Procurement officials face mounting pressures

The to-do list for government's top procurement officials seems to grow longer by the day: Drastically reduce contract spending and curb use of high-risk purchasing techniques. Bring thousands of contractor positions back in house without racking up a huge tab or sacrificing quality of work. Support a growing war in Afghanistan while managing a dwindling presence in Iraq. And those are just some of the tasks landing on the desks of chief acquisition officers.

If 2009 was the year for introducing dramatic reform in the acquisition field, 2010 is shaping up as a mammoth implementation headache, with a virtually endless supply of directives, guidance and internal decisions that have to be moved from paper to reality. Nonetheless, procurement officials are eager for the challenge.

"Overall, it's a very exciting time to be working in the procurement arena," says Maureen Shauket, senior procurement executive at the U.S. Agency for International Development. "We have the opportunity to make a fundamental difference in the way we are delivering developmental assistance."

In the June 15 issue of Government Executive, Robert Brodsky and Elizabeth Newell examine the complex issues top procurement officials face.

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