Letters to the editor

Following are responses to an FCW.com poll question that asked: "Is it necessary to create a chief acquisition officer at each agency?"

Federal agencies each have a senior procurement executive and typically a procurement executive. These individuals are fully responsible for the agency's acquisition program. The Federal Acquisition Regulation mandates the senior position and it sets forth acquisition responsibilities.

To permit or require each agency to establish and recruit a chief acquisition officer clearly would create additional confusion in responsibilities and cause turf battles. Moreover, the concept, in and of itself, contradicts the President's Management Agenda.

Susan Gerbing

Department of Veterans Affairs

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Creating yet another high-level position to provide more power to an agency's procurement policies begs the question: Why not simply change the authority of senior procurement officers?

Although federal procurement processes still have a lot of room for improvement, another bureaucratic layer doesn't seem to be the answer. Let's hope this idea proceeds no further than Rep. Tom Davis' idea for outsourcing U.S. federal jobs and contract work to foreign countries.

These actions, quite frankly, embarrass most of us Republicans.

Bob Matz

Osprey Services Corp.