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Acquisition 360

March 18, 2015 at 1:06 PM ET by Anne Rung
Summary: 
Successful acquisitions depend on a clear understanding of the market’s capabilities and dynamics, and this requires early and meaningful engagement with industry and the application of strong management practices within the agency. Today, in an effort to further that goal, I issued guidance to agencies directing them to seek feedback from vendors and internal stakeholders – such as contracting officers and program managers – on how well certain high-dollar IT acquisitions perform.

Successful acquisitions depend on a clear understanding of the market’s capabilities and dynamics, and this requires early and meaningful engagement with industry and the application of strong management practices within the agency. Today, in an effort to further that goal, I issued guidance to agencies directing them to seek feedback from vendors and internal stakeholders – such as contracting officers and program managers – on how well certain high-dollar IT acquisitions perform.  We will be using Acquisition 360, the first ever transaction-based feedback tool that allows agencies to identify strengths and weaknesses in their acquisition processes with the focus on pre-award activities, contract execution, and certain post award activities, such as debriefings.

It has long been the case where ineffective communication between federal agencies and vendors, amongst other complex processes, lead to unnecessary burden on vendors, higher government costs and unfavorable outcomes for taxpayers. These shortcomings have been the premise of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy’s (OFFP) open dialogue with both internal and external stakeholders. And these conversations have led to greater improvements in early vendor engagement and timely and specific feedback from key stakeholders that we will build upon today.

Acquisition 360 will significantly increase the efficiency with which federal agencies carry out procurements, as well as give OFFP greater insight into how the process can be further streamlined to better use every American’s tax dollars. I am very proud of the progress that we have made in this effort already and look forward to continuing to build upon it moving forward.

Anne Rung is the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget.