GSA, DOD Outline Acquisition Partnership
The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) will work together to achieve excellence in more then 20 areas of acquisition. A memorandum of agreement (MOA) outlining the partnership received signatures from Shay Assad, Director of Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy, and Emily Murphy, GSA’s Chief Acquisition Officer.
“The MOA is a reflection of GSA’s focus on customer service and further evidence of our growing partnership with DoD,” says GSA Deputy Administrator David Bibb.
Bibb led a GSA team chartered by Administrator Lurita Doan to develop improved ways of providing service to GSA’s largest customer. “The working group on this MOA should be commended,” says Bibb. “We at GSA believe this MOA sends a strong signal of each agency’s intent to work closely with one another.”
According to Jim Williams, Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), “This agreement represents a focused approach to improving acquisition processes and results, reducing the time it takes to get best value goods and services to the warfighter, for example, while providing the American warfighter with quality products and services.”
“As we implement the agreement, GSA will be even better positioned to provide best value goods and services to meet the warfighters’ needs,” says Murphy.
The agreement focuses on every aspect of an acquisition from the identification of requirements through contract closeout. Mr. Bibb also said the MOA will bring definition to some ambiguous aspects of existing acquisition policy with regard to interagency contracting, clearly establishes lines of responsibility and clarifies the rules that apply to the acquisitions conducted on behalf of DoD. “It focuses on acquisition excellence in every aspect of conducting procurements in a timely manner,” says Bibb.
The GSA has already begun working with DoD to implement much of what is agreed to in the MOA.
“The result will be improved value for the taxpayer as well as increased competition in the market place,” says Williams. “The best part of the MOA is that it anticipates course correction as we implement the agreement over time to ensure that our focus on meeting the warfighters’ needs is never lost.”
The agreement follows months of discussions between the parties on how GSA could better serve the Defense Department. Working collaboratively, GSA and DoD will work on a series of action items highlighted in the MOA to best serve the warfighter and the taxpayer.
