Proposed GSA Reorganization Draws Fire A key congressional overseer and a leading industry group questioned the proposed reorganization of the General Services Administration’s Federal Supply Service and Federal Technology Service. GSA plans to merge the two buying units into a single Federal Acquisition Service that would manage the multiple-award schedules, governmentwide acquisition contracts and the assisted procurements now managed by the Technology Service. The plan announced June 2 would split management of the agency’s acquisition activities into three business portfolios: “The proposed Integrated Technology Services business portfolio will combine the existing information technology, professional services, and telecommunications business lines. It will manage the relevant multiple-award schedules and GWACs, related assisted acquisition services, and single-agency contracts where appropriate,” the plan states. “The General Supplies and Services portfolio groups our business lines that acquire a broad range of commercial products and some closely related services, and our specialized logistics-based activities. This portfolio includes the present Global Supply business line, freight transportation and the management of schedules for non-IT products and related services.” GSA said this will enable the government to negotiate better deals through strategic sourcing. “The Travel and Personal Property Disposal Services portfolio includes several business lines: Travel, the Relocation program, Vehicle Purchasing and Leasing, Card Services and Personal Property Disposal,” the plan says. In addition, it would create a Customer Relationship Management organization and an Acquisition Management organization to oversee policy. “The key goal for the new Federal Acquisition Service is to improve our organizational capability to efficiently and effectively deliver excellent acquisition services that provide best value for our Federal agency customers and the American taxpayers,” said GSA Administrator Stephen Perry. Perry set a meeting with industry groups June 13 to discuss the draft plan, and hopes to come up with a final plan by the end of July. But the leader of one group representing schedule contractors expressed skepticism. The plan “seems to split up the centralized management of the schedules program,” said Larry Allen, executive vice president of the Coalition for Government Procurement. Calling the schedules “the jewel in the crown of federal procurement,” he said, “Anything that would disrupt that could pose a challenge.” He spoke at the Coalition’s spring conference in Washington June 7. House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) also questioned whether the plan conforms to legislation he has sponsored to authorize the GSA reorganization. “GSA’s plan does not seem to foster the tighter management control envisioned by the committee to improve acquisition effectiveness and prevent the high profile abuses and acquisition mismanagement demonstrated by the recent inspector general reports,” he said. Audits by the Government Accountability Office and the GSA inspector general have documented widespread violations of procurement laws and regulations in some of GSA’s regional offices. The new Federal Acquisition Service will have up to five regional executives, but Davis said it is not clear how much authority they will have. A former top official of the Federal Supply Service, who asked not to be quoted by name, said the draft plan is only a broad outline. The key question, he said, is who will “fill the buckets,” as he described the portfolios. Possible leadership of the new Acquisition Service is uncertain. The day after the draft plan was released, Federal Supply Service Commissioner Donna Bennett announced she will retire in July and her deputy, Lester Gray, retired effective immediately. The Federal Technology Service is currently headed by an acting commissioner. The draft plan is available at www.gsa.gov.