Past performance: A challenge to the Office of Federal Procurement Policy

Anne Rung is the intelligent, personable administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and thus the government’s senior procurement policy official. (I held Anne’s job during the Clinton administration in the 1990s.) On the job somewhat over a year, she counts among her proudest achievements the innovative digital training effort that I blogged about a while ago, as well as the new policy for IT commodity buys (which I also blogged about) that tweaks the balance between getting volume discounts and giving agency managers the freedom to order exactly what they want.

With this blog post, I would like to propose a signature initiative for Rung for the final year of the Obama administration. I suggest she reverse the failure spiral that has devastated the government’s effort to factor in contractor past performance when making new contract awards. The way to do this: Repeal the ability of contractors disappointed with their past performance rating to have the decision reviewed at a higher level in the contracting organization.

If Rung is willing to take this on, it has the potential to be a game changer for government contracting.

Continue reading: https://fcw.com/blogs/lectern/2015/12/kelman-past-performance.aspx?s=fcwdaily_141215