[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4991]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PROMOTING FAIRNESS WITHIN THE FEDERAL CONTRACTING PROCESS

  Mr. AKAKA. Over the past 3 days, I have discussed the need to honor 
public servants, especially Federal workers, during Public Service 
Recognition Week. I thought back to last week when I participated in 
the nomination hearing for David Safavian, who has been nominated to 
serve as the Administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement 
Policy. This position serves as the gatekeeper for the Government's 
contracts. Much of our discussion with Mr. Safavian centered on making 
sure that Federal employees have the right to protest competition 
decisions and that agencies have adequate funds to compete to retain 
work in-house.
  Some of the concerns expressed at our hearing stemmed from what I 
consider to be misguided principles set forth under the President's 
Management Agenda, which required agencies to implement quotas that 
could have resulted in the contracting out of up to one-half of all 
Federal work. Congress, in a bipartisan manner, voiced its opposition 
to this government-wide approach of contracting out quotas through 
provisions in the Fiscal Year 2003 Transportation, Treasury, and 
General Government Appropriations Act. In response to this action and 
others, the administration dropped this approach in favor of agency-
specific plans. With the recent policy reversal of the administration 
on contracting quotas, I had hoped that the change would have resulted 
in a fairer approach to the contracting out of Federal work. Therefore, 
I was disappointed that a February 2004 report on competitive sourcing 
by the General Accounting Office, GAO, Congress's independent auditor, 
found that agencies have focused more on following OMB guidelines on 
the number of positions to compete at the expense of achieving savings 
and improving performance.
  As the ranking member of the Governmental Affairs Financial 
Management Subcommittee and the Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, 
I understand that without adequate management structures, management 
information systems, and program review structures, government 
contracts will not realize savings for the American people. This has 
been proved time and again by GAO. Contract management and acquisitions 
have long been identified as high-risk areas. As such, we must ensure 
that Government contracts are awarded only to responsible parties who 
generate cost-savings throughout the life of contracts. To counter cost 
overruns and stop erroneous and improper payments, agencies need the 
resources to improve the speed and accuracy of contract data 
collection.
  The GAO report also noted that six out of the seven agency offices 
examined had only one or two employees overseeing outsourcing 
activities. More must be done to make certain that agencies have the 
people, skills, and technologies needed to oversee $230 billion in 
contracts.
  The key to achieving success requires strengthening the Federal 
Government's acquisition and contract management workforce. We must 
recognize that this corps of professionals make decisions every day 
affecting how hundreds of millions of Federal dollars are spent. For a 
number of years now, the acquisition workforce has been drastically 
downsized and many of those remaining are eligible to retire.
  Whether we are discussing quotas or the acquisition workforce, 
concerns about competitive outsourcing within the Federal Government 
are essentially about accountability. Approximately 2 million Federal 
employees and another 8 million private sector employees work for the 
Government on grants and contracts. This situation raises concerns 
about who is ultimately responsible for contracted work. It also draws 
attention to the long-term implications of competitive outsourcing, 
both in terms of money spent, efficiencies gained, and the retention of 
institutional knowledge and experienced Federal employees.
  As we near the end of Public Service Recognition Week, I want to 
thank our acquisition workforce for their efforts in managing 
Government contracts. I also urge my colleagues to support efforts to 
increase and train the acquisition workforce and implement the systems 
and structures needed to ensure that Government contracting is 
transparent, accountable, cost effective, and fair to Federal workers.

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