Procurement Reform: Further Opportunities for Change (Testimony,
02/28/95, GAO/T-OGC-95-16).

Last year, Congress sought to reform the government's acquisition system
by passing the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, which
established a simplified acquisition threshold and a preference for
commercial items.  It also reduced the administrative burden associated
with the government's specialized requirements.  As momentous as this
legislation was, many believe that it represented only a first step
rather than a culmination of reform.  A number of reform proposals are
now under discussion.  This testimony provides GAO's preliminary views
on proposals that it believes merit further consideration and study.
These reform proposals support three fundamental principles: "buy
smarter" (eliminate requirements that hamper government's ability to
take advantage of what industry has to offer); "simplify" (further
reduce the complexity of the acquisition system); and "manage better"
(further improve management of the procurement process, including making
needed investments in people and systems).

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-OGC-95-16
     TITLE:  Procurement Reform: Further Opportunities for Change
      DATE:  02/28/95
   SUBJECT:  Federal procurement policies
             Procurement evaluation
             Procurement procedures
             Computerized information systems
             Small purchases
             Notice of award
             Bid protests
             Buy American
             Procurement regulation
             Competitive range
IDENTIFIER:  Federal Acquisition Computer Network
             SBA Certificate of Competency Program
             SBA 8(a) Program
             
------------------------------------------------------------------------

We regret that electronic text of GAO Testimony is not available at 
this time. 

See the GAO FAQ - Section 2.0 for printed copy ordering information.
The FAQ is automatically retrieved with all WAIS search results or 
can be obtained by sending e-mail to: [email protected]