Emerging Policy and Practice Issues (2015)

Abstract

This paper, presented at the West Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2014), attempts to identify the key trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement for 2014. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the federal procurement, grant, and defense spending trends and attempts to predict what lies ahead, particularly with regard to legislative and executive activity (which, this year, was highlighted by Executive Order activity). The paper discusses, in addition to data, changes to OFPP and DoD leadership and the continued Defense Department Better Buying Power Initiative (now in version 3.0) and acquisition performance measurement (or metrics).

Keywords: Government Contracts, Public Procurement, Defense, Acquisition Workforce, Outsourcing, Procurement Spending, performance measures, acquisition metrics, Grants, Better Buying Power

JEL Classification: H42, H56, H57, K12