Four federal agencies that conduct 80 percent of the government’s procurement activity are not taking advantage of strategic sourcing contracts and potentially missing out on savings in billions of dollars, Federal News Radio reports.According to Jason Miller’s article, the Government Accountability Office audited procurement practices at the departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs as well as the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative between August 2011 and September 2012.
The General Services Administration and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy are responsible for the FSSI, which is aimed at encouraging agencies to use governmentwide vehicles and cut down on duplicative contracts across agencies.
Steve Kempf, formerly commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, said in October GSA wants to use strategic sourcing as a way to leverage the government’s buying power.
Auditors found DHS spent 20 percent of its budget on strategic sourcing contracts and saved about 2.3 percent, while the Pentagon spent 5.8 percent of its budget through strategic sourcing vehicles and saved 0.06.
DOE used strategic sourcing for 9.3 percent of its acquisition budget and saved 1.34 percent, while the VA spent 1.4 percent of its budget through strategic sourcing and saved 0.32 percent.
Across the government, agencies spent $537 billion on procurement, using 5 percent of their budgets on strategic sourcing and saving 0.4 percent, auditors said.
