Letters roundup

Regarding "Advice on renewing innovation"

Great article! We need more thoughtful and speaking-the-truth interviews such as these!

Kimberly A. Johnson
Johnstech International

Regarding "How will your agency check its spending?"

GAO is showing it's backwardness, if nothing else. The question the Senate ought to ask is: Why is your agency duplicating the efforts of the GSA for standard IT and professional services?

Here are some other relevant questions for the 21st century federal reality:

1. How many agencies need to crank up and continue to operate their own contract shops to buy the same stuff?

2. Is acquisition not the perfect place to consolidate a federal line of business?

3. Are we not suffering from a shortage of qualified contract officers already?

4. How many acquisition systems does the federal government really need to operate and continue to build and rebuild?

5. Did you realize that RFQs appear on existing GSA acquisition systems to duplicate the capability of that acquisition system for other organizations?

6. Does this serve the taxpayer?

Here's the big enchilada question that congressmen and the GAO clearly forget: How can we buy the same stuff in a way that better serves the taxpayer?

GAO, like the rest of Congress, seems trapped in fortifying the status quo and unraveling any reforms made in the last 15 years. Government Accountability Office? Accountable to whom and for what?

Anonymous

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