Agencies slow to enact parts of 2003 acquisition law, GAO says

The Government Accountability Office reported mixed progress on the implementation of the 2003 Services Acquisition Reform Act, which created a workforce training fund, chief acquisition officer positions, and additional acquisition rules, among other changes.

Service contracts, which account for $189 billion in federal spending, have attracted increased scrutiny in recent years. SARA, introduced by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., was designed to improve service contract management.

The report (GAO-05-233) stated that the General Services Administration, which manages the acquisition workforce training fund, had collected "incomplete" information on the fees that provide money to the fund. The fund, which was established in March 2004 and grew to $5.2 million in fiscal 2004, collects 5 percent of fees paid to agencies that provide contracts to other agencies and uses it to provide workforce training.

"GSA needs reliable information on fees charged and revenue generated…to ensure agencies are appropriately contributing to the training fund," the report said.

In the past, GAO has noted weaknesses in the acquisition workforce, in large part because of an imminent retirement wave. "[The fund] doesn't totally address the human capital challenge. It's intended to augment agency budgeting for training," said Carolyn Kirby, assistant director on GAO's acquisition and sourcing management team.

Allan Burman, a member of the advisory panel created by SARA and president of the consulting firm Jefferson Solutions, said the panel's working group is looking at workforce issues beyond the training fund. "The training fund is one thing, but knowing who's there and what their sets of skills and competences are - all those human capital issues - is a really broad question," he said.

The Defense Department does not participate in the fund (and as a result pays 5 percent less for certain contracts) because it has its own training programs through the Defense Acquisition University.

Chief acquisition officers, a position created by SARA, are not focused exclusively on acquisition, which the act requires, GAO said. It found they often have other responsibilities, such as being chief financial officer.

In addition, GAO found that there have been several delays in rule-making related to telecommuting for federal contractors and time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts. The Office of Management and Budget has not yet issued rules on the ability of civilian agencies to use "other transactions" acquisition authority, which allows it to operate outside of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. The Defense and Homeland Security departments already have this ability.

Davis issued a statement expressing disappointment with agencies' progress in implementing SARA. "I feel that the implementation should be further along, nearly one-and-a-half years after enactment of SARA. It appears that the necessary rule-making procedures to allow many of the provisions to take full effect have been exceedingly slow in some areas," he said.

Sarah Hawkins, a spokeswoman for OMB, said a proposed rule on time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts will be issued shortly. After the Federal Acquisition Regulations Council issued an advance notice of proposed rule-making last September, it received more than 100 comments.

Hawkins said OMB also is working with the Federal Acquisition Institute, which manages the training fund for GSA, on ways to make the most of those funds. OMB recently announced a partnership to coordinate training between GSA, Defense and the OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy.