Your West Wing Week - "The Interpreter's Lounge"

April 16, 2010 | 5:48 | Public Domain

Welcome to the third episode of the West Wing Week, your guide to all things 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. This installment takes you step-by-step with the President as he returns from the Czech Republic, hosts the largest international summit ever held in Washington DC, and lays out a new vision for manned space exploration at the Kennedy Space Center. We even caught up with the First Lady as she made her first official solo international trip. Thanks so much for keeping up with your West Wing Week

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The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
April 14, 2010

Declaraciones del Presidente Antes de Reunirse con Lideres de Ambos Partidos Sobre la Reforma Financiera

Sala del Gabinete

10:53 A.M. EDT

     EL PRESIDENTE: Bien, buenos días a todos. Les doy la bienvenida a los líderes del Congreso. Ésta es una de nuestras reuniones periódicas donde, obviamente, empezamos un largo periodo de trabajo, tras salir de otro muy difícil periodo de trabajo.

     Una de las cosas de las que hablaremos será la economía. Voy a presentarles el informe más reciente del Consejo de Asesores Económicos (Council of Economic Advisers) sobre el impacto de la Ley para la Recuperación. Considero que lo que estamos viendo es una mejora significativa en la economía y la estabilización. Pero, obviamente, todos aquí presentes, republicanos y demócratas, reconocemos que todavía queda trabajo por hacer, hay demasiadas personas que todavía no tienen empleo, el mercado inmobiliario sigue en crisis, demasiadas pequeñas empresas no pueden obtener préstamos. Así que vamos a dedicarle un tiempo a explorar cómo podemos afianzar el progreso logrado para asegurarnos de que los estadounidenses promedio vean mejoras en su vida.
 
     También quisiera hablarles de nuestra capacidad de actuar con rapidez respecto al conjunto de medidas de reforma de normatividad financiera. Creo que todos reconocemos que no debe haber circunstancia alguna en que una crisis en el sector financiero vuelva a poner en peligro la economía entera, y si hay una lección que aprendimos bien es que, simple y llanamente es inaceptable un mercado no reglamentado en que la gente toma riesgos enormes y espera que los contribuyentes los rescaten cuando las cosas van mal.

     Y en consecuencia, de hecho, tengo la certeza de que podemos formular un conjunto de medidas eficaces con el respaldo de ambos partidos, que asegure que nunca volvamos a oír que algo es “demasiado grande para dejarlo quebrar”, y que los consumidores estén adecuadamente protegidos en lo que respecta a instrumentos financieros, ya sean préstamos hipotecarios o tarjetas de crédito o tarjetas de débito; que tengamos un mecanismo sólido para reglamentar el mercado de derivados, algo que no tenemos. El mercado de derivados está en las sombras de nuestra economía pero es enormemente influyente, es terriblemente riesgoso. Queremos transparencia para que los reguladores y los estadounidenses promedio sepan lo que está pasando en este enorme segmento del sistema financiero.

     Y tengo la certeza de que si trabajamos juntos, diligentemente en las próximas semanas, podemos formular un conjunto de medidas en beneficio del pueblo estadounidense y que no se vuelva a poner a los estadounidenses en una posición en que tengan que escoger entre una situación económica terrible o recompensar a la gente por tomar decisiones erradas y arriesgarse demasiado. Y esa será la principal prioridad de esta reunión.

     Finalmente, tenemos varios temas que tratar, desde la vacante en la Corte Suprema hasta el tratado START que creo que debemos ratificar, y muchos otros temas relacionados a nombramientos y, obviamente, también voy a escuchar a los líderes del Congreso sobre sus prioridades para los próximos meses.

     Así que les agradezco que se hayan dado el tiempo de venir y espero que ésta no sólo sea una reunión productiva, sino una sesión productiva en las próximas semanas.

     Bueno, gracias a todos por venir.

     P.    ¿Éste es el proyecto de ley de rescate financiero (bailout)... ley de rescate financiero (bailout) como dice el senador McConnell?

