Contract Services Association of
America
1200 G Street N.W. Suite 510 Washington, D.C.
20005
Ph: (202) 347-0600 Fax: (202) 347-0608
Putting the
private sector to work…
for the public good.
For Immediate
Release
March 14, 2001
Contact: George
P. Sigalos
202-347-0600
(Washington, D.C.) – In recent testimony
given before the House Government Reform Technology and Procurement
Subcommittee, CSA’s Mark Wagner, Director of Federal Relations at Johnson
Controls, Inc., told Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA.) that further services
acquisition reform may be paved with the establishment of a Services Acquisition
Reform Act, or SARA.
“The way to achieve the same results as were
realized from FASA and Clinger-Cohen is to promulgate similar reform initiatives
that are being effectively deployed for hardware acquisitions—in essence,
establishing a Services Acquisition Reform Act,” Wagner stated. “We must increasingly find ways to
entice the best commercial firms to sell services to the government. And, when properly structured,
performance-based contracting holds greater promise to reduce costs and
increasing service quality.”
In recommendations made by CSA’s Comments to
the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) last year, the Association
outlined ideas gathered from industry to move this reform into fruition. They
include:
Allowing longer contract periods
Revising Profit policies
Encouraging Award Term Contracts
Emphasizing contract efficiency
Allowing “share in savings”
Revising Payment Terms
The Acquisition Reform Working Group (ARWG)
that CSA co-chairs included some other proposals:
Putting more standard Commercial-type contract vehicles into more contracts
Developing a definition for Commercial Entities
Reforming the Service Contract Act (SCA)
Revising the Exemptions under the SCA
In addition, Wagner noted that, “Performance
based contracting capitalizes on private sector expertise and leverages
technological innovations. Small
businesses should benefit since they are known to be the most innovative sector
of our economy. If enacted, these
proposals will advance services acquisition reform and bring it into the
21st Century.
Mark Wagner serves as chair of CSA’s Public Policy Council. Full text of his remarks can be found HERE.