Putting Performance Into Practice

ew aspects of government management have been as transformed in the last few years as procurement. In implementing the 1994 Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act, agencies have injected a considerable amount of performance pressure into procurement activities. Not only must contractors now compete for agency business based on cost and past-performance records, but in order to get many of the fees associated with individual contracts-and indeed to win contract renewals-companies must provide top-notch service.

The transition to this new procurement style hasn't been easy for agencies or contractors. But based on lessons learned by agencies so far, the Office of Procurement Policy has developed a guide to the new approach. The document- "Best Practices for Using Current and Past Performance Information"-was released in draft form for stakeholder comment in March. According to the guide, agencies successfully implementing the new approach with multiple award task- and delivery-order contracts are doing such things as:

• Using past performance information to screen which awardees will get further consideration for new orders.
• Conducting customer surveys and doing interim evaluations.
• Meeting with contractors who are not performing satisfactorily.
• Collecting past performance information in a database to use for future awards. The document, a final version of which was expected out this summer, can be found at http://www.arnet.gov/Notes/ performance.doc.
  

While making the shift to more competitive practices, procurement officials have also been moving toward adapting e-commerce technology to government procurement. The goal is "to create a single, governmentwide point of electronic entry for accessing notices of solicitation, solicitations and related procurement information," Deidre Lee, former OFPP administrator, told a House Small Business Committee panel in April.

The so-called single point of entry, or SPE, would build on other electronic procurement initiatives of recent years. In the mid-1990s, the Federal Acquisition Computer Network began providing notice of solicitations for purchases between $2,500 and $100,000 electronically, Lee noted. Then in 1996, the Commerce Business Daily Network posted electronically all open market contract opportunities previously published only in the print version of Commerce Business Daily. But the CBDNet wasn't designed to provide easy access to solicitations and other important information, Lee said. The SPE will include information on all government contracting opportunities valued above $25,000.

Pilot tests of the concept over the last few years by a number of agencies-including NASA, the General Services Administration and the departments of Transportation, Treasury and Commerce-have yielded encouraging results, Lee said. Users said the system saved them time and improved efficiency. OMB officials say they hope to have SPE fully operational by October 2001.

The Energy Department once again led civilian agency contract spending in fiscal 1999, with $15.6 billion in purchases under prime contracts of $25,000 or more. In April, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson announced a plan to boost contracting opportunities for small businesses through set-aside programs. In addition, large companies interested in new major facility management procurements will have to include small and disadvantaged businesses as prime contract team members and as subcontractors, Richardson said.

NASA was the second-highest civilian spender in fiscal 1999. The agency spent nearly $11 billion in prime contract awards, about the same as the previous year. The General Services Administration followed in third place, with nearly $7 billion in awards.