DOD expanding Get It Right to other agencies

The Defense Department isn't only worried about the General Services Administration's contracting practices; it wants to make sure all the other agencies its contracting officers do business with are getting it right.

Deidre Lee, director of Defense procurement, said yesterday that she has met with many of the agencies assisting DOD departments in buying products and services and is requiring them to "provide some assurances" that their contracting practices are following federal laws and regulations, much as GSA is now doing.

"We will ask these assisting agencies to provide the same information and assurance GSA has granted us," Lee said, speaking at Input's Fed Focus 2005 conference in Washington. "We will ask them to make sure people do what needs to be done, people focus on competition and whether they are putting in right DOD terms and conditions."

GSA and DOD launched the Get It Right campaign in July after contracting problems surfaced at both agencies. The campaign, in part, was created to convince lawmakers that agency officials have fixed the problems and does not need Congress to place stringent controls over either agency.

GSA's inspector general is finalizing the report on all the Federal Technology Service's regional offices and will re-evaluate the offices again in fiscal 2005, said Karl Reichelt, GSA's chief of staff and acting chief acquisition officer.

"We want to make sure everything we have put in place has occurred to straighten out the procurement system," he said. "My focus is on certifying to Congress by March 15 that DOD and GSA IGs have faith in the procurement systems."