The top Pentagon acquisition official published a new 29-page guidance memo for implementation of the department’s Better Buying Power 2.0 acquisition improvement initiative.

The memo from Frank Kendall, undersecretary for acquisitions, technology and logistics, includes numerous action items to reduce costs and to improve productivity and innovation.

In his introduction, Kendall stressed that contracting officers must assess each buy individually. “The first responsibility of the acquisition workforce is to think,” Kendall wrote as a key principle.

The memo amends the original preference for fixed-price contracts. “We’ve modified that. Now it tells people to use the right contract type for the job. That means there’s a burden on our professionals to figure out what that is, but we’ll give them guidance,” Kendall said, according to Federal News Radio.

The memo also addresses the appropriate use of LPTA (lowest-price, technically acceptable) competitions and improving the procurement workforce, among other issues.

More information: Kendall memo: http://goo.gl/fGoj7
Federal News Radio article: http://goo.gl/nflcz