Keep the focus in procurement on best value products and services for the government

chaofann/Getty Images

Commentary | Steve Kelman argues that the current cornerstone of Part 1 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation is the right one for taxpayers and agencies.

When I was in government many years ago, I frequently dealt with people who wanted to use – the unpleasant word would be “abuse” the procurement system to advance agendas that had nothing to do with procurement’s purpose to serve agency missions and taxpayers by providing good stuff at good prices. Such statements would always begin, “We should use the enormous buying power of the federal government to..." — followed by a fill in the blank with the person or organization’s favorite cause.

When I heard these pleas, I would often respond as follows: “We should use the enormous buying power of the federal government to get a good deal for agencies and taxpayers.”

I thought about this as I read a comment in a recent Nextgov/FCW article by my friend and colleague Steve Schooner, a procurement law professor at George Washington University, and advocate of sustainable procurement. “Maybe you put some clear language in FAR Part 1,” he suggested, ”that focusing on doing less harm to the planet in every procurement you make is worth thinking about.” 

I need to say that such a change to the Federal Acquisition Regulation is not a good idea.

Many readers have no idea of what FAR Part 1 is, so some history is in order. When the FAR was rewritten in 1996 at the end of my own years as administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, a new statement of “core guiding principles” for the federal procurement system was added. The first line of the core guiding principles stated, “The vision for the Federal Acquisition System is to deliver on a timely basis the best value product or service to the customer, while maintaining the public’s trust and fulfilling public policy objectives.”

This language, which I played a major role in drafting, very consciously began with, and put in the forefront, the need to deliver best value products and services, but also stated that this should be done “while maintaining the public’s trust and fulfilling public policy objectives.”

When I spoke while in government, I often formulated this language in terms of what I called goals and constraints. Goals were what you were trying to accomplish. Constraints were what you were not allowed to do, or were required to do, even if adhering to these necessary checks make achieving your goals more difficult. The goal was best value for the taxpayer and agencies, the constraints were various other public policy objectives that the political system had placed upon contracting at the time, mostly buying from small businesses and obeying all the procurement procedural regulations when buying. Today we would add environmental sustainability as a constraint on just getting the best deal. We are willing to pay a somewhat higher dollar price (and/or get lower quality) for what we buy so that what we buy is sustainable. Within bounds, it is reasonable to do so.

I believed at the time that the old procurement system had gotten the balance between goals and constraints out of whack, that constraints were often taking precedence over goals. At a strategic level, I saw my job as righting that balance to remind folks in the system about the importance of the system’s goal. Since the long-ago procurement reforms of the 1990s, the best-value goals have generally gotten pride of place.

This philosophy is reflected in Part 1 of the FAR, which was a product of that era. Part 1 keeps the goal out front — the “vision” of the system “is to deliver on a timely basis the best value product or service to the customer.” The language also recognizes that achieving public policy goals plays a role in the system. But it should not be the tail that wags the dog.

The current cornerstone of Part 1 is the right one for taxpayers and agencies. I do not believe we should turn Part 1 into a contracting Christmas tree that has new things added onto it everytime a new concern arises. Schooner criticizes the current language about sustainability in Part 23 of the FAR as confusing and poorly written. If that is true, let’s improve Part 23. But keep Part 1’s focus where it is.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.