     EL PRESIDENTE: Bueno, tengo la total certeza de que el proyecto de ley que aprobemos será un proyecto de ley que evite los rescates financieros (bailouts). Ése es el objetivo. Precisamente.

 
END  10:57A.M. EDT
 

Bipartisan Leadership Meeting on Financial Reform

April 14, 2010 | 3:42 | Public Domain

President Obama, along with Vice President Biden, welcomes House and Senate leaders from both parties to the White House to discuss financial regulatory reform.

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Remarks by the President before Meeting with Bipartisan Congressional Leadership to Discuss Financial Reform

10:53 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  All right.  Hello, everybody.  I want to welcome congressional leaders to one of our periodic meetings where, obviously, it’s the beginning of a lengthy work period coming off a very tough work period.

One of the things that we’re going to be talking about is the economy.  I'm going to be presenting to them the latest report from the Council of Economic Advisers on the impact of the Recovery Act.  What we’re seeing I think is some significant improvement in the economy and stabilization.  But, obviously, everybody here -- Republican and Democrat -- recognizes we’ve still got work to do; that there are too many people who are still unemployed, the housing market is still very soft, too many small businesses who aren’t getting credit.  And so we’re going to spend some time exploring how can we build on the progress that has been made to make sure that ordinary Americans are seeing improvements in their own lives.

I'm also going to be interested in talking to them about our ability to move quickly on a financial regulatory reform package.  I think all of us recognize that we cannot have a circumstance in which a meltdown in the financial sector once again puts the entire economy in peril, and that if there’s one lesson that we’ve learned it’s that an unfettered market where people are taking huge risks and expecting taxpayers to bail them out when things go sour is simply not acceptable.

As a consequence, I am actually confident that we can work out an effective bipartisan package that assures that we never have “too big to fail” again; that consumers are adequately protected when it comes to financial instruments -- whether it’s mortgages or credit cards or debit cards; that we have a strong mechanism to regulate derivatives, something that we have not had, a derivatives market that is in the shadow economy but is enormously powerful, enormously risky -- we want to get that into daylight so that regulators and ordinary Americans know what’s going on when it comes to this huge segment of the financial system.

And I am confident that if we work together diligently over the next several weeks that we can come up with a package that serves the American people well and does not put Americans ever again in a position where they’re having to choose between a terrible economic situation or rewarding people for failed policies and bad risk-taking.  And so that's going to be a top priority of this meeting.

Finally, we’ve got a range of issues -- from a Supreme Court vacancy, a START treaty that I believe needs to be ratified, a host of other issues related to appointments -- that we’re going to talk about and I'm going to be also obviously listening to congressional leaders about their priorities over the next several months.

So I very much appreciate them taking the time to come and I'm hopeful that this will not only be a productive meeting, but we will see a productive session over the next several weeks.

All right.  Thank you, everyone.

Q    Is the bailout bill -- is this a bailout bill as Senator McConnell says?

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I am absolutely confident that the bill that emerges is going to be a bill that prevents bailouts.  That's the goal.  All right.

END
10:57 A.M. EDT

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The White House

Office of the Vice President

For Immediate Release
April 12, 2010

Readout of the Vice President's Meeting with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

The Vice President met today with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan to discuss regional issues and bilateral cooperation on economic, diplomatic and security issues.  The Vice President thanked the Crown Prince for the UAE’s significant contributions in Afghanistan and they agreed to continue to support Yemen’s unity, stability, and economic and political reform.  They also discussed Iran’s nuclear program, Iraq, and the Middle East peace process.  The Vice President reiterated the United States’s steadfast commitment to Gulf security. 

West Wing Week - "24 Tiny Marzipan Beaks"

April 08, 2010 | 6:40 | Public Domain

This morning’s West Wing Week was uploaded to you from location in Prague, Czech Republic, specifically from the American Ambassador's residence. It contains portions of the President's events over the last week, including: a jobs town hall in Charlotte, NC, the White House Easter Egg Roll, the President's first pitch on opening day for the Nationals, Joe Biden on your recovery dollars, the New START treaty, and much more.

