[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 21, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3428-3429]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00783]


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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

Office of Federal Procurement Policy


Procurement Administrative Lead Time (PALT)

AGENCY: Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB).

ACTION: Notice and request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) is requesting 
public comment on a proposed definition of the term ``Procurement 
Administrative Lead Time'' (PALT) and a plan for measuring and publicly 
reporting government-wide data on PALT for contracts and orders above 
the simplified acquisition threshold (SAT). This action is being 
undertaken in accordance with section 878 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2019.

DATES: Interested parties should submit written comments to the address 
shown below within 30 days of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Please submit comments only and cite ``Procurement 
Administrative Lead Time'' in all correspondence. Comments may be 
submitted by any of the following methods:
     Online at http://www.regulations.gov,
     Facsimile: 202-395-5105.
     Mail: Curtina Smith, Office of Federal Procurement Policy, 
725 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20503.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Curtina Smith, [email protected], 
202-395-3301.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 878 of the NDAA for 2019, Public Law 
115-232, requires the Administrator of OFPP to develop and make 
available for public comment a definition of the term PALT. Section 878 
further requires that

[[Page 3429]]

the Administrator develop a plan for measuring and publicly reporting 
data on PALT for Federal Government contracts and orders above the SAT.
    OFPP is proposing to define PALT as ``the time between the date on 
which an initial solicitation for a contract or order is issued by a 
Federal department or agency and the date of the award of the contract 
or order.'' Section 878 includes this language as a suggested 
definition. Furthermore, this definition was adopted by the Department 
of Defense (DoD) pursuant section 886 of the NDAA for FY 18 and DoD 
implementing instructions. See ``Reporting `Solicitation Date' in the 
Federal Procurement Data System'' June 14, 2018, available at https://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/policy/policyvault/USA001458-18-DPAP.pdf.
    In instances where draft solicitations are issued generally for the 
purpose of seeking input from interested parties to assist the 
Government in finalizing its solicitation, the issuance date for the 
``initial solicitation'' for purposes of the PALT would be the date on 
which the final solicitation seeking offers, bids, or proposals is 
issued by the Government. In cases where no solicitation is required, 
`the date on which an initial solicitation is issued' would be guided 
by the following instructions, which promote consistent implementation 
across both civilian and DoD agencies:
     For awards resulting from unsolicited proposals, `the date 
on which an initial solicitation is issued' is the date on which the 
Government notifies the offeror of proposal acceptance.
     For orders placed against indefinite-delivery contracts 
where pricing is based on pre-priced line items included in the 
indefinite-delivery contract and no elements of the order's delivery or 
performance require negotiation, `the date on which an initial 
solicitation is issued' is the date of the award of the order.
     For the award of a contract under a Broad Agency 
Announcement (BAA), `the date on which an initial solicitation is 
issued' is the date when a final combined synopsis/solicitation is 
issued except:
    [ssquf] For two-step BAAs, including white paper submissions for 
review, selection, and subsequent request for full proposals, `the date 
on which an initial solicitation is issued' is the date when the 
Government signs the proposal request.
    [ssquf] Under BAAs with calls, `the date on which an initial 
solicitation is issued' is the date when the individual call is issued.
    [ssquf] For open BAAs, when white papers and/or proposals are 
accepted for review over an extended period (typically open for a year 
or longer), the `the date on which an initial solicitation is issued' 
is either the date when the Government signs a proposal request (white 
papers) or the date on which the proposal is submitted, whichever is 
earlier.
    To support measuring and public reporting of PALT, OFPP proposes 
leveraging publicly available data in the Federal Procurement Data 
System--Next Generation (FPDS-NG), i.e., the authoritative source for 
Federal Government procurement award data. The General Services 
Administration's Integrated Acquisition Environment has included in its 
June 2019 enhancement of FPDS-NG a change to add the ``solicitation 
date'' data field as a mandatory reporting requirement for all 
contracts or orders valued above the SAT. Now that data are centrally 
collected in FPDS-NG, agencies and the public will be able to use these 
data to obtain PALT information for any contract or order issued by the 
Federal Government that is valued above the SAT. In addition, FPDS-NG 
data can be used to evaluate PALT for specific types of acquisitions 
and to determine how timelines are impacted by the use of specific 
authorities, such as FAR Subpart 6.302-2, Unusual and Compelling 
Urgency, as well as other authorities that permit limited competition 
or noncompetitive awards. The public is invited to submit comments on 
both the proposed definition and plan for measuring PALT.
    Establishing a common definition of PALT and a plan for measuring 
and publicly reporting PALT data are important steps in helping the 
Federal Government to understand and better address causes of 
procurement delays. PALT can help to drive continual process 
improvement and the pursuit of more innovative procurement practices, 
especially when the data are used in combination with other inputs for 
evaluating the overall effectiveness of the acquisition process in 
delivering value to the taxpayer, such as cost and the quality of the 
contractor's performance. PALT can also create incentives to drive 
greater efficiencies in the requirements development process, which has 
long been recognized as one of the most significant sources of delay in 
the acquisition lifecycle. For example, increased emphasis on PALT 
should encourage agencies to take greater advantage of facilitated 
requirements development workshops, where a trained facilitator leads a 
multi-functional integrated project team in the development of a 
mission critical acquisition requirement in days. Use of this practice 
has largely been limited to DoD but its promise makes it worthy of 
broader consideration across the Federal Government.
    It is expected that as technology improves and the ability to 
capture better and more comprehensive procurement and requirements data 
becomes easier, there will be opportunity to collect and track 
additional data points and timeframes beyond those covered by the 
proposed definition. For example, the ability to capture data routinely 
on various aspects of requirements development could significantly 
enhance the insight derived from measuring PALT. Agencies that may 
already collect and track additional data points and timeframes outside 
of the proposed definition, such as from the time a complete 
requisition package is received by the procurement office, will be 
encouraged to maintain their broader efforts, as they are able, to 
assist in the management, support, and evaluation of agency procurement 
operations.

Michael E. Wooten,
Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy.
[FR Doc. 2020-00783 Filed 1-17-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-01-P