Advice for Treasury When Contracting for Financial Recovery Assistance

October 30, 2008
The former Senior Procurement Executive at the Transportation Department when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was being created provides some sage advice on contracting for those in the new Treasury Office of Financial Responsibility. David Litman, in an October 15 article in Government Executive, advises that if the Treasury Department wants to avoid making some of the same mistakes TSA made when it was first organizing, “people must take priority over process in developing an acquisition program for the new office.”

Litman notes that when TSA was established, “in the rush to establish and staff the organization and meet its many mandates, little attention was paid to acquisition needs. The key to successful contracting for the new organization, which is already letting numerous contracts for financial agents and other supporting contractors, is “clearly defining requirements and developing an appropriate acquisition strategy, selecting the contractor most capable of meeting those requirements, and managing the contract effectively after award.” 

These factors rely on having a knowledgeable acquisition staff that works under the helm of a veteran procurement executive who reports directly to the head of the organization, Litman says. Getting that staff on-board immediately, even if they are “borrowed” from other agencies until permanent staff can be hired, is the best way to ensure that contracting “is part of the solution to this financial crisis and doesn’t all too soon become part of the problem.”