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The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 22, 2010

Declaraciones del Presidente sobre la Reforma Normativa del Sector Financiero

Estamos ahora un paso más cerca de aprobar una verdadera reforma del sector financiero que aporte supervisión y rendimiento de cuentas a nuestro sistema financiero y ayude a asegurar que los contribuyentes estadounidenses nunca vuelvan a pagar por la irresponsabilidad de los grandes bancos e instituciones financieras. Por ello, felicito al presidente de comité Dodd y al Comité de Banca del Senado.

Al crear una nueva agencia de protección al consumidor, finalmente estableceremos y velaremos por el cumplimiento de normas en todo el mercado financiero. Y cuando este proyecto de ley pase al plenario en las próximas semanas, continuaré luchando para mejorar la medida y en contra de esfuerzos por socavar la independencia de esta agencia. También me opondré a esfuerzos por agregar lagunas legales que puedan perjudicar a consumidores o inversionistas, o que permitan que las instituciones eviten la supervisión que es crucial para la estabilidad financiera. Insto a aquéllos en el Senado que respaldan estos esfuerzos a que resistan la presión de quienes quieren mantener el estatus quo y a que defiendan la reforma que necesitamos desde hace tiempo para proteger a las familias estadounidenses y el bienestar de nuestra economía a largo plazo.
 

Fiscal Realities

Peter Orszag
Peter Orszag
March 21, 2010
03:05 PM EDT

We are mere feet from the finish line to passing into law historic, fiscally responsible health insurance reform that will give more choice and security to those with health insurance, provide access to coverage to those without, improve the quality of health care for us all, and provide the most deficit reduction of any bill in over a decade.

With momentum building, it’s no surprise that opponents took to the morning talk shows and the Sunday newspaper op-ed pages in an attempt to undermine one of the signature accomplishments of the legislation under consideration today: the fact that it reduces the deficit by more than $100 billion over the first decade, and more than $1 trillion in the decade after that.

Especially at this late hour, it’s important to get the facts right. So let’s consider their main charges one by one.

First, critics charge that the bill uses 10 years of savings to pay for six years of spending. As I have posted before, if this were what we were doing, then health reform would blow a hole in the deficit after the first decade (or the budget window). Yet, as CBO has made clear again and again and in its final score issued last night, the opposite is true with health reform. In fact, the reform would reduce the deficit by a half percentage point of GDP -- or more than $1 trillion -- over the legislation’s second 10 years.

Second, we have heard that the bill is double counting Medicare savings.  To put on the green eyeshade for a moment, let’s be clear: the bill has been scored by using standard budget accounting – the same methods used for years. And again, CBO confirms that health reform will reduce the deficit over 10 years and over 20 years.

Looking at the budget as a whole, this bill will leave us with less debt over time, and that is what matters.

Third, critics contend that there is no way that savings and revenue adjustments put forward will actually happen.  No one has a crystal ball, but we do know how Congress has acted in the past.   When tough decisions were made in the past about our central benefit programs, these changes have tended to stick. As I have noted before, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has studied Medicare savings and found that: "Virtually all of the Medicare cuts enacted in 1990 and 1993, which accounted for a significant portion of the savings in those large deficit-reduction packages, were implemented...And most of the savings enacted in 1997 other than the SGR cuts – nearly four-fifths [emphasis theirs] – were implemented as well." 

Fourth, some have charged that there are hidden costs not being counted in the CBO score. One source is authorizations for discretionary spending for items related to health reform. Authorizations are just that; they are not expenditures, and Congress often does not act on them -- or can do so while cutting elsewhere so the overall amount of discretionary spending doesn’t increase.  The other source for these alleged secret costs is the need to fix the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) in Medicare, which otherwise would cut physician payments drastically. An SGR fix, however, is not in this bill -- so adding its costs to the legislation posits a piece of legislation that doesn’t exist. Moreover, and more importantly, the need to address the SGR is a longstanding issue that pre-dates health reform and would be an issue even if Congress didn’t undertake health reform.  Both Democratic and Republican Congresses and Administrations have applied temporary fixes in the past.

