Contracting Oversight Subcommittee Commits To Making Contract System More Transparent

September 29, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – In 2008 the federal government paid $530 billion to contractors, but today it was made clear that the system for tracking key information about these contracts is in need of major improvement.

The Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, led by Chairman Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and ranking member Bob Bennett (R-Utah), examined in a hearing the issues surrounding the current decentralized, cumbersome system and the plans to develop a new platform for integrating these databases.

Article continues below...

As the federal government prepares to move forward with plans to create a new integrated platform for the eleven contracting databases, the subcommittee heard from government officials and stakeholders about key issues, including who is developing policy and managing the new system and how much access the public will receive.

“We’re still at the very early stages of the development of this project. Now is the time for us to look forward, to ask tough questions before the government gets embroiled in a costly contract that may not be the best way forward,” McCaskill said at the hearing.

“Transparency and preventing waste are critical components of honest, competitive and efficient contracting,” said Bennett. “An inefficient system leaves companies competing in a restricted environment because some of the competitors who might otherwise be able to provide the best value to the government are simply not playing, because the federal contracting process is far too confusing.”

Problems with the current system have made it difficult for agencies to monitor the past performance history of contractors and made it even harder for the public to evaluate how the government is spending taxpayer money.

Testifying at the hearing today, William T. Woods, the Director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), outlined a number of ongoing concerns with the government’s contracting systems. He identified problems with the current data systems’ technical capabilities to manage the information, poor data quality, and the failure of agencies to submit data as major obstacles to reaching the goals of efficiency, transparency, and accessibility.

As an example of the flawed systems capabilities, Woods described in his written testimony how a missing comma when searching one government database causes it to fail to locate correct information. In the case of suspended or debarred contractors, this failure could be especially harmful.

By the end of October, the federal government is expected to award a contract for the development of the Integrated Acquisition Environment, a centralized system that will hopefully make this information on federal contractors easier to navigate and more accessible.

Yet, prior to the hearing today, it was unclear which government agency is charged with setting policy related to the project and managing it. McCaskill and Bennett questioned Vivek Kundra, the head of the Office of E-Government and Information Technology at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), about his agency’s role in the development of policy to give the project direction. McCaskill and Bennett made it clear that OMB has a key role to play in ensuring the project is on track and meets its objectives.

The hearing also touched on the need for the public to have access to the new integrated system in order to enhance government transparency and accountability to taxpayers. McCaskill put Kundra on notice that his agency needs to keep the public in mind as they move forward with the project and make that objective a priority.

Source: Senator Claire McCaskill