Jun 15, 2008

Because Defense Department procurement offices are understaffed, contractors are performing many procurement duties that shouldn’t be done by contractors, says the Pentagon’s procurement policy chief, Shay Assad.

In an effort to change that, a pilot program at two of its contracting offices, the department will hire the Interior Department’s Acquisition Services Directorate and the General Services Administration to support its contracting operations, Assad has said.

“I’d much rather have folks from the Department of Interior or GSA supporting us than going to the contractor work force to do that stuff that is inherently governmental,” he said.

The Army Contracting Center for Excellence at the Pentagon and the Pentagon’s Washington Headquarters Service will redirect its “inherently governmental” procurement support from contractors to procurement staffs at GSA and Interior until they hire more staff to take over that work, Assad said.

The Army Contracting Center for Excellence purchased $1.8 billion in goods and services, such as information technology, advertising and training to support the Army last year. The Washington Headquarters Service purchases support, facilities maintenance, IT and other services for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Writing requirements for future contract deals, for instance, and negotiating terms and conditions with contractors, settling on a price, and setting delivery dates and schedules are tasks that should be done by federal employees, Assad said.

The problem of contractors performing inherently governmental is not widespread, Assad said, but “we do have pockets ... that have small numbers of people that are actually performing functions I consider inherently governmental.”

If the pilot program works, it could be expanded to other department contracting shops or become a long-term solution, he said.

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