Subpart 1401.70 - Acquisition Reviews

This subpart sets forth requirements for review and approval of contract actions and the conduct of acquisition management reviews.

Contract actions shall be reviewed and approved by Assistant Secretaries as prescribed in 211-255 DM. Their approvals shall be obtained before requesting any other approvals prescribed in the DIAR.

The Office of the Solicitor (SOL) will review for legal sufficiency selected types and portions of contract actions from Bureaus and offices as required by the FAR, DIAR, and Department-wide policy. COs may request SOL advice or guidance on acquisition-related matters at any time. Matters related to legal sufficiency reviews that cannot be resolved between the respective CO and SOL Attorney-Advisor must be submitted for resolution to the HCA and the Assistant Solicitor for Acquisitions and Intellectual Property, Washington, DC.

(a) Administrative review and approval requirements for contract actions shall be established by the HCA and issued as internal bureau procedures. At a minimum, the review and approval requirements must address a representative percentage of the overall contract actions within a bureau/office. The procedures shall include:

(1) Identifying the type and dollar amounts of the actions to be reviewed based on the volume and nature of the contracting office workload;

(2) Designating the stage(s) in the acquisition process when the review(s) shall be performed;

(3) Establishing review and approval levels based on the type and dollar amount of the action and the capabilities of the reviewing office;

(4) Specifying what information is required to review the action, which includes creating a review and approval form and mechanism for following up on the correction of deficiencies noted in the review; and

(5) Providing for periodic review of procedures and revision as required, to assure necessary controls are maintained.

(a) The acquisition performance measurement system is a three-pronged approach that includes self assessment, statistical data for validation and flexible quality reviews and assessment techniques. This system is required to:

(1) Evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of bureau and office acquisition systems;

(2) Assess the adequacy of policies, procedures and regulations governing the acquisition process; and

(3) Identify and implement changes necessary to improve the systems.

(b) HCA's are responsible for ensuring contracting activity compliance with law and regulations through the review and oversight process.

Acquisition Management Reviews (AMRs) are to be conducted using the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) “Framework for Assessing the Acquisition Function at Federal Agencies” available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05218g.pdf.