Mark Naggar's innovative approach to acquisition at the Department of Health and Human Services has touched off a reform effort that is spreading to other agencies.
In the world of federal IT acquisition, Mark Naggar is a revolutionary firebrand on a search-and-destroy mission.
"The federal government spends around $50 billion on IT services each year, and we're plagued by ineffective and inefficient acquisition of IT services," he said. "The acquisition approach and subsequent implementation and maintenance of IT systems [are] outdated and long overdue for improvements."
At the Department of Health and Human Services, Naggar has used his Buyers Club initiative to touch off a reform movement that is spreading to other government agencies.
He began by setting up a two-stage online system that skips the rigid, cumbersome acquisition process in favor of eight-page concept papers and statements of objectives. The Buyers Club approach streamlines activities for government and industry alike and allows vendors to show off what they can do. It also minimizes the risk to federal agencies by freeing them from long, expensive, multilevel contracting processes, which have all too often wound up failing.
"There's a high failure rate associated with the acquisition of IT services, at HHS and throughout the federal government," Naggar said. "Given previous failures -- of all sizes -- associated with the acquisition and implementation of IT services at HHS, there's a tremendous need to mitigate risk of failure and ensure success."
Like most common-sense, innovative ideas, Naggar's Buyers Club is generating wider interest, with acquisition officers at other agencies eager to learn how to use it. The Inaugural Conference for Innovative Acquisitions in February drew more than 500 employees from 20 agencies, despite a snowstorm that slowed Washington to a crawl the day of the event.