Tuesday
Sep292009
Subcommittee: Federal Contract Databases Out Of Date
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 2:03PM
The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight met Tuesday to discuss measures to improve the transparency and accessibility of federal contracting databases.
The federal government spent $518 billion on contractor products and services in the 2008 fiscal year, according to the GAO.
U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Miss.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) presided over the hearing.
“Government employees use (electronic systems and databases) systems to solicit requirements, review offers, evaluate vendors and create and administer contracts. Companies use the systems to find and register for opportunities, track what and how the government is acquiring goods and services and view their own performance,” McCaskill said. “In recent years, these systems have been the subject of criticism from federal auditors, members of the public and Congress for being difficult to use.”
Adam Hughes, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy at OMB Watch testified before the committee. “Current contracting databases are disjointed, antiquated, at times redundant, and difficult to use,” he said. OMB Watch is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization that works to increase government transparency and accountability. “These databases were designed to allow for large inputs of contracting data from multiple sources, but hardly any time or resources were spent developing easy mechanisms for viewing, analyzing, exporting, or sharing data within those systems,” he said.
Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Information Officer, also testified at the hearing, claiming that he hoped to see some contract database reform within the next three years.
“This a huge opportunity, a once in a decade opportunity to get this right once and for all, he said. “That’s why... we’re leading with making sure we don’t end up with where we are right now. We need to step back and figure out what the users really need.”
The federal government spent $518 billion on contractor products and services in the 2008 fiscal year, according to the GAO.
U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Miss.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) presided over the hearing.
“Government employees use (electronic systems and databases) systems to solicit requirements, review offers, evaluate vendors and create and administer contracts. Companies use the systems to find and register for opportunities, track what and how the government is acquiring goods and services and view their own performance,” McCaskill said. “In recent years, these systems have been the subject of criticism from federal auditors, members of the public and Congress for being difficult to use.”
Adam Hughes, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy at OMB Watch testified before the committee. “Current contracting databases are disjointed, antiquated, at times redundant, and difficult to use,” he said. OMB Watch is a nonprofit research and advocacy organization that works to increase government transparency and accountability. “These databases were designed to allow for large inputs of contracting data from multiple sources, but hardly any time or resources were spent developing easy mechanisms for viewing, analyzing, exporting, or sharing data within those systems,” he said.
Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Information Officer, also testified at the hearing, claiming that he hoped to see some contract database reform within the next three years.
“This a huge opportunity, a once in a decade opportunity to get this right once and for all, he said. “That’s why... we’re leading with making sure we don’t end up with where we are right now. We need to step back and figure out what the users really need.”
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