New council replaces PEC

Say goodbye to the Procurement Executives Council and hello to the Federal Acquisition Council.

Robert Burton, associate administrator at the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said the new council, which will have its first meeting April 17, "gets across the notion that acquisition is more than procurement."

Burton, who was speaking April 9 at the FOSE conference in Washington, D.C., said the council will focus on significant issues facing agencies, including competitive sourcing and implementing Office of Management and Budget Circular A-76, which outlines how the public and private sectors should compete to perform commercial-like government functions. There will not be council committees, but rather temporary working groups comprised of agency experts who will focus on a particular issue, Burton said.

The council will meet every other month, will have a broader membership than the Procurement Executives Council and will help implement certain initiatives within agencies.

President's Management Council representatives will appoint members to join the new council, Burton said, but the majority of its members likely will be senior agency procurement executives. The council will be a mix of political and career employees. Appointments to the council are due to OMB today.

The council will have liaisons with other government groups such as the Chief Information Officers and Chief Financial Officers councils and will include representatives from groups such as the Small Business Procurement Advisory Council.