FCW Insider: Should contractor performance data be public?

A reader poses this question: Will the Obama administration’s transparency policy include information on contractor performance scores?

The reader is Jeff Stachewicz, the principal founder of the FOIA Group, which helps companies obtain public information about their competitors, according to the group’s Web site.

The Bush administration declined to release data requested under the Freedom of Information Act, according to Stachewicz, commenting on a recent story (“Recovery board begins online dialogue with IT”).

“The rating scores track contractor’s performance and provide a record, both positive and negative, on a given contract during a specific period of time,” Stachewicz writes. “Similar performance rating systems, are used by state governments and openly made available to the public. This FOIA request is directly challenging the "old guard" mentality of the government contracts establishment that is often shielded from public scrutiny. Doesn't the public have the right to know how contractors are performing using billions of our tax dollars?”

An intriguing question.