DOD: raise micropurchase threshold

      The Defense Dept. has asked Congress for several legislative changes in acquisition.

      One of DOD’s requests is to raise the micro-purchase threshold to $10,000, up from the current $5,000 for defense agencies and $3,500 in civilian agencies.

      The micro-purchase threshold applies to purchases using government charge cards. Such buys may be especially helpful to small firms looking to get a start in government contracting because they are relatively quick and easy to approve.

      Another proposal would cancel a requirement for contracting officers to determine that an interagency acquisition is the best strategy, before placing an order over $550,000 on a Federal Supply Schedule contract. The current requirement also applies before placing an order against any government-wide contract (GWAC).

      The DOD request to Congress points out that the existing requirement is contrary to recent Government Accountability Office advice as well as recent congressional actions.

Other proposals

• Another proposal raises the threshold for filing protests of task and delivery orders under multiple award contracts. The threshold would increase to $25 million, from the current $10 million.
• DOD officials also want to raise the threshold for reporting on the amount invoiced for direct labor hours on service contracts.
• DOD officials want to reduce the reporting requirements for federal contractors regarding salaries of their highest-paid employees. Currently, contractors with at least $25 million in federal contracts that compose at least 80% of the company’s revenues must report compensation for their top five highest-paid employees.

      The DOD’s requests might possibly make it into the current NDAA, but it is rather late for that. They also could pop up in next year’s NDAA or in other legislation.

      DOD’s legislative proposals are available only in the Adobe X format. The contents were reported by several publications.

More Information:
DOD proposals: http://ogc.osd.mil/olc/legispro18.html
FedNewsRadio story: http://goo.gl/ehBiX1
FedWeek story: http://goo.gl/2nSfiZ

DOD: raise micropurchase threshold

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