OMB deputy: Debate over job competitions not a distraction

A Bush administration official says the recent political fight over an initiative allowing private companies to compete for federal work has not distracted the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) at the Office of Management and Budget from its traditional responsibility of developing government acquisition policy.

The competitive sourcing initiative, which pits teams of civil servants against contractors in contests for government jobs, is a key part of the Bush administration's management agenda. Employee unions and some lawmakers have attacked the initiative as a wholesale effort to privatize government work, and have succeeded in attaching provisions impeding public-private job competitions to fiscal 2004 spending legislation.

OMB in turn has recommended that the White House veto budget bills with such provisions, and this week raised last-minute objections to competitive sourcing language in several spending bills, two of which President Bush has already signed.

While competitive sourcing issues have grabbed the limelight, OFPP has not neglected acquisition policy, said Clay Johnson, OMB's deputy director for management. "Competitive sourcing is the thing that is occupying most of the office's time," he told Government Executive. "But we're very mindful of issues in the procurement world."

But Steven Kelman, head of OFPP during the Clinton administration and currently a professor at Harvard University, charged that the administration was "missing in action" on procurement policy. OFPP should do more to prompt innovation among front-line acquisition workers, he said. "We have lost completely any leadership encouragement to the career people looking for better ways of doing business," he added.

Until recently, OFPP dealt only with acquisition issues, Kelman said. As head of OFPP, "I spent zero time on competitive sourcing," he said.

OFPP also needs to devote more attention and resources to improving contract management at federal agencies, Kelman said. And OMB officials should mount a stronger defense against accusations that politics influenced Iraq reconstruction contract awards, he added.

OFPP is making sure that the government's procurement infrastructure is sound, Johnson said. The office is also looking for ways to ensure that small businesses have ample opportunities for government work.

The top job at OFPP has been vacant since Angela Styles resigned the post in September. Earlier this month, President Bush nominated David Safavian, chief of staff at the General Services Administration, to head the office. The appointment of Safavian, a former lobbyist with strong ties to Capitol Hill, could help OMB's efforts to win lawmakers' support for competitive sourcing.

But Safavian's experience at GSA doesn't necessarily make him an expert on procurement, Kelman said. GSA's chief of staff is not as directly involved with acquisition as are officials in the agency's Federal Supply Service and Federal Technology Service, he said.

But Johnson said Safavian is very knowledgeable on procurement issues because of his work at GSA and from his participation on the Federal Acquisition Council.

Regardless of Safavian's level of expertise, partisan fighting over competitive sourcing may simply leave him with little time to think about acquisition policy, Kelman said. One solution would be for Johnson to designate a separate official to concentrate solely on procurement, Kelman said.

Johnson said he does not think that competitive sourcing will strain OMB's resources, or take needed attention away from procurement. OFPP's main responsibility is to develop policy, he explained. Most of the actual work in implementing procurement reform occurs at the agency level, he said. Even with a relatively small staff and other competing priorities, OMB will have plenty of time to guide acquisition.

"We ought to be as good as ever," Johnson said.