House panel votes to streamline some federal purchases

The House Government Reform Committee approved legislation Thursday to extend a pilot program that makes it easier for federal agencies to purchase some products and services.

The Acquisition Streamlining Improvement Act of 2002 (H.R. 3921), which the panel approved by voice vote with no amendments, would extend the pilot program through Jan. 1, 2005. The program, established as part of the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, enables federal agencies to bypass red tape when they acquire commercially available products and services valued at $5 million or less.

"If an item is available in the commercial marketplace, there's no point in going through a long procurement process," said Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., the bill's chief sponsor.

Lawmakers said the streamlined process enables the agencies to make those purchases more quickly and efficiently. They noted that the Defense Department, for example, used the pilot program to obtain telecommunications equipment that was necessary to make urgent repairs to the part of the Pentagon damaged on Sept. 11. "If they had used conventional procurement procedures, it would have taken months," Burton said.

The pilot program expired on Jan. 1, 2002, but the defense authorization law enacted last December extended it to Jan. 1, 2003. Burton's bill would authorize the pilot program for an additional two years. The bill also directs the General Accounting Office to study program and make recommendations as to whether it should be extended permanently.