Procurement Policy

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Obama Administration Seeks to Curtail Award Fee Contracts

During a recent Senate hearing, a top official from President Obama's budget office detailed the administration's plan for curtailing the use of award fee contracts, controversial vehicles that, according to good government groups, are filled with waste, fraud, and abuse. This plan stems from the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) latest release of guidance to federal agencies on reforming the federal procurement process – part of a larger reform effort the administration is undertaking. During the same hearing, however, chief procurement officials from several federal agencies raised concerns over the possible consequences of further regulation.

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Complacency Breeds Corruption in Contracting

Aug 13, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Oh, boy, this one is a doozy. If you haven't seen this yet, a WaPo article from last week detailed the incestuous, often corrupt, relationships that can exist between officials and contractors within the broken culture of government contracting, and highlighted the lengths to which agencies will go to safeguard that decayed culture.

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Redactio Ad Absurdum

Aug 4, 2009 by Craig Jennings

We've been digging through $9.5 million Recovery.gov rewrite contract the Recovery Board has signed with Smartronix, Inc., and it is taking us surprisingly little time...because most of the information has been redacted.

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OMB Watch Submits Contracting Reform Comments

OMB Watch recently submitted comments and recommendations on needed reforms to the federal contracting process in response to a presidential memorandum issued earlier in 2009. The Presidential Memorandum on Government Contracting directs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to both collaborate with federal agencies to review existing contracts and to develop new guidance to help reform future government contracting.

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Has Something Funny* Happened on the Way to the Internet?

Jul 27, 2009 by Craig Jennings

UPDATE: It's up. On the evening of Friday, July 31, the contract was posted on Recovery.gov.

Despite GSA's and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board's "confirmation" that the $9.5 million contract with Smartronix, Inc. to implement Recovery.gov 2.0 would be posted online, we're still waiting to see it on Recovery.gov.

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OMB Watch Submits Comments on Contracting Reform

Jul 21, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

On March 4, President Obama released a Memorandum on Government Contracting, which instructed the OMB and other federal agencies to improve and strengthen federal contracting practices, including seeking input from the public. In response to this effort, OMB Watch submitted comments and recommendations on necessary reforms to the federal contracting system.

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Money for Nothing

Jun 29, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

...and Chicks for Free

A report released today by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that few federal agencies follow recently revised guidelines set forth by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for awarding contract bonus fees, wasting billions of taxpayer dollars per year.

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Zients Officially Confirmed as first Chief Performance Officer

Jun 23, 2009 by Jocelyn Yin*

After clearing the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Jeffrey D. Zients was approved by the full Senate as the government's first-ever Chief Performance Officer. In addition to his CPO duties, Zients will also serve as Deputy Director of Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

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Zients Easily Clears Senate Committee Vote

Jun 16, 2009 by Jocelyn Yin*

Earlier today, Jeffrey D. Zients came one step closer to becoming the government's first-ever Chief Performance Officer when the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved his nomination.

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Senate Likely to Confirm First-Ever Chief Performance Officer

On June 16, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) voted to approve the nomination of Jeffrey Zients to serve as the nation's first Chief Performance Officer (CPO), moving the issue to the full Senate.

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