This brings me to a final point. Perhaps people are appropriately skeptical about some of these budget figures because over the past decade, budget gimmicks and fiscal irresponsibility became the norm. Massive tax cuts (which weren’t paid for) were passed and were presented as temporary to make them seem less expensive – even as supporters fully intended to make them permanent. New health care entitlements were signed into law without any offsets. Budget windows were manipulated to blind people from true costs. It is truly, and sadly, ironic that the central critics of the fiscal underpinnings of today’s health reform legislation are those who supported these policies --and led the way -- as our country spiraled from surplus down into deep budget deficits.

The legislation before the House represents the most important deficit reduction package that would be enacted in over a decade -- and, perhaps more importantly, represents the first serious piece of legislation that would begin the process of addressing our long-term fiscal imbalance by re-orienting the health system toward quality rather than quantity.  We stand by its CBO score. Later tonight, we expect a majority in Congress to stand by it as well – ushering in, among other things, a new era of fiscal responsibility.

Peter Orszag is the Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Related Topics: Fiscal Responsibility, Health Care

Responsible and Paid For

Peter Orszag
Peter Orszag
March 18, 2010
04:31 PM EDT

Cross-posted from the OMB blog.

Today’s Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of health insurance reform legislation reaffirms what we have said for the past year: that fiscally responsible health insurance reform is not only possible, but also is an important step toward long-term fiscal sustainability.

The new CBO estimate finds that health insurance reform will reduce the deficit by over $100 billion in this decade and by more than $1 trillion over the following 10 years. If enacted, this would be the most significant deficit-reduction package passed into law in over a decade. And it will begin to transform our health care system into one that delivers higher quality at lower cost, boosting the bottom lines of American businesses, families, and the federal government — all the while providing those with health insurance with new choices and a host of new consumer protections and expanding coverage to 32 million Americans.

By paying for itself and more, this legislation represents an important break from the way Washington has done business recently. In the first decade of this century, large, significant domestic policy initiatives—two tax cuts and a Medicare prescription drug benefit — were passed into law without being paid for, adding trillions to the deficit. That is why the President pushed for, and then signed into law, statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) legislation that holds policymakers to a simple principle: if you propose new tax cuts or entitlement expansions, you must find a way to pay for them.

Some have raised concerns that the health insurance reform legislation may have fallen short of this PAYGO principle. That is simply false. CBO’s analysis shows that the combination of the Senate-passed bill and the reconciliation bill will be deficit-reducing according to statutory PAYGO standards — standards that go beyond simple deficit reduction.

In particular, the overall bill — including the Senate-passed bill and the reconciliation bill combined—generates over $100 billion in deficit reduction over the next decade (and more thereafter). For the purposes of statutory PAYGO, however, certain of the bill’s savings are not counted: namely, the deficit reduction coming from increased Social Security payroll tax revenues and from the CLASS Act, a long-term care program.  But even excluding these components the combined bills generate a net reduction in the deficit, and thus are fully compliant with statutory PAYGO. 

The CBO score today should leave no doubt that we are operating in a new fiscal era — one where we abide by our commitment to pay for new initiatives and take steps to restore fiscal responsibility by reining in the single biggest driver of our long-term shortfall.

Peter Orszag is Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Related Topics: Fiscal Responsibility, Health Care

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

Presidential Memorandum Regarding Finding and Recapturing Improper Payments

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Finding and Recapturing Improper Payments

My Administration is committed to reducing payment errors and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal programs -- a commitment reflected in Executive Order 13520 of November 20, 2009, Reducing Improper Payments. Executive departments and agencies should use every tool available to identify and subsequently reclaim the funds associated with improper payments. Thorough identification of improper payments promotes accountability at executive departments and agencies; it also makes the integrity of Federal spending transparent to taxpayers. Reclaiming the funds associated with improper payments is a critical component of the proper stewardship and protection of taxpayer dollars, and it underscores that waste, fraud, and abuse by entities receiving Federal payments will not be tolerated.

