About

About Us

The President’s Management Agenda lays the foundation for creating a 21st century government that delivers better results to the American people. This foundation includes an efficient and effective acquisition system that maximizes the value of every taxpayer dollar.

The Chief Acquisition Officers Council, in coordination with the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, the Chief Information Officers Council, and the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), is conducting an open dialogue. This dialogue is part an effort to improve the economy and efficiency of the Federal acquisition system by identifying impactful steps that can be taken to make it easier for agencies to do business with the best companies and enter into contracts that allow these companies to provide their best solutions for the taxpayer.

The Federal acquisition system is governed by a myriad of rules, both administrative and statutory based, that are designed to help agencies maximize results from their contracts, make sure that contractors are qualified and have the integrity to do business with the federal government, and ensure consistency with key economic and social policies. Efforts to streamline, modernize, and improve requirements may allow contractors and agencies to execute in a more efficient and effective manner. In particular, these steps can help to remove barriers and burdens for small and minority-owned businesses and new entrants with limited resources and expertise in Federal contracting and reduce transaction costs and administrative burdens for existing government contractors, many of whom must maintain separate business lines to manage their government work.

The purpose of the dialogue is to discuss improvements to the Federal contracting process. Through this platform, we will gather ideas and proposed improvements that can be accomplished through executive (regulatory, administrative, or management) action, as well as potential legislative proposals (new laws). The open dialogue is focused around three topics (campaigns). Each campaign is a unique aspect of the Federal contracting process for which we welcome your insight, ideas, and feedback.

Campaign 1 - Reporting and compliance requirements – Currently, the Federal Government requires businesses to fill out a lot of complicated paperwork to do business with us. We know we can do better. We want to know what you are seeing – where can we reengineer paperwork and systems, eliminate duplicative reporting, reduce the frequency of reporting, and/or change outdated requirements?
Campaign 2 - Procurement rules and practices – We know entities doing business in the private sector have best practices and we’re anxious to learn about and replicate in the Federal Government wherever possible. We want to hear about innovative approaches to contracting that align with your business practices.
Campaign 3 - Participation by small and minority businesses, new entrants, and non-traditional government contractors – We know many businesses lack the resources and expertise to participate in the Federal marketplace. We welcome feedback – especially by entities that are not participating in Federal contracting – to understand what steps we can take to make your participation possible.

Note - We are looking for ideas that can help to make existing rules and practices more efficient and less burdensome. Elimination of rules and practices may be appropriate if they are obsolete and no longer serve a role in delivering value to the taxpayer.

Archived Campaigns

All Ideas
1. Reporting and Compliance

Campaign 1: Reporting and compliance requirements - Currently, the Federal Government requires businesses to fill out a lot of complicated paperwork to do business with us. We know we can do better. We want to know what you are seeing – where can we reengineer paperwork and systems, eliminate duplicative reporting, reduce the frequency of reporting, and/or change outdated requirements? Please help us with our improvements by providing ideas and input on the following questions:

Question 1: What reporting or other compliance requirements are most burdensome and why?

Question 2: How would you streamline reporting and compliance requirements? (please cite or describe specific examples if you can)

Question 3: What other compliance information are you providing to the federal government outside the procurement process that could be used to reduce duplication?

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Expired on 05/05/2014
2. Procurement Rules and Practices

Campaign 2: Procurement rules and practices - We know entities doing business in the private sector have best practices and we’re anxious to learn about and replicate in the Federal Government wherever possible. We want to hear about innovative approaches to contracting that align with your business practices.

Question 1: What are the most effective ways to encourage innovative offers and best solutions?

Question 2: How can we reduce the cost of transactions for contractors?

Question 3: What are the best ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of acquisitions for information technology?

Question 4: What procurement rules or practices are most effective and which are least effective and why?

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107

Expired on 05/05/2014
3. Small Business Participation

Campaign 3: Participation by small and minority businesses and non-traditional government contractors - We know many businesses lack the resources and expertise to participate in the Federal marketplace. We welcome feedback – especially by entities that are not participating in Federal contracting – to understand what steps we can take to make your participation possible.

We welcome feedback on how to increase participation in Federal contracting.

Question 1: How can we make doing business with the government easier and less costly for small businesses, minority businesses, new entrants, and non-traditional government contractors?

Question 2: If you are a small business, minority owned business, or new entrant, what features of the federal acquisition system are most helpful and which are least helpful to you?

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Expired on 05/05/2014