GSA will retain oversight of contract to build Recovery.gov

In an unusual move, the General Services Administration will supervise the recently awarded contract to overhaul the Recovery.gov Web site, rather than handing off the contract management duties to the oversight board that maintains the site, officials with the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board said on Wednesday.

"GSA will be the contracting office for the project" and will perform all contract administration duties, such as monitoring and evaluating performance, issuing modifications and ensuring prompt payment of invoices, GSA spokeswoman Maryanne Beatty said.

The contracting strategy for Recovery.gov is uncommon in government. Typically, after GSA awards a contract on behalf of an agency, it turns most of the day-to-day management duties over to the agency where the contractor will work. But with Alliant, a multibillion-dollar information services contract GSA launched in March, the agency offers contract management services as an option, said David McClure, an 18-year veteran of the Government Accountability Office, where he assessed IT capital planning and investments at cabinet departments.

Alliant procures IT support for federal agencies from a list of 59 previously vetted tech contractors. The service gives agencies the choice of being wholly responsible for the acquisition and supervision of the contract or allowing GSA to perform some or all of the acquisition and oversight work.

The board hired GSA to award a contract off Alliant to a vendor to overhaul its Web site. GSA announced on July 8, on behalf of the board, that Smartronix, a technology services provider based in Hollywood, Md., won the potential $18 million contract to redo Recovery.gov, the official stimulus -watchdog site. GSA issued the solicitation for the job on June 15 to the 59 Alliant IT vendors.

The board, which was established this spring, opted to allow GSA to manage the contract to shorten the project's time frame and obtain the agency's contracting skills, board officials said. If any problems with the contractor occur, the General Services Administration will work with the board to decide on modifications or cancellation of the deal, said officials from the board and GSA.

"They have the expertise to do this that we might not have as a startup agency," said Ed Pound, spokesman for the board, which maintains Recovery.gov. "We have a good working relationship with them."

Following the announcement of the award, transparency critics immediately called for the board to publish online the details of the contract. GSA handles the release of contract information and Freedom of Information requests, but Pound said board officials have been urging the agency to release the contract as soon as possible. GSA, in partnership with Smartronix, is redacting the document for public release, which is expected by early next week, board and GSA officials said.

By hiring GSA to perform the contracting work, the board got a contractor in less than a month, compared to the 268 days that a full-and-open competition would have required, Pound said.

By Aug. 27, Smartronix is expected to launch a secure Web site, including a content management system and a back-up system that are interactive, scalable and can share data sets with stimulus fund recipients and the public.

"We're all operating in good faith here to get this done," Pound said. "There will definitely be bumps along the road and there will be missteps, but it's everybody pulling together to get this done."

McClure, now a vice president in Gartner Research's government team, said the agreement between GSA and the board is a logical means of augmenting the board's staffing. The key for long-term success will be the rapport between the two agencies, he added.

"Oftentimes everybody focuses on the relationship between the contracting office, in this case GSA, and the contractor," McClure said. "But it's very important for GSA to have a very close understanding of the needs and priorities of the board in terms of what they want and need Recovery.gov to be."

GSA must stay informed "and they've got to be able to engage officials at the board into the contract process, if needed, to get the problem resolved," he noted. "If there is not a problem, they shouldn't need to burden the board with additional meetings."