The chairmen of the House Veterans Affairs and Small Business committees are calling on the Office of Federal Procurement Policy to issue guidance on the use of reverse auctions, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.Jason Miller writes that Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) have asked OFPP Administrator Anne Rung to open a Federal Acquisition Regulation case to address potential misuse of the reverse auction tool.
The lawmakers pointed to the findings of a 2013 Government Accountability Office report that indicated a lack of competitive bids for some government contracts and bid protests, Miller reports.
The report said GAO, with agreement from the Office of Management and Budget, had recommended that OFPP update FAR and issue reverse auction guidelines and best practices.
“[We] continue to receive reports of reverse auctions being conducted where a commercial reverse auction providers shares past performance and financial responsibility information with the contracting officer, but that information is not provided to the offeror nor referred to the Small Business Administration in violation of the FAR,” Miller and Graves told Rung in a letter obtained by the station.
