New Rules Aim at Increasing Competition The Bush administration will propose new rules to enhance competition for orders through GSA schedules and other multiple-award contracts, said Paul Denett, administrator of OMB’s Office of Federal Procurement Policy. In a May 31 memorandum to agency acquisition and procurement chiefs, Denett outlined a number of steps aimed at “achieving a competitive environment.” He said additional competition is “especially” needed in task and delivery orders on GSA schedules and other indefinite delivery vehicles. Those orders accounted for more than half of the government’s procurement dollars in 2005, up from just 14% in 1990, he said. (See related story, p. 5.) Denett plans to ask the Federal Acquisition Regulation councils to enact new rules “to generally ensure the receipt of three proposals” on GSA schedule orders. This would expand governmentwide a competition requirement that currently applies only to the Defense Department. For other multiple-award contracts, he said he will seek rules requiring fair notice to all contract holders before an order is awarded. These were among the recommendations of the Acquisition Advisory Panel, or SARA panel, which studied federal contracting practices and issued its report in December. Among other steps outlined in Denett’s memo: •Providing notice in FedBizOpps of awards of sole-source orders. •Limiting contracts awarded under urgent and compelling circumstances, such as after a natural disaster, to one year or less. •Requiring each agency’s competition advocate to prepare annual reports on competition levels and plans for maximizing competition. •Improving the accuracy and usefulness of federal procurement data. Describing competition as “the cornerstone of our acquisition system,” Denett wrote, “Competition saves money for the taxpayer, improves contractor performance, curbs fraud, and promotes accountability for results.” The level of competition in procurement has changed little since 1990, with more than 60% of contract dollars awarded competitively. But he said the increased use of task and delivery orders calls for new measures. “The acquisition workforce has a number of tools to facilitate the efficient and effective use of competition,” he wrote. “I am concerned that we are not taking advantage of these tools, especially in the placement of task and delivery orders under indefinite-delivery vehicles.” The House has passed legislation designed to minimize the use of sole-source contracts, among other things, but industry and the Bush administration are opposed to many provisions of the bill, H.R. 1362. (SAA, 3/23) Several senators have introduced legislation that would implement recommendations of the Acquisition Advisory Panel. According to the Federal Procurement Data System, the Homeland Security Department competed only 49% of its contract dollars in fiscal 2006, the lowest of any large agency. NASA and VA competed barely more than half their dollars. The departments of Labor and HHS and EPA were the leaders with more than 80% of their contract dollars awarded through competition.