Emerging Policy and Practice Issues (2005)

Abstract:     
This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2005), attempts to identify the key trends and issues for 2006 in U.S. federal procurement. In an effort to make sense of the current reforms, the paper focuses upon what seems to be the common imperative underlying the various initiatives: the need to bring order to a procurement function as it devolves away from the Government user - what some might call the "devolution" or "outsourcing" of the contracting function. The paper also addresses emerging issues including, among others, the death of competitive sourcing; the acquisition workforce crisis; centralized purchasing; public service ethics in the post-Darleen Druyun era; interagency purchasing and fees; post-Hurricane Katrina procurement; electronic procurement and reverse auctions; and conflicts of interest.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 27

Keywords: government contracts, public procurement, acquisition workforce, outsourcing, centralized purchasing, reverse auctions, conflicts of interest

JEL Classification: H57

Accepted Paper Series