OMB to agencies: Use more performance-based contracts

Agencies did so well on performance-based contracting last fiscal year the Office of Management and Budget agencies plan to use the acquisition method even more during fiscal 2007.In a memorandum OMB issued this week, Office of Federal Procurement Policy Administrator Paul Denett said he wants agencies to begin awarding 45 percent of their contracts as performance-based through fiscal 2011.Many agencies exceeded the base goal of 40 percent performance-based contract awards last year. Some agencies already awarded 45 percent of their contracts using this method.To guide agencies with performance-based acquisition, OMB posted its “Seven Steps to Performance-Based Service Acquisition Guide” online.The Federal Acquisition Institute and the Defense Acquisition University offer training courses on performance-based contracting, the memo states. The institute has a three-day workshop for training and the university has a four and a half-day classroom session.