Lawmakers pressuring OFPP for reverse auction guidance
House lawmakers are making an effort to address the misuse of reverse auctions and have urged the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to update the Federal Acquisition Regulations.
House lawmakers are making an effort to address the misuse of reverse auctions and have urged the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to update the Federal Acquisition Regulations in order to detail how reverse auctions should be used, according to Federal News Radio.
Representatives are concerned that some are misusing reverse auctions to evade competition and compliance with other regulations as opposed to its proper use—to deliver savings to the taxpayer, Federal News Radio reported.
The Government Accountability Agency found that the use of reverse auctions by the Army and the departments of Homeland Security, Interior and Veterans Affairs tripled in between 2008 and 2012, Federal News Radio said, but also found that agencies were not competitively bidding more than one-third of the contracts in fiscal 2012.
The misuse of reverse auctions was additionally highlighted by two 2014 bid protests, with both protests focusing on the use of FedBid’s reverse auction tool.