DOD: Use GSA Schedules -- Properly The Defense Department has emphasized that its buyers should not avoid GSA schedules and other non-DOD contracts, as long as they are used properly. Deidre Lee, director of defense procurement and acquisition policy, issued a clarification of the department’s guidance on the use of those contract vehicles following complaints from industry that some DOD contracting shops had shied away from them. In a June 17 memo, Lee wrote that that some contracting personnel have “interpreted the October 29, 2004, memorandum as precluding the ability to utilize the services of ‘Assisting Agencies’ to meet DOD requirements. These interpretations are incorrect. “As stated in the ‘Proper Use of Non-DOD Contracts’ policy memo, ‘the use of non-DOD contracts is encouraged when it is the best method of procurement to meet DOD requirements.’” The October policy memo established new reviews and procedures to ensure that buyers were complying with laws and regulations when they used the schedules and other non-DOD vehicles. That memo followed revelations of improprieties in GSA procurement practices. In one example, GSA’s IT schedule was used to hire interrogators in Iraq. Lee has also cited instances when the IT schedule was used to fund construction of a building to house computers and to buy bumpers for a boat that carried a computer. Since the DOD memo and the beginning of GSA’s “Get It Right” campaign last year, GSA has reported that sales growth on the schedules had slowed from the double-digit growth rates recorded in recent years. In recent appearances before contractor and federal employee groups, Lee has been underscoring her message that schedules and other non-DOD contracts are not off-limits. Speaking at the Federal Acquisition Conference and Expo in Washington June 8, she told an audience of several hundred acquisition professionals, “These are great tools. Let’s use them properly…I’m not saying don’t use the schedules.”