Technology alone is not enough to ensure that contractors are achieving results.

In this new environment, managers need to know how best to use technology to draw on these private sector resources. Pretty soon, it's going to be difficult to say, "I don't get this IT stuff." So, the General Services Administration is leading the way in helping federal employees navigate in the new acquisition culture.

About two years ago, more than 440 government Web sites existed to help contractors find out what their favorite agencies were buying. Today, contractors and federal managers alike are well on their way to needing only one-or at least one portal-to get them to the latest procurement information: eGovLinks.

When you click on www.egovlinks.com/procure.html, here are some things you get:

• GSA Advantage! The General Services Administration's innovative site at www.gsaadvantage.gov shows contractors what the schedules have to offer.
• FedBizOpps.Gov . This new GSA site at www.fedbizopps.gov is based on an electronic posting system pilot developed by NASA. It shows government managers how to bring their procurement requests to the site. For contractors, it links to a host of agency procurement plans. For example, by clicking on GSA, users can see that the Federal Supply Service Hardware and Appliance Center in Kansas City, Mo., needs price quotes on pipe-threading sets.
• ARNet (Acquisition Reform Network). This site at www.arnet.gov links users to best practices and all kinds of new approaches to acquisition. For example, the buyers.gov site explains how to conduct reverse auctions. A reverse auction beefs up agency leverage by letting those who purchase only a small amount combine their buys with those of other agencies.
• FirstGov. GSA's Web portal atwww.firstgov.gov jumps from linking users to a paltry 440 government sites to more than 20,000. They run the gamut from helping citizens get student loans and reserve vacation sites at national parks to linking the acquisition community to procurement sites. By clicking on "Business and Economy" and then "Small Business Resources," users can pop directly into the Small Business Administration's home page. Other sites featured in this portal include Workers.gov, where users can click on "Learning" to get to "Learn Online: Computer Literacy." Here, a course sponsored by the Interior Department explains in 10 easy steps how to use a Web browser. Best of all, it's online and it's free.
  

As these online capabilities increase, the government will cultivate more informed bidders and companies will assemble more knowledgeable, competitive teams.

But technology alone won't answer the mail. Federal managers also need other tools to ensure that contractors are achieving results.

Senior government officials at the recent Brookings Institution program, "Executive Leadership in a Changing Policy Environment," said procurement hasn't gotten any easier. Moreover, the acquisition process has had a major effect on their ability to accomplish their agency missions. The crux of the managers' complaints is that they don't have enough people to get the job done. Also, they are uneasy with their staffs' skills and training to oversee contractor support.

To some, an overemphasis on competition has resulted in more turnover in industry partners. This instability in industry partnerships brings a lack of confidence that enough money and staff will be available to handle unanticipated problems with contracts. Cost-minimizing strategies were neither desirable nor necessary in the old acquisition culture. Today they're a fact of life.

Even the focus on bringing commercial expertise to bear on problems and inviting firms to offer innovative solutions seems to diminish the government's role. Once a partner is actually doing the job, the agency is shifting to the role of overseeing the work. To a degree, this change flows from cutbacks in government staff as well as from legislation that has focused the acquisition process on results.

The managers at Brookings weren't confident that they had the tools to carry out the government's changing role from doer to overseer. They saw performance-based contracting as a way to operate under these constraints, but almost none were trained in such techniques and few felt comfortable with the concept.

If downsizing and tight money are facts of life for government managers, then they-not just contracting officials-must be able to use the tools available to help them adapt to the new acquisition culture.