House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis,
R-Va., has expressed concern over the “apparent lack
of management coordination” at the General Services
Administration regarding several multi-billion dollar
acquisitions.
Davis sent GSA administrator Steven Perry a letter
asking him to conduct a review to determine if the
agency has the capacity to adequately manage several
large acquisitions it has in the works, namely the
multibillion-dollar NETWORX telecom acquisition, and
two proposed long-term IT support acquisitions that it
is moving forward with. A contract with a Alliant
carries a $50 billion ceiling, and another with Alliant
Small Business could be worth $15 billion.
“I am concerned that the two programs will lead to
confusion among agency customers as to which program
provides the best solution to meet its telecommunications
and IT needs,” wrote Davis, adding that the Alliant
programs are to be run out of different GSA regions.
Citing management problems marring an earlier round of
local telecom acquisitions under the Metropolitan Area
Acquisition, Davis expressed concern that some GSA
regions are conducting comprehensive telecom acquisitions
outside of the NETWORX program which could send the
signal it is ok for regions “to go off on their own.”
He applauded recent restructuring efforts with the Federal
Supply Service and Federal Technology Service–planned
for merger in the fiscal 2006 budget proposal, as are the
General Supply Fund and IT Fund–and said he was
“encouraged” by GSA’s “get it right” campaign designed
to support compliance in the use of GSA contracting
vehicles.
However, Davis wrote, “It appears that GSA will be
strained to manage all of these moving parts, and it will
likely affect its ability to serve customer agencies.”
