July 23 2004 Copyright 2004 Business Research Services Inc. 202-364-6473 All rights reserved.
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GSA: "Get It Right" on Schedules, GWACs Stung by criticism of misuse of its schedules and other governmentwide contracts, the General Services Administration is pledging to “Get It Right.” That’s the slogan for a new initiative to tighten controls over the agency’s contract vehicles. Administrator Stephen Perry called it “strong action… and a change in direction for the entire federal acquisition workforce.” Perry and Deidre Lee, director of defense procurement and acquisition policy, detailed the plan to employees of both agencies July 13. The Defense Department is GSA’s largest customer. (For details of the DOD initiative, see story below.) The officials said contractors as well as government contracting personnel have a responsibility to make sure regulations are followed. “We’re striving here to achieve a zero-deficiency environment,” Perry told the audience at GSA’s headquarters in Washington. “No exceptions, no excuses.” The objectives of the “Get It Right” program are: •Ensure compliance with federal contracting regulations. •Make contracting policies and procedures clear and explicit. •Ensure the integrity of GSA’s contract vehicles and services. •Improve competition in the marketplace when GSA’s contract vehicles and services are used. •Improve transparency relating to how GSA’s contract vehicles and services are used. •Ensure that taxpayers get the best value for their tax dollar whenever GSA’s contract vehicles or services are used. In recent months investigators have identified several large task orders that were awarded against GSA schedules although the work was outside the scope of the schedule. Those included an order on the IT schedule to CACI International to provide interrogators in Iraq; another IT schedule order to a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin for interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and one to Science Applications International Corp., also through the IT schedule, to set up media outlets in Iraq. GSA decided not to suspend or debar CACI from new federal contracts, but the company said, “GSA requested additional information illustrating CACI’s understanding that all parties to a transaction, including contractors, are responsible for ensuring that the rules are followed and the integrity of the system maintained.” Last year the GSA inspector general found widespread irregularities in contracts managed by GSA’s Federal Technology Service. For example, several task orders for construction were awarded through the 8(a) FAST governmentwide acquisition contract, an IT vehicle. (SAA, 1/23) GSA had earlier announced additional reviews of large contracts. The agency said it has given contracting officers a checklist to follow to make sure they are using contract vehicles properly. Perry emphasized that contracting abuses are rare, but added, “I am confident that as the federal acquisition community works to implement this fully integrated approach and we gather feedback, that we will identify and close any gaps that exist and take specific actions to achieve improvements, ultimately resulting in a reinvigoration of commitment to excellence in acquisition.”
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