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1、JOHNSON FEATURE (M08-4)4,270 WordsOutsourcing the Procurement Function in Government: A New Twist in the Outsourcing SagaThe use of temporary personnel has morphed into outsourcing government procurement specialistsInsert Deck, Insert Deck, Insert DeckFederal Supply Schedules provides services for h
2、ire including those of contract specialist supportThe evolution of outsourcing expands to contract specialist support BY MARY M. DICKENS JOHNSON, CPCM, FELLOWBeginning with the Office of Management and Budgets (OMB) A-76 Circulaf5 in 1955, and with its various revisions, the intent of government man
3、agers has been, and continues to be, to allow the private sector to perform functions of government operations that were “commercial in nature.Today, attention is directed toward the application of this policy to the outsourcing of work by contract specialists in the U.S. federal government, within
4、the context of a general increase in outsourcing and, in particular, under the label of competitive sourcing. The theories that explain the reflections of governmental practices mirroring a similar trend in the private sector are known as the organizational field, theory and ad-hocracy.BackgroundThe
5、 Rise of Outsourced Contract Specialist SupportIn the mid-1990s, temporary employment agencies filled many of the vacancies in contractor support positions for contract specialists. A few examples of such agencies include: XL Associates in Washington, DC, Procurement Associates in Bethesda, Maryland
6、, and the Couture Group in Tampa, Florida, among others. The workers sought after were skilled contract specialists or retired contracting officers (COs) to work on contracts for either private sector companies or companies under contract with the government. Eventually, these employees were sourced
7、 as potential permanent employees. Given this trend, it was only a matter of time before outsourced contract specialists would work directly for government agencies. This follows the trend that began with allowing temporary secretarial workers, market analysts and program managers to be hired by gov
8、ern merit agencies through the GSA schedules in the mid- 1990s. If one accepts the concept of organizational field and institutional agents linked in communication and professional organizations, it follows that when private businesses began hiring contracting specialists to perform company work, th
9、at governmental organizations would follow suit.The District of Columbia had outsourced its procurement function under the management of the District of Columbia Financial Authority Control Board.36 The Control Board, as it was called, hired Systems Flow, Inc., among other contractors, to assist the
10、 Districts procurement personnel with placing contract awards, inventory of contracts, and other contract management functions (including internal review of District contracts).3 The use of oral presentations helped speed up the process, and awards were made to evaluated offerors before the fiscal y
11、ear end when annual funds expired. In addition, work was done to document procedures for the Districts procurement group and individual agencies such as the Water and Sewer Authority (WASA). It should be noted that the contract specialists were hired based upon their previous experience, credentials
12、, and membership in professional organizations. By no means were outsourced contract specialists authorized to sign government documents一these were always under the guidance and review of a District of Columbia official.The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) conducted a survey which included 57 ma
13、nagers representing 18 Department of Defense (DOD) agencies and commands and six non-DOD agencies. The responses indicated that 46 percent (26 managers) were then currently making use of outsourced contract specialist support, with five more managers scheduled to do so in the future. The U.S. Air Fo
14、rce respondents indicated that 52 percent were using contract specialist support, while the Army responded with 25 percent and the Navy with six percent. There were discrepancies among the respondents in regard to justifying the activity. Some respondents engaged in the practice because of the abili
15、ty to rapidly increase workforce efforts. Twenty-five percent felt that the contract specialist function was sensitive in nature (inherently governmental) and should not be contracted out at all.39Interpretation of Inherently Governmental Applied to Contract SupportUnder the description of functions
16、 excluded, the delineation is any category in the areas of “advice giving Note Revision in Wording. Furthermore, one section describes the ministerial nature functions that are in the realm of allowability to competitively source. Given these two areas combined, there is a reasonable area of contract support that could be performed by outsourcing partners while still remaining within the legislative directives.The guiding Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)
