Government
Affairs Update
January
2003
Contractor
Responsibility Act (Blacklisting Bill). Last month, we talked about this bill and how it was introduced last
year, and if passed, would have required a business to have a satisfactory
record of integrity and business ethics in order to be eligible to receive
federal contracts. We noted that the Bush administration opposed the bill, as
did ACSM, and the bill did not pass. We received questions from our members as
to why we would oppose a piece of legislation that required a business to have
a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics, so we would like to
clarify the reason why we would oppose it. The reason that the Bush
administration opposed it, and why ACSM would oppose it is because of the way
the law would have been enacted. If enacted, it would have allowed a
contracting officer to prevent a private contractor from receiving a federal
contract simply by alleging noncompliance. We support legislation that requires
businesses to have integrity and business ethics; but it isn't fair for a
contracting officer to unilaterally decide that a business is not complying
without further proof.
FY 2003
Appropriations. It is
strange that we are still talking about FY 2003 appropriations in January of 2003.
But because Congress failed to pass 11 of the 13 appropriation bills last year,
they must take care of them in some way now. Because of the rush to get the
bills passed, it looks like Congress will pass an omnibus bill, which would
wrap all of the bills together in one package --- with only a few amendments.
We recently learned that the Dorgan TRAC-like amendment will not be included in
the omnibus bill. The House will be
back on January 27 and will take up the bill at that time.
OMB Circular A-76
Revisions. The proposed
rewrite of OMB Circular A-76, which envisions using a FAR-based public-private
competition process that is expected to be completed in 12 months, has drawn
almost 700 comments. The Office of Management and Budget has identified a dozen
issues that need to be addressed in crafting the final rule. OMB wants to have
the final rule out as soon as possible, probably some time in February. There
will be more public-private competition under the revised circular, which
establishes a presumption that all governmental activities are commercial in
nature.
Procurement
Issues. OMB has noted that
some of the top Procurement issues for 2003 are: (1) revision of OMB Circular
A-76; (2) Department of Homeland Security procurement issues; (3) enhancing
small business procurement, curbing contract bundling; (4) legislative and
regulatory changes affecting services; contracts/performance-based contracting;
(5) rewrite of DOD major systems acquisition guidance; (6) revisions of the
DFARS; (7) reform of Federal Prison Industries.
Federal Prison
Industries. The Bush
administration continues to favor the phased elimination of the mandatory
source status long enjoyed by Federal Prison Industries. Contractors have long
complained that FPI, the 39th largest contractor, with nearly $600 million in
sales annually, should be required to compete with the private sector on
quality, price, and delivery. Both legislative and administrative solutions are
being considered. To date, there have been several regulatory and
administrative proposals, one of which is to remove the current prohibition in
the FAR on evaluating FPIs past performance.
Changes to Key
Congressional Committee Leadership. There have been several changes to the leadership in Congressional
Committees that affect our members.
Senator Susan
Collins (R-ME) is now the
Chairperson of the Government Affairs committee, which has jurisdiction over
the new Department of Homeland Security. In the House, Representative Tom Davis
(R-VA) won his bid to chair the House Government Reform committee by beating
Rep. Christopher Cox (R-CA), who was named chairman of the House Select
Committee on Homeland Security, and Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), who has been named
vice-chairman of Daviscommittee. Specific goals outlined by Davis include: (1)
advancing the Presidents Freedom to Manage agenda; (2) creating a performance
oriented civil service structure; (3) monitoring large dollar federal
contracts; and (4) improving cross-agency communications and lowering costs.
Senator Olympia
Snowe (R-ME) is Chairperson
of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship committee. In the House, Rep.
Donald Manzullo (R-IL) will remain Chairman of the House Small Business
committee. Manzullo has identified increasing small business contracting
opportunities with the federal government as a priority.
FEMA Flood Map
Modernization. FEMA is in
the process of trying to determine the best way of finding contractors to carry
out its Flood Map Modernization project. In a recently published notice, FEMA
noted that historically, map development of this type has been done by the
Architectural and Engineering profession under contracts awarded using the AE
source selection process in the Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 36,
commonly known as the Brooks Act process. The introduction of GIS technology
and the renewed emphasis on the use of performance based contacting, FEMA
believes, makes it prudent to develop an acquisition methods including the
Brooks Act, full and open competition and other methods. To that end, FEMA is
doing market research to investigate current market best practices,
limitations, etc. in the program management, engineering, and technology areas.
FEMA will use the research to determine the most efficient and effective manner
to develop an acquisition strategy.
On the subject
of FEMA, assuming that there are no
relevant amendments or changes to the omnibus bill, FEMA will receive $3.2
billion (including $843 million for disaster assistance). FEMA currently has
$2.9 billion in unobligated funds. The exact amount which will be used for
Flood Map Modernization has yet to be determined.
ACSM Legislative
Issues Folder. Last month,
Laurence Socci met with Curt Sumner and ACSM staff to work out plans for the
new ACSM Legislative Issues Folder project. The folders will be used to make
Members of Congress and federal agency staff fully aware of who we are and what
issues are important to us. Within a couple of weeks, Laurence Socci will start
meeting with the new, incoming Members of Congress to welcome them to Congress
and introduce them to ACSM. More in this project in future updates.
ACSM PAC Reminder. As the ACSM-APLS Spring Conference gets
closer (March 30-April 2, 2003), we would like to remind members to remember
the ACSM PAC Auction which will take place at the conference. This is our only
PAC fundraiser of the year, and as you know, we were very successful in our PAC
contributions in the last election cycle. We expect those contributions to pay
dividends this year. Thanks for your help.
For further information contact Susan Frank at sfrank@acsm.net.
GOVERNMENT
AFFAIRS LINKS AND INFORMATION:
United States Senate
- http://www.senate.gov
U.S. House of
Representatives (House Web Server) - http://www.house.gov
Status of
Legislation (Library of Congress) - http://thomas.loc.gov
Who is my
Representative in Congress? - http://www.vote-smart.org
Email Your Member of
Congress Today! http://www.MrSmith.com
Official U.S.
Executive Branch Web Sites: http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/executive/fed.html
The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov
Links to State
Legislatures:
View the National Council of State Legislatures Web site