Emerging Policy and Practice Issues (2007)
West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference - Covering 2007
23 Pages Posted: 28 Mar 2008 Last revised: 21 May 2011
Date Written: May 19, 2011
Abstract
This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2007), attempts to identify the key trends and issues for 2008 in U.S. federal procurement. We bemoan the absence of attention to significant issues by the current Presidential candidates, critique the leadership vacuum that sustains the longstanding and increasingly critical acquisition workforce shortage, and discuss the potentially active legislative agenda in light of the now-Final Report of the Acquisition Advisory Panel (AAP), a blue-ribbon commission mandated by Section 1423 of the Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA). We also discuss the dramatic post-2000 trend in increased federal procurement spending, increased transparency due to the Federal Procurement Data System and new online vehicles, increased attention to contractor compliance systems, continuing problems with contracting in Iraq, and the application of certain social policies to the procurement process.
Keywords: acquisition workforce, acquisition advisory panel, Iraq, government procurement, procurement data, competitive sourcing, compliance, presidential candidates
JEL Classification: H57
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation