OMB lists contract categories vulnerable to overspending

By Charles S. Clark
July 14, 2011
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When the Office of Management and Budget on July 7 announced a new directive for agencies to cut spending on contract management services by 15 percent, officials mentioned 15 product service codes that were considered most at risk of overspending because they have a high proportion of time-and-materials contracts.

Since that briefing, OMB released a list of the codes, noting that they are the same as those that appeared last November in guidance on service inventories. The 15 codes affected by the management support services directive are:

Description of Function	Product & Service Code
Professional & Management Services
Cost Benefit Analyses	B505
Policy Review/Development Services	R406
Program Evaluation Services	R407
Program Management/Support Services	R408
Program Review/Development Services	R409
Specifications Development Service	R413
Management Services/Contract & Procurement Support	R707
Intelligence Services	R423
Engineering and Technical Services	R425
Systems Engineering Services	R414
Personal Services Contracts	R497
Information Technology Support Services
ADP Systems Development Services	D302
Automated Information Systems Services	D307
ADP System Acquisition Support Services	D314
ADP Backup and Security Services	D310

Focusing on these product codes, according to Stan Soloway, president and chief executive officer of the Professional Services Council, a contractor trade group, may have limited utility. Use of all but one or two already is going down, he said, "so why add this rule now?"

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