Panel to review strategic sourcing

In an effort to streamline various agency strategic sourcing initiatives, a new working group — composed of officials from the Homeland Security Department and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) — held its first meeting last week.

The group plans to

involve other agencies, such as the Defense

Department, in which officials are already studying the streamlining issue,

said Lee Kair, director

of strategic sourcing and acquisition systems in DHS' Office of the Chief Procurement Officer. Kair will be co-chairman

of the group, along

with Leslie Field, procurement policy analyst at OFPP.

Strategic sourcing broadly refers to

consolidating acquisitions so that more of the government's purchasing power is brought to bear, allowing agency officials to negotiate lower prices for various

purchases.

"In general, it's a different way of looking at acquisition," Kair said. "It's a shift from a transactional thought process."

The working group's role will be to bring together existing efforts governmentwide, he said.

"Instead of each [agency] having our own way of developing a strategic sourcing program, we're trying to develop a way where we can share ideas, identify common policy ideas that we all run into" and otherwise collaborate for better efficiency, Kair said.

Robert Burton, associate administrator of OFPP, said that one area of focus will

be on the government's use of purchase cards. Government employees can use

the cards like credit cards for official

purchases of small items. But the employees often pay full retail price for the

merchandise.

"I think we need to be negotiating more with industry," Burton said.

He said there is no good reason for the lack of a negotiated discount.

"I think it's just a lack of

interest," he said. "I also think there's been an assumption that we were getting discounts."

The purchase card issue is also of interest to

officials at the General

Services Administration and other agencies, said Larry Allen, executive vice president of the Coalition

for Government Procurement, a group that represents companies that have federal supply schedules. But the problem is not as straightforward as it might seem, he added.

That's because even when using the purchase cards, federal officials must follow rules, he said.

Strategic sourcing is not a new concept, Allen said, and it has always been difficult to discuss.

"There are those who think companies should just give [products] away because it's the government," he said. "These are things that come out in discussions."