Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has issued a memorandum providing guidance for federal agencies to consolidate procurement activities for common goods and services.
In the July 18 memo, Vought wrote that the OMB guidance supports the implementation of a March executive order that seeks to consolidate federal procurement within GSA as part of efforts to remove waste and duplication and enable agencies to focus on their mission of delivering services to citizens.
The OMB director noted that consolidation efforts will advance through two workstreams. The first workstream will consolidate procurement through centralized contracting using category management principles. The other workstream will focus on opportunities to consolidate through the centralization of procurement functions at GSA.
According to the document, centralized procurement functions will require performance monitoring and service level agreements, or SLAs.
“Agencies should work proactively with GSA and 0MB to implement these workstreams and fully leverage GSA’s expertise and statutory role as the Federal Government’s core buyer for addressing prevalent and repetitive needs,” Vought noted.
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Increased Agency Use of Centralized Contracts Managed by GSA
This workstream includes the use of governmentwide contracts first and the identification of new opportunities for centralized contracts.
Within 60 days, each governmentwide category manager will coordinate with the Category Management Program Management Office to assess existing common spend and offer recommendations to the Category Management Leadership Council and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy on spend areas that would be appropriate for consolidation through the award of new centralized contracts or modification of existing governmentwide contracts.
Centralization of Procurement Functions
According to the memo, the centralization of procurement functions can promote economy and efficiency for requirements.
OMB will work with GSA to evaluate the suitability of the transition of procurement functions by taking into consideration information outlined in an agency’s transition plan.
GSA and OMB will also consider six factors: capacity assessment; cost efficiency; risk management; performance monitoring; SLAs; and budget impacts.
OMB will also review and update its category management principles to align with the EO and consolidation principles outlined in the guidance document.
