A new directive from the General Services Administration will streamline the process for awarding recovery contracts to small businesses in the Gulf Coast region, the agency said today.The General Services Administration, which is helping dozens of agencies meet an Oct. 27 deadline for issuing identification cards to employees and contractors, is likely to miss the mark itself, according to an Aug. 13 audit by GSA’s inspector general.To better gauge the behavior of visitors to the General Services Administration’s Web site, the agency is turning to an outside company.
Information technology advances much faster than the Defense Department’s cumbersome acquisition process can buy it. Senior military officials said last week the situation leaves forces on the front lines today with yesterday’s IT.Agencies seeking to spend their appropriations money before Oct. 1 must adhere to stricter policies from the General Services Administration, which wants to avoid year-end spending slip-ups.
Most agencies did not fare well on the Small Business Administration’s new score cards for rating their progress on meeting small-business contracting goals. In fact, half of the agencies received the lowest possible grade.E-government has matured to the point that federal agencies are now willing to pay a fee for e-authentication services to verify people’s identities online. That’s the conclusion reached by the federal E-Authentication Executive Steering Committee, which approved a new fee-for-service policy in June.A test of the General Services Administration’s program to speed the award process for schedule contracts is moving into its second phase, as agency officials see successes and the potential for more.Interagency contracting and agency-specific contract vehicles will be the obstacles to the General Services Administration’s success in the coming years, agency officials said in their strategy plan for the coming five years. 
Government contracting continues to attract a lot of attention — even from presidential candidates — as numerous issues converge and put stress on the system. The federal acquisition workforce, already stretched thin by a surge in contracting dollars, is bracing for a wave of expected retirements in the next five years. Critics say the acquisition system needs new ideas and leadership, and recent attempts to address the problems, such as legislation to increase procurement oversight, are a small part of the overall solution. The Army tied too many contracts together to form a $20 billion contract without justifying it, restricting small businesses from competing for the contract, a new audit found. What does the Army have that few other agencies have when it comes to veteran-owned small businesses? Commitment, one lawmaker says. 
Some lawmakers want to take from agencies that are rich in acquisition employees and give to those that are poor. A provision in a fiscal 2008 spending bill for the Defense Department could make it happen.Acquisition reforms moved forward today when the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee easily approved the Senate’s version of the Accountability in Contracting Act, which would institute far-reaching reforms.