GSA Plans Monitoring of Schedules, GWACs GSA plans to hire an outside watchdog to monitor compliance with procurement laws and regulations as part of its “Get It Right” campaign. In a sources sought notice published August 13, GSA’s Federal Supply Service advertised for small business contractors to review its multiple awards schedules, governmentwide acquisition contracts and the Special Order Program. The agency said it is planning a contract of up to five years “to continue monitoring the effectiveness of these programs.” A GSA spokeswoman said the notice is part of the “Get It Right” initiative announced last month by Administrator Stephen Perry in response to findings of widespread abuses in GSA contract vehicles. Perry said the initiative represents “a change in direction for the entire federal acquisition workforce.” (SAA, 7/23) In the notice, FSS said the watchdog will examine a sample of individual contracts and conduct quality reviews using a checklist that will cover these topics: “1) Does the contract file include and fully support a determination that the offeror was responsible? 2) Does the contract file establish that: *All representations and certifications (Clause 52.212-3) were completed and reviewed; and *All appropriate factors (including the subcontracting plan and the Trade Agreements Act) were considered in making the award decision. 3) Do the negotiation documents clearly establish that: *The pricing information provided by the contractor was complete, current and accurate; *The information was relied upon during negotiations; *Adequate price analysis was conducted; *Reasonable negotiation objectives were established; *The leverage of the total Government’s requirements was considered in negotiating prices; and *The prices awarded were determined fair and reasonable. GSA had said earlier that it had given contracting officers a similar checklist. The agency has also instituted additional reviews of large contracts and said it would provide more training for acquisition personnel. Only companies that are not on the GSA schedules are eligible to compete for the review contract. GSA estimated it will be worth more than $2 million over five years. Auditors have recently identified several large task orders that were awarded against GSA schedules although the work was outside the scope of the schedule. Among them were contracts to provide interrogators for military prisons in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the contracts were awarded through the IT schedule. Last year GSA’s inspector general found that several regional offices of the Federal Technology Service had used IT contract vehicles to award construction contracts. GSA officials said some employees have been fired and others have been disciplined as a result. In June Administrator Perry appointed his chief of staff, Karl Reichelt, to be GSA’s first chief acquisition officer. Reichelt told Government Executive magazine, “Misuse of schedules, concern about out-of-scope activity, finding that certain contracts [were] mismanaged, all of those issues are given the highest attention by us, because it undermines our integrity. It causes a loss of faith.” The request for information is solicitation number ssirfifxamasqualityreview. Responses are due by Sept. 15.