Procurement policy chief pushes creativity in contracting

David Safavian, chief of the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Federal Procurement Policy, urged acquisition personnel Tuesday to be creative with contracting procedures, within legal limits.

"If something is close to the line, document it, but don't shy away," he said at the government-sponsored Federal Acquisition Conference in Washington. He reminded the audience that if a contracting action is not forbidden by the Federal Acquisition Regulation, then it's permissible.

Safavian, who has been OFFP chief for about six months, also said he was re-establishing the "Frontline Forum," a series of moderated, closed-door meetings where acquisition officials will tell Safavian what's going on in the federal contracting world.

"I find it easy to get caught up in the ivory tower of the West Wing," said Safavian. He credited the Frontline Forum idea to Steven Kelman, administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy under President Clinton.

Safavian also said while the press has run negative stories about federal contracting lately, he remains optimistic. "Everything is going great," he said, despite some minor hiccups.

He warned that knee-jerk reactions to contracting problems could result in burdensome regulations. "Abandoning 1990s reform is not an option," he said, adding that agencies can't afford to scare away vendors that offer innovative solutions.

Safavian said his main goals during his tenure as OFFP chief include boosting the acquisition workforce and increasing training opportunities, as well as consolidating acquisition processes. He offered the restructuring at the General Services Administration and the OMB's recent announcement about strategic sourcing goals as examples of this consolidation.

Also on Tuesday, OMB released its report on fiscal 2004 competitive sourcing, documenting its previously announced $1.4 billion in savings during the next five years, an increase from $1.1 billion from the competitions held during fiscal 2003.

The report showed that more savings were generated from competitions with two or more private sector bidders. Competitions that involved no private sector bids saved on average $18,000 per job; competitions with two or more private sector bidders generated $32,000 per job.

Civilian agencies increased the frequency of standard competitions, which involve 65 or more employees, to 79 percent of all competitions in fiscal 2004 from 37 percent in fiscal 2003. OMB said standard competitions tend to generate higher savings because they involve actual bids as opposed to relying on market research to determine appropriate prices.

"We are seeing an unmistakable link between the strategic application of competition and an agency's ability to save taxpayer dollars through consolidations, results-oriented performance standards, and the leveraging of technology," said Safavian.

OMB also reported that the governmentwide costs for completed and announced competitions was $92.7 million. Federal employee unions have long argued that the outlay for holding job competitions often exceeds their savings.

"OMB has historically underestimated the costs of conducting privatization reviews," said John Threlkeld, legislative representative for the American Federation of Government Employees. He added the report "fails to take into account that the privatization process is fundamentally unfair to federal employees."

Congress has also criticized the job competition process. On Monday, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., along with 18 other lawmakers, sent a letter to Small Business Administration head Hector Barreto, expressing the view that certain jobs at the SBA - jobs that determine eligibility for certification in the SBA's 8(a) program - should be considered inherently government and therefore not eligible for competition.

"I am not against privatization when it's based on thoughtful consideration. I am against arbitrary quotas, bounty hunters and stacking the deck against dedicated federal employees. A-76 privatization is unfair to federal employees and unfair to the democratic process. I will keep fighting to fix the competition process that is shamefully slanted in favor of private contractors," said Mikulski.