TO IMPROVE THIS ON-LINE ACQUISITION SYSTEM BY INTEGRATING OUR GSA ADVANTAGE SYSTEM WITH OTHER AGENCIES' PROCUREMENT AND FINANCE SYSTEMS. THIS WILL MORE FULLY AUTOMATE THE PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING AGENCY PURCHASE ORDERS AND OTHER PROCUREMENT INFORMATION. IT WILL ALSO PROVIDE THE INFORMATION NEEDED FOR EACH AGENCY'S ACCOUNTING CONTROL PURPOSES.

2. INTEGRATED ACQUISITION SYSTEM:
 

TO GO WELL BEYOND THE CURRENT GSA ADVANTAGE ON-LINE ACQUISITION SYSTEM, WE ARE WORKING ON THE ADMINISTRATION'S E-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE TO INTEGRATE ACQUISITION TOOLS. THIS WILL ELIMINATE REDUNDANT SYSTEMS AND DATA COLLECTION.

WE CAN ACHIEVE THE ADMINISTRATION'S GOAL TO EXPAND THE USE OF ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT AND INTERNET TECHNOLOGY WHILE AT THE SAME TIME ACHIEVE THIS COMMITTEE'S GOAL TO IMPROVE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S ACQUISITION PROCESS.

THIS E-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE WILL TRANSFORM THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS AND SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE SERVICE AND OUR ABILITY TO PROVIDE BEST VALUE IN SUPPORT OF AGENCY MISSIONS.

SECTION 203 OF YOUR DRAFT BILL CALLS FOR A STUDY ON HORIZONTAL ACQUISITION THAT COULD RESULT IN RECOMMENDATIONS THAT WILL HELP US ACHIEVE THE INTENDED GOAL OF THE E-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE FOR INTEGRATED ACQUISITION. AMONG OTHER THINGS, THIS EFFORT WILL FACILITATE THE INTEGRATION OF CURRENT CONTRACTING VEHICLES AND CATALOGS INTO A COMMON ON-LINE SYSTEM THEREBY MAKING CURRENT GWACS (government wide acquisition contracts), AND CATALOGS FOR GOODS AND SERVICES MORE ACCESSIBLE TO ALL FEDERAL CUSTOMERS.

3. FEDBIZOPPS:
 

ANOTHER EFFORT TO IMPROVE THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS THROUGH THE INCREASED USE OF E-GOVERNMENT AND INTERNET TECHNOLOGY IS THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT OF A WEB SITE, WWW.FEDBIZOPPS.GOV, FOR THE GOVERNMENT'S FEDERAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES. THE WEB SITE, WHICH GSA MANAGES, IS THE GOVERNMENT-WIDE ONLINE ENTRY POINT FOR AGENCIES TO POST THEIR ACQUISITION NEEDS AND FOR VENDORS TO LOCATE OPPORTUNITIES TO DO BUSINESS WITH THE GOVERNMENT.

4. INTEGRATED VENDOR PROFILE NETWORK:

FINALLY, GSA IS a managing partner in THE integrated acquisition initiative. A component of this is TO DEVELOP AN INTEGRATED VENDOR PROFILE NETWORK. THIS SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE A GOVERNMENT-WIDE POINT OF vendor REGISTRATION and VALIDATION. That is, vendors will be able to provide their business information in one place for all government SOURCES TO USE. Government officials will have access to this data to support THEIR acquisition processes. This will replace multiple manual, redundant, and often inconsistent vendor collection systems within the government, and provide a unified database of vendor information.

TRAINING

WE CERTAINLY AGREE WITH YOU THAT TRAINING THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION WORKFORCE ON A CONTINUAL BASIS IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF IMPROVING THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS AND CRITICAL TO EACH AGENCY'S PERFORMANCE SUCCESS. AT GSA WE RECOGNIZE THE NEED TO PURSUE THIS MORE AGGRESSIVELY.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MULTIPLE AWARD SCHEDULES (OR U-MAS)

ONE EXAMPLE OF OUR EFFORT TO DEVELOP THE SKILLED ACQUISITION WORKFORCE WE NEED IS GSA'S ON-LINE TRAINING PROGRAM FOR THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION WORKFORCE. THIS VIRTUAL CAMPUS, KNOWN AS THE UNIVERSITY OF MULTIPLE AWARD SCHEDULES (OR U-MAS) IS A SELF-PACED INTERNET TOOL TO TRAIN THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION WORKFORCE ON HOW TO USE THE GSA SCHEDULES PROGRAM. IT IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE, 7 DAYS A WEEK, 24 HOURS A DAY.