Today, to further intensify efforts to reclaim improper payments, my Administration is expanding the use of "Payment Recapture Audits," which have proven to be effective mechanisms for detecting and recapturing payment errors. A Payment Recapture Audit is a process of identifying improper payments paid to contractors or other entities whereby highly skilled accounting specialists and fraud examiners use state-of-the-art tools and technology to examine payment records and uncover such problems as duplicate payments, payments for services not rendered, overpayments, and fictitious vendors. (A Payment Recapture Audit as used in this memorandum shall have the same meaning as the term "recovery audit" as defined in Appendix C to Office of Management and Budget Circular A-123.) One approach that has worked effectively is using professional and specialized auditors on a contingency basis, with their compensation tied to the identification of misspent funds.

Therefore, I hereby direct executive departments and agencies to expand their use of Payment Recapture Audits, to the extent permitted by law and where cost-effective. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall develop guidance within 90 days of the date of this memorandum on actions executive departments and agencies must take to carry out the requirements of this memorandum. The guidance may require additional actions and strategies designed to improve the recapture of improper payments, including, as appropriate, agency-specific targets for increasing recoveries. The Director of the OMB shall further coordinate with the Council for Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to identify an appropriate process for obtaining review by Inspectors General of the effectiveness of agency efforts under this memorandum. The agencies' expanded use of Payment Recapture Audits does not preclude Offices of Inspectors General from performing any activities to identify and prevent improper payments.

Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to require the disclosure of classified information, law enforcement sensitive information, or other information that must be protected in the interests of national security.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

The Director of the OMB is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
March 10, 2010

President Obama Announces New Effort to Crack Down on Waste and Fraud

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama today will announce a new effort to crack down on waste and fraud in Medicare, Medicaid, and other government programs through the expanded use of payment recapture audits. The initiative is the latest component in President Obama’s commitment to embrace the best ideas – from both parties – in advancing reform.

In his remarks on health insurance reform in St. Charles, Missouri, President Obama will discuss a new effort to recoup taxpayer dollars through the use of payment recapture audits, which offer specialized private auditors financial incentives to root out improper payments, and have been demonstrated through pilot programs to be highly effective. In fact, expanded use of payment recapture audits could return at least $2 billion in taxpayer money over the next three years– double the current amount of projected recovered costs.

The President will sign a presidential memorandum today that directs all federal departments and agencies to expand and intensify their use of payment recapture audits under their current authority.  He will also announce his support for the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, bipartisan legislation to expand the ability of government agencies to fund the audits with recaptured payments.

“The fact is, Washington is a place where tax dollars are often treated like Monopoly money, bartered and traded, divvied up among lobbyists and special interests.  And it has been a place where waste – even billions of dollars in waste – is accepted as the price of doing business,” said President Obama. “Well, I don’t accept business as usual.  And the American people don’t accept it either, especially when one of the most pressing challenges we face is reining in long-term deficits with threaten to leave our children a mountain of debt.”

The President’s health insurance reform proposal builds on an unprecedented array of aggressive new authorities to fight waste, fraud and abuse in the House and Senate bills with a number of additional proposals proposed by Democrats and Republicans alike.  President Obama, in a March 2 letter to Congressional leaders, also expressed interest in a proposal suggested by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) at the bipartisan health care meeting on February 25 to use undercover investigations to further combat fraud.

A fact sheet on today’s announcement appears below:

FACT SHEET:  CUTTING DOWN ON WASTE AND FRAUD
THROUGH PAYMENT RECAPTURE AUDITS

Each year, the federal government wastes billions of American taxpayers’ dollars on improper payments to individuals, organizations, and contractors.  These are payments made in the wrong amounts, to the wrong person, or for the wrong reason.  In 2009, improper payments totaled $98 billion, with $54 billion stemming from Medicare and Medicaid.  We cannot afford nor should we tolerate this waste of taxpayer dollars and in our health care system.

