Waxman continues call for procurement reform

[babylonsister]

http://www.fcw.com/article102718-05-14-07-Web

Waxman continues call for procurement reform

BY Jason Miller
Published on May 14, 2007


Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), continues to assail agency procurement practices, calling for increased oversight of contractors by federal employees.

Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said today that private-sector workers have become a shadow government, and agencies need to hire more people to manage them.

“Lockheed Martin is the largest government contractor and receives more federal money than the Interior and Commerce departments and Congress combined,” Waxman said at a discussion on competitive contracting in Washington sponsored by the Center for American Progress. “Procurement spending has grown two times as much as the rest of federal spending and the waste, fraud and abuse is rising.”

Waxman has held six hearings since February to examine waste, fraud and abuse, and he plans to hold more over the next six months. Among those six, the committee has looked at the General Services Administration’s renewal Sun Microsystems’ schedule contract despite concerns by the agency’s inspector general; a planned sole-source contract to GSA administrator Lurita Doan’s friend and alleged violations of the Hatch Act. The committee also examined the Homeland Security Department’s two largest contracts—the Secure Border Initiative and Deepwater.

The committee is also investigating how many contractors work for DHS. Waxman said agency officials could not answer that question so the committee launched an investigation to figure it out.

“We will not contract this out, I can assure you,” Waxman said.

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[Solo_in_MD]

1. That means expanding the civil service workforce that has been in a downward trend since Carter