Administration’s Procurement Policies Questioned Many federal acquisition professionals believe the Obama administration’s insourcing initiative will hurt small businesses, according to a survey by the consulting firm Grant Thornton and the Professional Services Council. “Services contracts, which are paid for with money from [operations and maintenance] funds, are primarily the dollars that go to small businesses,” one respondent said. “By definition, the dollars for services contracts will go down with insourcing—the budget cuts are in O&M.” In the survey of three dozen professionals, 56% said small contractors would be harmed. While most respondents agreed with the goal of achieving balance in the mix of federal employees and contractors, they said the administration is moving too fast and using insourcing to achieve cost reductions rather than proceeding strategically. One respondent said, “It was probably not the best approach to shaping the workforce of the future. It was treated as a budget drill.” The Defense Department has backed away from its insourcing effort because it was not achieving the anticipated savings. (SAA, 8/27) Civilian agencies are continuing to pursue insourcing opportunities. The biennial survey found the acquisition professionals generally lukewarm about the administra-tion’s procurement initiatives. Several said the emphasis on fixed-price contracts was overblown because a “one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work.” When asked how to cut contracting costs, the most frequent answers were strategic sourcing; use of multiple award task order contracts and IDIQ contracts; training because it results in better outcomes; canceling poorly performing programs; and improving the requirements development process through early strategy sessions with contractors. The Grant Thornton/Professional Services Council report said the survey reveals a “great divide” between acquisition professionals in the executive branch and the inspectors general and congressional staffers who oversee their work. “There is still an attitude of ‘I don’t want to give you the resources you need to get it right—but I’ll give the IG the resources to come in and audit later’” said one operational professional. Those involved in acquisition operations believed oversight focuses on dotting i’s and crossing t’s, rather than on whether the contract achieved the desired result at a reasonable price. As in previous surveys, respondents said their greatest challenge is the acquisition workforce—both its size and its competence.