FTS contracting improvements taking hold, IG reports

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service is on its way to repairing pervasive contracting problems throughout its customer service centers, agency officials and its inspector general said.

The General Services Administration's Federal Technology Service is on its way to repairing pervasive contracting problems throughout its customer service centers, agency officials and its inspector general said.

The IG reviewed 227 task orders worth $3.2 billion from fiscal 2003 and 105 task orders worth $1.3 billion from March through May of 2004. Whereas auditors found widespread problems with the 2003 deals, from misuse of contract vehicles to awarding contracts outside the scope of the IT Fund, audits of 2004 task orders showed improvement.

'The IG report provides no surprises,' said David Bibb, GSA deputy administrator, in a conference call with reporters today. 'Since the initial shortcomings were found in the first audit, GSA has taken aggressive action to make things better. As we move forward, we will soon be in compliance with the full spectrum of procurement rules and regulations.'

In January, an IG audit found that the FTS' client support centers in three regions had breached federal procurement laws.

'I don't think it would be appropriate to say FTS had an epidemic of contracting problems, but there were enough problems to say that the program was in definite need of a fix,' said Eugene Wazsily, GSA's assistant IG for auditing, in an interview with GCN.

GSA officials yesterday briefed the House Government Reform and Armed Services and the Senate Governmental Affairs committees on the audit's latest findings, and plan to discuss the report with the Senate Armed Services Committee after Jan. 1, Bates said.

"Notwithstanding Chairman [Tom] Davis' (R-Va.) belief that GSA should be the federal government's agent to manage the government's communications environment, GSA must get its house in order so that it is up to the task," said Drew Crockett, a House Government Reform Committee spokesman. "Because of the IG's revelations of procurement irregularities at FTS, Chairman Davis will be reviewing options to resolve the agency's structural and management challenges. If this requires that we mandate a permanent reorganization within GSA, Chairman Davis is prepared to take whatever action is needed, including the introduction of legislation that will do so."

After the initial audit, GSA launched the Get It Right Campaign in July to correct these problems. With the Get It Right initiative in place, the IG office is evaluating FTS contracts and task orders from August to November as part of its report to Congress, due March 15.

'FTS has turned the corner,' said Sandy Bates, the FTS commissioner. 'Our work is not finished and we will always need to push ahead to put in new policies and procedures as needed, especially as the complexity of our work continues to grow. But everyone in FTS has shown progress.'

According to the IG's latest report, many FTS offices had nowhere to go but up.

The IG audit of 2003 contracts found 58 percent of all task orders that required competition were not competed; 20 task orders were awarded for services outside the scope of the base contract, such as replacing lead cable and setting up a wireless local area network for a convention under a Gigabit Ethernet network contract; and contracting officers used the IT Fund to fulfill 38 task orders worth $571 million for medical technicians and warehouse personnel and such services as firearms instruction.

In the sampling of 2004 task orders, auditors found a significant improvement in some contracting offices' practices.

'Progress in implementing the new controls in the customer service centers ranged from substantial in some centers to just getting started in others,' Waszily said in the report. 'In general, these results were positive; however additional efforts are needed to bring all the centers into full compliance with procurement policies and regulations.'

In response to these audits, GSA official said they are expanding the Get It Right campaign to include more training for FTS and Defense Department contracting personnel, said David Drabkin, GSA's deputy chief acquisition officer.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.