Former procurement chief offers plan for expediting stimulus contracts

Federal agencies can issue effective and transparent Recovery Act contracts in just two-and-a-half days, according to new recommendations from a former top procurement official.

Allan Burman, who served as administrator of federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget under three presidents, said agencies could expedite their stimulus awards by implementing a system of performance-based contracting that has proved effective in the private sector.

Burman outlined his plan in a recent interview with the CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government, a group that analyzes models of government partnership with the private and nonprofit sectors. He later discussed those recommendations with Government Executive.

The key is to create tiger teams of what Burman calls "contracting officer performance representatives," rather than the traditional contracting officer technical representatives.

These teams would have experience in performance-based acquisition, in which agencies spell out the problem that needs to be solved and then allow contractors to make bids detailing their proposed solutions. The agency is charged with developing clear ways to measure the results as well as the contractors' performance during the course of the contract.

These performance representatives would carry their expertise from program to program and contract to contract, helping to develop the requirements and oversight needed for many services-based stimulus contracts, according to Burman. The Coast Guard already uses a similar system.

"It's an effective way to make the process move forward quicker," Burman said. "You will not do a hundred-million procurements in two-and-a-half days, but you can do sizable services and support procurements in a very short amount of time."

When the method is used for pre-existing awards, such as governmentwide acquisition contracts, Recovery Act contracts can be presented in a matter of days, he said. The system also could improve the speed and effectiveness of new awards that are issued using full-and-open competition, whittling weeks or even months from the process, Burman said.

"By assembling a collection of the right people and getting them to put aside a very limited amount of time to work together you can get results and get them fast," Burman said.

The process begins by getting the tiger teams, agency procurement officers and programming officials in a room together for a two- to three-hour training program, which would include an explanation of the jargon associated with performance-based contracting, he said. The group also would spend time working on an unrelated performance-based project to serve as a test case to increase their comfort and confidence level.

Once focused on the stimulus project at hand, the group then would begin to outline the business outcomes of the contract, such as the tasks the contractor will carry out, the performance measures it must reach; the level of government oversight required and whether incentives should be built into the contract, Burman said.

"If you think through the performance measures [in advance], and make sure you get the outcomes right, then you can develop … an accountability matrix," Burman explained.

The method, he said, can be used to enhance competition, encourage small business participation, increase transparency or focus on job creation -- all goals of the Recovery Act.

This approach would be particularly effective in fixed-price contracts, the procurement vehicle preferred by the administration to issue Recovery Act awards, said Andrew McLauchlin, director of the CGI Initiative for Collaborative Government.

"In order for you to get the right results for the money [through fixed-price contracts] you really need a special clarity on what the objectives and target outcomes are from the government as well as what industry can deliver in the time frames required," McLauchlin said. "Fixed-price [contracts] really does put a premium on upfront conversation."

Burman also recommended that agencies:

• Begin a dialogue with prospective contractors as early as possible -- even before companies submit proposals -- to understand their capabilities and gain clarity about proposed requirements
• Develop a draft request for proposal in which the agency makes a "good-faith effort to identify its needs and alerts potential bidders" to its desired outcomes
• Consider milestone billing, in which the government pays contractors for elements of a project as they are completed rather than paying at the end of the contract, thereby injecting money into the economy more quickly