OMB issues guidance for evaluating federal acquisition processes

The Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued new guidelines on Wednesday for agencies to assess their acquisition processes. Agencies currently are required to report on their procurement strengths and weaknesses, but soon will use a template provided by OFPP to ensure those assessments are comprehensive and standardized.

Agencies now conduct internal control reviews of acquisition and program management in a number of ways, including self-evaluations, surveys and reviews of individual procurements. In issuing the new guidance, OFPP said the current review processes "do not give sufficient attention to those factors that have the greatest influence on the efficiency and effectiveness of the acquisition function."

The 52-page guide, which agencies are required to use beginning in fiscal 2009, includes a template designed to ensure all governmentwide reviews address the areas OFPP considers important for acquisition effectiveness and accountability. Through the template, agencies report on four primary areas: organizational alignment and leadership, policies and practices, human capital and information management, and stewardship. The framework provides questions, warnings and best practices for each area to "help acquisition officials identify and close performance gaps," OFPP noted.

OFPP Administrator Paul A. Denett said the template was modeled on one developed by the Government Accountability Office through consultation with government and industry specialists.

"In the past, we've had a hodgepodge -- every agency taking a different approach, using different cyclical reviews, different checklists." Denett said. "This is holistic; it looks at [the acquisition process] from A to Z, looks at all the components in conjunction with the guidance we got from GAO."

Agencies will integrate their assessments with reporting required under Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123. That circular provides guidance to federal managers for monitoring, correcting and reporting on internal agency controls. OFPP has asked agencies to submit their plans for implementing this new acquisition assessment guidance by the end of July.

"These analyses will give our acquisition officials and other agency stakeholders a clearer picture of what they must do to have the best acquisition structure, controls and staffing to support agency missions in a timely and cost-effective manner," Denett said.

According to the guidance, assessments must adhere to two primary principles: standardization and integration. Agencies must ensure that their evaluations include certain data for the template's four key areas. Acquisition officials must also integrate their assessment into existing internal control review and reporting processes and involve all the necessary senior employees.