Procurement power stays with contracting officers

Federal Claims Court Judge Susan Braden’s injunction this week against the Interior Department's sole-source contract should remind other officials that having a long title on a business card doesn’t mean they outrank a contracting officer in the procurement world.

On July 15, 2010, Interior’s assistant secretary for policy, management and budget approved a determination and findings document, a special authority that allows an agency to award a contract without competition.

The D&F established Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite Federal as the departmentwide standard for messaging and collaboration. It also set Microsoft’s desktop and service software as the standard for computer operating systems and office automation. With those standards and the D&F, the department then would have been allowed to award Microsoft a sole-source contract.

However, the D&F was a just piece of paper with only the assistant secretary’s signature.

The law requires that a contracting officer sign a D&F to make it valid. Furthermore, a senior procurement executive also needs to sign the D&F if a contract is worth more than $50 million — as this contract was, although the exact amount was redacted in the opinion.

“The assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, however, is neither the ‘contracting officer’ nor appears to be the Department of Interior’s ‘senior procurement executive,’” Braden said.

“In fact, the establishment of a ‘departmentwide standard for messaging and collaboration’ and a ‘departmentwide standard for Office Automation and Systems Management Software’ does not appear to fall within the responsibilities of the assistant secretary for policy, management and budget,” Braden wrote. She went on to describe Interior’s organizational chart, appending the chart itself, and cited job descriptions on Interior's website.

The ruling keeps the power of procurement in the hands of contracting officers, a sober reminder for everyone who is involved with contracts.

Posted by Matthew Weigelt on Jan 07, 2011 at 10:59 AM