[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 102 (Friday, May 29, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25775-25777]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-12588]


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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Notification of a Public Meeting on the Presidential Memorandum 
on Government Contracting

AGENCY: Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the 
President.

ACTION: Notice of a public meeting and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Presidential Memorandum on Government Contracting, issued 
on March 4, 2009, establishes a framework for improving critical 
components of the federal acquisition system and management of the 
Federal Government's ``multi-sector'' workforce of federal employees 
and private sector contractors. The Memorandum directs the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with federal agency 
leadership, to improve and strengthen federal contracting practices and 
to seek input from the public on the most effective ways to achieve 
this goal. Section 321 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 
for Fiscal Year 2009 further directs OMB to clarify the definition of 
an inherently governmental function and to develop criteria to be used 
by agency heads to identify other functions that should only be 
performed by Federal employees. The Presidential Memorandum is 
available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing_room/PresidentialActions/pg2/. Section 321 may be found at http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/110_hr5658.pdf.

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    In furtherance of the President's Memorandum and section 321 of the 
FY 2009 NDAA, OMB invites interested parties from both the public and 
private sectors to provide comments on: (1) Maximizing the use of 
competition; (2) improving practices for selecting contract types; (3) 
strengthening the acquisition workforce; and (4) clarifying when 
functions should be performed by federal employees and when contractors 
may be appropriately considered.
    Interested parties may offer oral and/or written comments at a 
public meeting to be held on June 18, 2009. Parties are also encouraged 
to provide all written comments directly to http://www.regulations.gov.

DATES: A public meeting will be conducted on June 18, 2009, at 9 a.m. 
eastern time and ending no later than 1 p.m. eastern time.
    Procedures for the public meeting: The public is asked to pre-
register by June 8, 2009, due to security and seating limitations. To 
pre-register, please send an e-mail to Ms. Julia Wise of OFPP at 
[email protected]. Registration check-in will begin at 8 a.m. eastern 
time and the meeting will start at 9 a.m. eastern time.
    Oral Public Comments: A key purpose of the meeting is to encourage 
public comment through dialogue on each of the four topics described 
above. Accordingly, one hour will be allotted for each topic. A 
facilitator will briefly introduce each topic and organize discussion 
through questions.
    Parties wishing to make formal oral presentations at the public 
meeting must contact Ms. Wise by electronic mail at: [email protected] 
no later than June 8, 2009, to be placed on the public speaker list. 
Verbal requests for speaking time will not be taken. Time allocations 
for oral presentations will be limited and depend on the number of 
requests. All formal oral public comments must also be followed-up in 
writing and submitted to http://www.regulations.gov. When submitting 
your comments, reference ``Public Comments on the Government 
Contracting Memorandum.'' Note: Written statements are strongly 
preferred to formal oral presentations in order to provide maximum 
opportunity for dialogue with the participants.
    Written Comments/Statements: Parties wishing to share written 
statements at the public meeting must submit such statements to Ms. 
Wise at [email protected] by June 8, 2009. In lieu of, or in addition 
to, participating in the public meeting, interested parties may submit 
written comments to http://www.regulations.gov by July 17, 2009. When 
submitting your comments, reference ``Public Comments on the Government 
Contracting Memorandum.''

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held at the General Services 
Administration Auditorium located at 1800 F Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20405. Enter at the second entrance on F Street.
    Meeting Accommodations: The public meeting is physically accessible 
to people with disabilities. Request for sign language interpretation 
or other auxiliary aids should be directed to Ms. Wise at 
[email protected] or (202) 395-7561 by June 8, 2009.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For clarification of the subject 
matter related to the memorandum: Mr. Mathew Blum, OFPP, (202) 395-4953 
or [email protected] or Ms. Julia Wise, OFPP, (202) 395-7561 or 
[email protected]. For public meeting information and submission of 
comment: Ms. Julia Wise, OFPP, (202) 395-7561 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Presidential Memorandum on Government 
Contracting requires the Director of OMB to develop guidance by 
September 30, 2009, for strengthening several critical aspects of the 
federal acquisition system. In 2008, federal agencies used this system 
to acquire more than $500 billion in goods and services. The Memorandum 
directs OMB to focus attention on strengthening four key areas: (1) Use 
of competition; (2) practices for use and oversight of cost-
reimbursement contracts and other contract types; (3) the capacity and 
ability of the acquisition workforce; and (4) policies addressing when 
governmental outsourcing for services is and is not appropriate. The 
Presidential Memorandum requires that OMB issue guidance addressing 
each of these areas by September 30, 2009.
    Section 321 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 
Fiscal Year 2009 further directs OMB, in consultation with 
representatives of the Chief Acquisition Officers (CAO) Council and the 
Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCO) Council to take a number of steps 
related to the government's management of its multi-sector workforce of 
federal employees and contracted employees. These steps include 
reviewing and developing a single consistent definition of the term 
``inherently governmental function'' and establishing criteria that 
agencies may use to identify critical functions and positions that, 
while not inherently governmental, should be performed only by Federal 
Government employees to ensure the agency maintains control of its 
mission and operations.
    OMB is working with officials from the Department of Defense (DOD), 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the General 
Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Personnel Management 
(OPM), and other agencies, including representatives from the CAO 
Council and CHCO Council, to strengthen practices in the four areas 
described above. OMB seeks public input on these topical areas, 
including the questions posed in connection with each of these areas, 
as described below:
    (1) Maximizing the use of competition--What are the government's 
greatest barriers to using competition and what steps can be taken to 
maximize competitive practices? What is the best way to make certain 
that the government is not overly reliant on sole-source contracts (or 
contracts with a limited number of sources)? What are key principles to 
avoiding sole-source contracts? When is use of multiple award task and 
delivery order contracts appropriate? What effect, if any, do the 
following factors have in selecting a competition strategy: nature of 
the requirements (type of supplies or services), complexity, 
marketplace, knowledge level of the requirements, terms and conditions, 
time available for competing the work, dollar value, socio-economic 
requirements?
    (2) Improving practices for selecting the right contract type--What 
policies and practices pose the greatest obstacles to the government's 
ability to achieve good outcomes in various contract types? What effect 
does the government's choice of contract type have on contractor 
pricing? What practices might better enable the government to make 
better use of fixed price contracts? How can agencies improve the use 
and management of cost-type, time and material, and labor hour 
contracts? Does the Federal Acquisition Regulation provide sufficient 
information on the appropriate use and management of various contract 
types to minimize risk and maximize the value?
    (3) Strengthening the acquisition workforce--What are best 
practices, within Government and industry, for recruiting, retaining, 
developing and promoting high-quality acquisition and program 
management professionals and other mission-critical occupations? How 
does an organization conduct succession management that considers 
current needs--both quantitative and qualitative--and future human 
capital requirements? What are the top skills

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gaps in the federal acquisition workforce (broadly defined to include 
not only contracting officers but also requirements and planning 
officials, and program and project managers, and technical 
representatives responsible for managing contract performance on the 
contracting officer's behalf, etc.)? What are Government and industry 
best practices for integrating requirements development and 
acquisition? What is the best method for assuring that sufficient 
funding is in place for effective acquisition oversight and management?
    (4) Managing the multi-sector workforce--How might the current 
definition of inherently governmental function be clarified to improve 
management of the multi-sector workforce? What types of criteria might 
help agencies identify non-inherently governmental functions that are 
critical to an agency, with respect to its unique missions and 
structure, and need to be performed by federal employees in order for 
the agency to maintain control of its mission and operations? What 
criteria should agencies use in selecting activities that might be 
candidates for in sourcing? What criteria should agencies use in 
deciding whether a government activity should be competed? How do 
federal contracting policies affect practices in the private sector 
labor market? If there are laws, regulations, policies, or agency 
practices that a commenter believes have involved a misclassification 
of a function as inherently governmental or as commercial, please 
identify these and outline your concern in as much detail as possible, 
so that this can help to inform our review.

Jeffrey B. Liebman,
Executive Associate Director, Office of Management and Budget.
[FR Doc. E9-12588 Filed 5-28-09; 8:45 am]
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