Challenge to Agencies: Spend Quickly, But Wisely The spending splurge under the economic stimulus program will challenge an overburdened federal acquisition workforce, according to government and industry officials. Agencies are under pressure to spend money quickly, while maintaining accountability. Stan Soloway, president of the Professional Services Council, a contractor group, estimates that the stimulus will generate roughly $100 billion in new federal contracts, plus twice that amount at the state and local level. That would increase contracting officers’ workloads by more than 20% above the procurement dollars spent last year by federal agencies. “That’s a big add to an already stressed government (workforce),” Soloway said at a Feb. 24 briefing. In addition, he said contracting officers are being pressured to shorten response times on RFPs so contracts can be awarded and money can begin flowing. Compounding the problem, the new Obama administration has filled very few policymaking jobs below cabinet level. In the first guidance for agencies on how to spend the stimulus funds, Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act calls for “an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent.” Starting May 5, summaries of each contract awarded under the act will be posted on a new website, Recovery.gov, with each agency adding weekly updates on what it has done and what it plans to do. Each agency is also required to create its own website providing information on its stimulus spending. But Soloway warned, “That kind of accountability and compliance, while it’s critical, doesn’t do anything to drive performance on the front end.” He said actions taken after a contract is awarded, such as public notice and inspector general audits, are too late to prevent most problems. Citing the lessons learned from contracting irregularities in Iraq and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, he said contracts were hastily awarded with inadequate acquisition planning. “Lots of projects were doomed from the start because we lacked significant emphasis from the front end,” he said. The Professional Services Council urged creation of “tiger teams,” bringing together contracting officers, program managers, lawyers, finance specialists, human resources professionals and contractors. The teams would ensure that adequate resources are devoted to planning projects that will be funded with stimulus money. Soloway described the tiger teams as “a short-term, rapid-response kind of approach.” The stimulus law requires the use of competitive procedures and fixed price contracts “to the maximum extent possible.” OMB told agencies they must publicly post a description of any contract or order over $500,000 that is not fixed-price and competitively awarded. Leaders of the PSC said fixed price contracts are not appropriate in all circumstances. “The first mythology is that fixed price means cheap,” said PSC executive vice president Alan Chvotkin. “That may or may not be the case, but it is not a rule that fixed price means cheap. “Secondly, (a fixed price contract) is heavily dependent on a clear and almost immutable set of government requirements” that may not exist for all projects. OMB Director Orszag raised the possibility that the government might move aggressively to hire more acquisition personnel. But Soloway said hundreds of those positions are currently vacant because the government has not been able to find people interested in such high-stress, firing-line jobs.