For many months now, Congressman Henry Waxman and the House Government Reform Committee have been angling to get a set of acquisition reforms through Congress. Well that mission was accomplished with the passage of the Defense Authorization Bill for 2009 (S. 3001). The bill is now sitting on the desk of the President awaiting his signature.

The authorization bill contains a host of provisions originally presented in the Clean Contracting Act that called for a set of acquisition reforms affecting a broad range of contracting rules and regulations. The changes revolve around a common set of themes that we've seen emerge in the Congressional tone towards contracting: Increased Transparency, Increased Competition (Less Sole Sourcing), and Increased Regulation & Oversight. The key acquisition related provisions of the bill are outlined below:

• Transparency
  • It requires the federal government to announce in FBO sole source awards it has made within 14 days of award.
  • It calls for the creation of a database of information regarding the integrity and performance of individuals awarded federal contracts or grants for use by government acquisition professionals.
  • It requires improvements in the Federal Procurement Data System to support reporting of interagency contract actions and other types of transactions.
• Increased Competition
  • It stipulates that non-competitive awards may only be in place as long as there is a compelling need and until another competitive contract can be put in place. The non-competitive awards may not be in place for more than a year.
  • With some exceptions, it requires government to inform all bidders on a multiple award contract of intent to procure products/services and consider fairly all bids submitted.
• Increased Regulation and Oversight
  • It requires the establishment of regulations that govern the use of cost-reimbursement types of contracts. Included in this is a requirement for Inspectors General to conduct a review of their agency's compliance with the rules promulgated. OMB is then required to submit an annual report to Congress addressing each agency's compliance with the regulations.
  • It requires regulations to be established that govern the use of interagency contracts. It also requires a formal business case to be prepared before such a vehicle may be established. Further, the senior procurement official for each agency must submit an annual report to OMB reporting its progress and actions to comply with the newly established regulations.
  • It requires rule changes that limit the ability of prime contractors from marking up subcontract fees where no or limited value is added by the prime contractor.
  • It requires that regulations related to award-fee and incentive-fee be revised so that such fees are tied to acquisition outcomes.
  • It requires the Department of Defense to submit a report of its action and progress toward implementing Section 826 Public Law 110-181; 10 U.S.C. 2377 note.
  • It requires the Department of Defense to submit a report of its implementation of Earned Value Management.
• Other Provisions
  • It requires the creation of an Acquisition Workforce Development Strategic Plan.
  • It establishes a Contingency Contracting Corps comprised of the current members of the acquisition workforce to respond to emergencies requiring substantial contracting support.

What does this mean for the government? Well, the bill adds quite a load of reporting requirements that agencies must address. It also raises the bar on competition and transparency, which inherently causes more work for the contracting shops, which are already short staffed. The bill does open the door for increasing the acquisition workforce, but with government discretionary spending likely to tighten it will be a challenge for agencies to come up with the money to add staff.