The implementation of the 14 SARA provisions more than
a year after being enacted “should be further along,”
said chairman of the House Government Reform Committee
Tom Davis, R-Va., in commenting on the report.
“It appears that the necessary rulemaking procedures to
allow many of the provisions to take full effect have
been exceedingly slow in some areas,” said Davis, adding
that while the Office of Personnel Management has
established the workforce training fund, it has not
finalized rulemaking to allow agencies to determine if
there are acquisition workforce shortages, making it
“difficult to recruit and directly hire qualified
candidates.”
He praised the establishment of the Chief Information
Officers Council, but expressed concern that rulemaking
is not in place requiring “oversight of certain
contracts by licensed professional engineers.”
Davis called the implementation of the critical
commercial acquisition provisions a “mixed bag,” and
agreed with the GAO report that rulemaking for the use
of time-and-materials and labor-hour contracts to
procure commercial services is slow, and that “other
transactions” authority needs more attention.
