OMB lists sourcing report requirements

M-05-01, Report to Congress on FY 2004 Competitive Sourcing Efforts

Agencies must now include four new measures of effectiveness in their yearly competitive sourcing reports.

A 12-page memo signed Oct. 15 by Clay Johnson, the Office of Management and Budget's deputy director for management, calls for agencies' annual assessments of competitive sourcing efforts to include:

* Savings and/or performance improvements directly resulting from competitive sourcing.

* Fixed costs, meaning the costs of running competitive sourcing programs.

* Number of offers and tenders received during public/private competitions. Agencies don't have to report bids in competitions that only involve government employees.

* Source selection strategy, including how the winner was selected, whether the process was a sealed bid, the lowest price of technically acceptable bids, evaluation of phases, cost/technical trade-offs or other assessment methods.

In addition, agencies must also describe how their competitive sourcing decisions relate to the Strategic Management of Human Capital initiative, one of five elements in the President's Management Agenda. Competitive sourcing is also part of the agenda.

Congress requires agencies to produce yearly reports on competitive sourcing outcomes. Those reports must be approved by OMB; agencies have until Nov. 12 to compile their fiscal 2004 information for OMB.

The memo also advises agencies that OMB officials intend to launch a competitive sourcing database this winter to track competitions and implementation.