GSA HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE:

AS PART OF OUR EFFORT TO DEVELOP THE SKILLED ACQUISITION WORKFORCE WE NEED AT GSA, WE ARE DEVELOPING COMPETENCY-BASED ASSESSMENTS TO DETERMINE THE SPECIFIC AREAS WHERE OUR TRAINING OF THE GSA ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TO-DATE HAS ACHIEVED THE NEEDED RESULTS AS WELL AS AREAS WHERE WE STILL HAVE DEFICIENCIES. WE ARE USING THIS INFORMATION REGARDING THE SKILL MIX OF THE GSA ACQUISITION WORKFORCE TO DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT A SPECIFIC ACTION PLAN TAILORED TO THE IDENTIFIED TRAINING NEEDS OF OUR AGENCY.

WE BELIEVE ALL AGENCIES SHOULD BE DOING THIS KIND OF SELF-ASSESSMENT AND CORRECTION OF DEFICIENCIES AS PART OF THEIR HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES.

THE SERVICES ACQUISITION REFORM ACT PROPOSAL TO REQUIRE GSA TO ESTABLISH A WORKFORCE FUND FOR INTERAGENCY TRAINING PURPOSES SHOWS A STRONG COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING THE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS OF THE ACQUISITION WORKFORCE IN PARTICULAR AND THE TOTAL FEDERAL WORKFORCE IN GENERAL. WHILE WE FULLY SUPPORT YOUR CONCEPT OF DEVELOPING A WELL-TRAINED ACQUISITION WORKFORCE, THE ADMINISTRATION WOULD SUPPORT ADEQUATE FUNDING THROUGH THE NORMAL BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS.

SERVICES ACQUISITION REFORM ACT PROVISIONS WILL HELP AGENCIES IMPROVE THEIR ACQUISITION WORKFORCE:
 

ONE EXAMPLE OF HOW CONGRESS CAN HELP AGENCIES IMPROVE THEIR FEDERAL WORKFORCE IS IN SECTION 102 OF YOUR PROPOSED BILL WHICH CALLS FOR A GOVERNMENT-INDUSTRY EXCHANGE PROGRAM TO PERMIT AGENCIES TO ARRANGE FOR THE DETAIL OF AN ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE OF AN AGENCY TO WORK FOR A PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANIZATION OR AN ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE OF A PRIVATE SECTOR ORGANIZATION TO WORK FOR AN AGENCY. THIS TYPE OF PROGRAM COULD PROVIDE AGENCIES SUCH AS GSA WITH THE ABILITY TO OFFER INCREASED TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES TO ITS ACQUISITION WORKFORCE AND ENABLE THEM TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH INDUSTRY BEST PRACTICES. LIKEWISE, THE PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPANTS COULD BENEFIT BY BEING INVOLVED IN THE IMPORTANT PROJECTS THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDERTAKING, SEEING FIRST HAND HOW THE GOVERNMENT WORKS AND TAKING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BACK TO THEIR COMPANIES.

