Report: Simplified acquisitions underused for commercial products

      The Section 809 acquisition reform panel advising the Defense Dept. reported that federal contracting officers appear to be underutilizing simplified procedures for purchasing commercial items.

      The Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 13.5 provides authority for simplified procedures for commercial buys in a test program that was extended in the fiscal 2015 national defense law. Agencies can make commercial buys up to $7 million under the FAR Subpart 13.5 procedures.

      However, the panel found that the procedures appear to be underutilized.

      The panel reviewed 2017 data from the Federal Procurement Data System. It found that 87% of DOD contract obligations for commercial products or services were under $7 million and eligible for simplification.

      The data did not show how many of those contracts actually used the simplified procedures.

      With such a high percentage of contracts eligible for simplified buying, it would seem that a large share would go to small businesses. But the panel found that in recent years small businesses were awarded only 35% to 39% of DOD commercial buys. The panel concluded that the DOD’s simplified procedures for commercial buys likely are underutilized.

      “Contracting officers are not taking full advantage of the simplification in selecting sources,” the report said.

      The panel identified a number of issues hampering DOD’s use of simplified acquisition procedures for commercial buys:

1. Unnecessarily narrow authority;
2. Outdated reporting requirements;
3. Inefficient and confusing guidance;
4. Guidance misplaced in FAR;
5. Procedures not emphasized;
6. Some terms are undefined.

      To fix the problems, the panel recommended three legislative measures and eight regulatory changes.

More Information: https://bit.ly/2tOblby.

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Report: Simplified acquisitions underused for commercial products

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