Today, the President is announcing a new effort to improve accountability and cut down on this waste and fraud through the use of payment recapture audits.  These are investigations in which specialized private sector auditors use cutting-edge technology and tools to scrutinize government payments and then find and reclaim taxpayer funds made in error or gained through fraud.  These auditors can be compensated based on the amount of improper payments they identify and are reclaimed – providing a powerful incentive to find every error.  A pilot program run by Medicare in three large states – California, New York, and Texas – from 2005 to 2008 recaptured $900 million for taxpayers.

Currently, using reclaimed funds to pay for recapture audits is only possible for the Medicare Fee-for-Service program payments and for government contracts at the 20 out of 24 major government agencies that do more than $500 million in government contracting.  This leaves out contract payments made by numerous other agencies as well as grants and other forms of federal benefit payments made to organizations such as state and local governments, colleges and universities, banks, and non-profit organizations.  That is why the President today is announcing two key steps to intensify and expand the use of payment recapture audits:

Presidential Memorandum on Payment Recapture Audits.  The President will sign a presidential memorandum today that directs all federal departments and agencies to expand and intensify their use of payment recapture audits under the authority they currently have.  It is anticipated that using the payment recapture audits will return at least $2 billion over the next three years to American taxpayers – double the current amount of projected recovered costs.

Support the bipartisan Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act.  Since government agencies can only use recaptured fund to pay for these audits in specific situations, the President today is announcing his support for the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, a bipartisan bill that would expand the ability of government agencies to fund these specialized audits with recaptured payments.  The bill has been offered by Senators Tom Carper, D-Del., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., Joseph Lieberman, I.D.-Conn., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and John McCain, R-Ariz.  Similar legislation has been introduced in the House by Representatives Patrick Murphy, D-Penn., and Brian Bilbray, R-Calif.

These actions build on the Executive Order the President issued on improper payments in November 2009.  There, the President focused on reducing improper payments, which totaled $98 billion in Fiscal Year 2009, with three categories of action:  boost transparency, hold agencies accountable, and create strong incentives for compliance.

  • Boost transparency.  The Administration is moving forward with an Improper Payment Dashboard, launching this spring, to allow the public to see details on improper payments, view payment error rates by agency and program, and see a list of bad actors (e.g., registered fraud offenders or contractors with pervasive over or duplicate billing issues that have gone through appropriate due process).
  • Hold agencies accountable for waste.  The Administration has required each agency to designate a Senate-confirmed appointee to be accountable to the President for meeting improper payment reduction targets and consolidating program integrity activities.  The Administration also is increasing data-sharing among agencies so once a mistake is caught, it is not repeated.
  • Create incentives for compliance.  The federal government is creating incentives for states and other entities to reduce improper payments and increase penalties for contractors who fail to timely disclose improper payments.

In addition, the Administration has been moving aggressively to crack down on waste and fraud:

  • Dramatically reduce unnecessary costs and minimize waste in the Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP programs.  The President’s FY2011 Budget devoted more than $1.8 billion for program integrity – an increase of $225 million (or 14 percent) over FY2010 – to combat waste, fraud and abuse in these health programs.  This robust approach, including the Budget’s program integrity legislative proposals, will save taxpayers an estimated $23 billion over 10 years.
  • Cut programs that are broken, duplicative, or just not needed.  In his FY 2010 Budget, the President proposed more than 120 program terminations or reductions, for a potential one-year savings of $20 billion.  Congress approved 60 percent of the proposed cuts to discretionary programs – a high-water mark for any recent administration.  The Fiscal Year 2011 Budget outlined more than $20 billion in terminations and reductions, streamlining programs that work and cutting ones that do not.
  • Reduce contracting costs, increase accountability, and eliminate high-risk contracts.  The federal government spends more than $500 billion annually on federal contracts.  Because of a lack of oversight, these contracts too often are directed to projects we don’t need or can’t afford, executed inefficiently, and done in ways that force the government to bear too much risk and not realize savings.  The Administration is committed to reducing contract spending by $40 billion by the end of 2011, cutting sole-source or no-bid contracts, and strengthening the federal acquisition workforce to improve agencies’ capacity to manage contracts and ensure value for the taxpayers’ dollars.