SECTION 105 OF THE BILL CALLS FOR AN ACQUISITION WORKFORCE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION PILOT PROGRAM WHICH WOULD ALLOW THE HEADS OF AGENCIES TO DETERMINE THAT CERTAIN FEDERAL ACQUISITION POSITIONS ARE "SHORTAGE CATEGORY" POSITIONS AND THEREFORE ALLOW AGENCIES TO SHORTEN THE TIME NEEDED TO HIRE HIGHLY QUALIFIED ACQUISITION PERSONNEL. I WOULD NOTE THAT SECTION 151 OF THE MANAGERIAL FLEXIBILITY ACT OF 2001 (S. 1612) WOULD EXTEND SIMILAR HIRING FLEXIBILITY TO ANY POSITION LACKING SUFFICIENT CANDIDATES OR THERE IS A CRITICAL HIRING NEED. I'M SURE YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE FINDING THAT MORE THAN 50% OF THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE IS ELIGIBLE FOR RETIREMENT DURING THE NEXT 5 YEARS. WITH THIS IN MIND WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR ABILITY TO FILL POSITIONS, ESPECIALLY THOSE HELD BY SKILLED ACQUISITION PERSONNEL. I'M SURE YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE FINDING THAT MORE THAN 50% OF THE FEDERAL WORKFORCE IS ELIGIBLE FOR RETIREMENT DURING THE NEXT 5 YEARS. WITH THIS IN MIND WE ARE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR ABILITY TO FILL POSITIONS, ESPECIALLY THOSE HELD BY SKILLED ACQUISITION PERSONNEL. THE SECTIONS OF THE BILL I JUST CITED COULD HELP AGENCIES IMPROVE THEIR STRATEGIC HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES.

TELECOMMUTING:

ANOTHER INITIATIVE WE BELIEVE ADDS TO OUR ABILITY TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN ASSOCIATES IS OUR TELECOMMUTING POLICY. WITH MOUNTING EVIDENCE THAT TELEWORK BENEFITS GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, BENEFITS THE QUALITY OF WORKLIFE FOR PEOPLE AND BENEFITS THE ENVIRONMENT, GSA, ALONG WITH THE OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT LAUNCHED AN INTERNET TELEWORK INFORMATION CLEARINGHOUSE FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES SO THEY CAN FIND OUT WHAT THE GOVERNMENT OFFERS. I WOULD LIKE TO COMMEND YOU MR. CHAIRMAN FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP IN THIS AREA AND SUPPORT YOUR EFFORTS TO PROVIDE INCENTIVES TO ENCOURAGE CONTRACTORS TO ALLOW THEIR EMPLOYEES TO TELECOMMUTE.

CHIEF ACQUISITION OFFICER:

IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND THAT WITHOUT MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP, INITIATIVES TO STREAMLINE THE CURRENT ACQUISITION PROCESS COULD END UP BECOMING JUST ANOTHER LAYER OF REGULATIONS. THAT IS WHY WE SUPPORT THE CONCEPT OF EACH AGENCY HAVING A CHIEF ACQUISITION OFFICER. WE HAVE SUCH A POSITION AT GSA AND WE BELIEVE THAT THE ABILITY OF THAT PERSON TO AID US IN DEVELOPING A STRONG ACQUISITION STRATEGY IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO OUR SUCCESS. FOR THAT REASON, WE BELIEVE THAT SECTION 201 OF THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION REQUIRING AGENCY HEADS TO ESTABLISH A CHIEF ACQUISITION OFFICER POSITION IS AN INTERESTING PROPOSAL AND WOULD SIGNAL THE IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING A WELL-MANAGED, INTEGRATED, AGENCY-WIDE ACQUISITION PLAN.

SUMMARY COMMENTS

THE SERVICE ACQUISITION REFORM ACT IS A VERY SWEEPING PROPOSAL OFFERING SEVERAL BENEFICIAL PROGRAMS AND IDEAS. WE APPRECIATE YOUR LEADERSHIP ROLE, MR. CHAIRMAN, IN BRINGING THESE MATTERS BEFORE THIS SUBCOMMITTEE, THE CONGRESS AND THE ADMINISTRATION. AS YOU CAN SEE FROM OUR COMMENTS AND THE VARIOUS INITIATIVES WE'RE WORKING ON AT GSA, WE SHARE YOUR COMMITMENT TO MAKING NEEDED IMPROVEMENT TO THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS AND THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION WORKFORCE. WITH THAT IN MIND WE ARE ANXIOUS TO CONTINUE TO WORK WITH THE SUBCOMMITTEE TO FIND WAYS TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN THE CURRENT FEDERAL ACQUISITION PROCESS.

ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR INVITING ME TO DISCUSS THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE WITH YOU TODAY. I AM HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE.