Contract Management
OFPP Policy Regarding Share-in-Savings Contracting Pursuant to the E-Government Act of 2002
Gao ID: GAO-03-552R March 24, 2003
In January 2003, we issued two reports that provide insight regarding the share-in-savings (SIS) provisions of the E-Government Act of 2002: one on critical elements of training for new acquisition initiatives and one on commercial practices that foster successful SIS contracting. As follow-up to these reports, we are writing to underscore the need for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) to ensure (1) that members of the federal acquisition workforce understand and appropriately apply this new authority and (2) that appropriate data are collected and available to meet mandated reporting requirements regarding the effective use of SIS contracting. SIS contracting represents a significant change in the way the federal government acquires information technology. In our report on improving training for new acquisition initiatives, we emphasized the importance that industry and government experts place on training to successfully implement such change. Training on this information technology acquisition initiative will be essential to its effective implementation. In our report on SIS contracting, we highlighted the federal government's limited experience with SIS contracting as well as conditions that fostered successful implementation in commercial SIS contracts.
In view of the potential benefits of SIS programs, we think OFPP should consider developing policy and guidance that (1) specifically address the need for a well-defined training program and (2) incorporate practices that fostered success in the commercial SIS contracts we reviewed. The E-Government Act requires (1) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to submit a report containing descriptive as well as evaluative information on the use of SIS contracts to the Congress not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the act and (2) the Comptroller General to conduct a review of the OMB report and provide an independent assessment of the effectiveness of the use of SIS contracts not later than 6 months after the OMB report is issued. Providing meaningful reports to the Congress will depend on the availability of good data. However, experience has shown that such data have not always been available to make program assessments. For example, in March 1998, we reported that procurement data were inadequate to determine whether the key purposes of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 were being achieved. Given this past experience and the limited use of SIS contracting by the federal government, we encourage OFPP to consider the need to collect data on the federal government's use of SIS contracting pursuant to the E-Government Act. The data should be uniform, reliable, and sufficient to accurately assess SIS use, and provide meaningful reports to Congress regarding the effectiveness of SIS contracting in improving agency processes and achieving agency missions.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
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GAO-03-552R, Contract Management: OFPP Policy Regarding Share-in-Savings Contracting Pursuant to the E-Government Act of 2002
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March 24, 2003:
Ms. Angela B. Styles:
Administrator:
Office of Federal Procurement Policy:
Washington, D.C.
Subject: Contract Management: OFPP Policy Regarding Share-in-Savings
Contracting Pursuant to the E-Government Act of 2002:
Dear Ms. Styles:
In January 2003, we issued two reports that provide insight regarding
the
share-in-savings (SIS) provisions of the E-Government Act of
2002:[Footnote 1] one on critical elements of training for new
acquisition initiatives[Footnote 2] and one on commercial practices
that foster successful SIS contracting.[Footnote 3] As follow-up to
these reports, we are writing to underscore the need for the Office of
Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) to ensure (1) that members of the
federal acquisition workforce understand and appropriately apply this
new authority and (2) that appropriate data are collected and available
to meet mandated reporting requirements regarding the effective use of
SIS contracting.
As you know, SIS contracting represents a significant change in the way
the federal government acquires information technology. In our report
on improving training for new acquisition initiatives, we emphasized
the importance that industry and government experts place on training
to successfully implement such change. Training on this information
technology acquisition initiative will be essential to its effective
implementation. In our report on SIS contracting, we highlighted the
federal government‘s limited experience with SIS contracting as well as
conditions that fostered successful implementation in commercial SIS
contracts. In commenting on a draft of our commercial SIS contracting
report, OFPP staff acknowledged the need to consider lessons learned by
industry, and they stated that our report would be taken into account
when structuring future policy regarding the use of this contracting
technique in the federal government. In view of the potential benefits
of this initiative, we think OFPP should consider developing policy and
guidance that (1) specifically address the need for a well-defined
training program and
(2) incorporate practices that fostered success in the commercial SIS
contracts we reviewed.
The E-Government Act requires (1) the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) to submit a report containing descriptive
as well as evaluative information on the use of SIS contracts to the
Congress not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of the
act and (2) the Comptroller General to conduct a review of the OMB
report and provide an independent assessment of the effectiveness of
the use of SIS contracts not later than 6 months after the OMB report
is issued.
Providing meaningful reports to the Congress will depend on the
availability of good data. However, experience has shown that such data
have not always been available to make program assessments. For
example, in March 1998, we reported that procurement data were
inadequate to determine whether the key purposes of the Federal
Acquisition Sreamlining Act of 1994 were being achieved.[Footnote 4]
Given this past experience and the limited use of SIS contracting by
the federal government, we encourage you to consider the need to
collect data on the federal government‘s use of SIS contracting
pursuant to the E-Government Act. The data should be uniform, reliable,
and sufficient to accurately assess SIS use, and provide meaningful
reports to Congress regarding the effectiveness of SIS contracting in
improving agency processes and achieving agency missions.
We are also sending copies of this report to the Administrator of the
General Services Administration. In addition, the report will be
available at no charge on the GAO Web site at http:// www.gao.gov. If
you have any questions about this report, please contact me at (202)
512-4841 or Ralph Dawn at (202) 512-4544. Key contributors to this
report were Robert Ackley, Daniel Hauser, Mary Jo Lewnard, and Karen
Sloan.
Sincerely yours,
David E. Cooper:
Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management:
Signed by David E. Cooper:
(120209):
FOOTNOTES
[1] Section 210, Public Law 107-347 (Dec. 17, 2002).
[2] Acquisition Management: Agencies Can Improve Training on New
Initiatives, GAO-03-281 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 15, 2003).
[3] Contract Management: Commercial Use of Share-in-Savings
Contracting, GAO-03-327 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 31, 2003).
[4] Acquisition Reform: Implementation of Key Aspects of the Federal
Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994, GAO/NSIAD-98-81 (Washington,
D.C.: Mar. 9, 1998).
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