GSA establishes new contract policy office

The General Services Administration is establishing a new office to ensure compliance with federal contracting rules, foster full and open competition for contracts and strengthen accountability in contracting, the agency announced Tuesday.

As part of the initiative, GSA Administrator Stephen Perry announced that the agency's chief of staff, Karl H. Reichelt, would assume the new position of chief acquisition officer and would oversee the new office. The move comes in the wake of a nationwide investigation, which found that GSA contracting offices violated procurement laws and regulations. The GSA inspector general found that the offices, part of GSA's Federal Technology Service, awarded contracts to preferred companies with little to no competition and awarded work that was beyond the scope of some contracts.

Perry said Reichelt's "leadership, management skills and commitment to improving our acquisition activities is just what is needed to get this new office off to a successful start." Reichelt will serve in the position temporarily until GSA finds a full-time official to head the new unit, which will be known as the Office of the Chief Acquisition Officer.

The new office absorbs functions formerly housed in the GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy, according to agency officials. The new official will participate in a Chief Acquisition Officer Council "and has responsibility for overseeing all of GSA's contract vehicles," including the multiple award schedules, governmentwide acquisition contracts and airline travel and credit card programs, GSA said. The schedules and GWACs, which are contracts awarded to a number of vendors through which any federal agency can procure goods and services, have come under criticism for several years by the GSA and other inspectors general because some users have circumvented federal contracting regulations on competition and contract oversight. Critics of the contracts, which were set up to take advantage of loosened procurement rules put in place in the mid 1990s, say they contribute to a lack of integrity in the contracting process.

The new GSA official also will be responsible for "policy, training and management" of the agency's acquisition workforce, which totals 2,400 employees nationwide, GSA's statement said.

GSA has come under criticism from lawmakers for the procurement scandals at the Federal Technology Service, which awards and administers technology contracts for other agencies for a fee. Congressional sources have noted that the matter has Perry's full attention and that the agency has made contracting reform a priority.

The Defense Department also is shoring up how its agencies utilize outside contracts, particularly GSA's schedules. Last week, the department's chief procurement official, Deidre Lee, said she would introduce a new rule that requires Defense contracting officers to approve the use of any outside contracts to buy goods or services worth more than $100,000. Lee said she had met with Perry and FTS Commissioner Sandra Bates to discuss the rule, and that they had given their support.

Reichelt, the new GSA official, was appointed chief of staff in January after serving two years as a GSA regional administrator for the Northeast and Caribbean. The FTS offices in those regions are part of a review by the GSA inspector general, but they have not been implicated in any improper activities.

Reichelt said, "As immediate goals, GSA needs to ensure robust competition for federal government business, heightened development of the governmentwide acquisition workforce and aggressive actions to fortify the integrity of acquisition activities of contracting officers, government agencies and the private vendor community."

The functions that the new office will absorb include the Senior Procurement Executive, the Contract Policy Division and the Acquisition Systems Division. As part of that latter move, the new office will take over management of President Bush's E-Government Initiative for the Integrated Acquisition Environment, which includes a number of electronic procurement programs. Finally, the new office also will assume responsibilities formerly under the Acquisition Workforce Division and the Suspension/Debarment Division, which focuses on government contractors.