Defense agencies among worst ranked for disclosing contracting needs to businesses

WASHINGTON — The Defense Health Agency and other Pentagon offices are among the worst in government at supplying companies with information they need to bid on federal contracts, according to the Professional Services Council.

Of the 27 federal agencies graded as “needs improvement,” this year, about a third are housed in the Navy, Defense Department and Army. The Defense Health Agency slipped to “needs improvement” from “fair” in the latest Federal Business Forecast Scorecard , produced annually by PSC and released this month.

“DHA is committed to and passionate about serving our warfighters and our 9.6 million TRICARE beneficiaries through responsible stewardship of tax payer dollars,” a DHA spokesperson said in an email. “By providing insights through DHA industry days and communication of Agency forecasts , DHA strives to achieve the best possible contracting outcomes and effective solutions to future health and readiness challenges of the Military Health System.”

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency and the Defense Information Systems Agency did not improve from last year’s rank. The Navy’s Military Sealift Command also wound up in the bottom category.

“DISA continues to implement recommendations to enhance our procurement forecasts for current and potential industry partners,” a spokesperson for the Defense Information Systems Agency said.

The trade group for federal contractors graded 62 agencies and subagencies across government on their procurement forecasts, which include timelines, estimates and other details needed to bid on contracts. The U.S. government spends more than $600 billion on good and services each year, much of it on defense.

“Well-articulated, sufficiently detailed forecasts lead to better proposals, improved competition and shorter award decision timelines,” Stephanie Kostro, PSC’s executive vice president for policy, said in a statement.

The scorecard, created in 2019, evaluates the content federal agencies provide in procurement forecasts to businesses. They offer a glimpse at opportunities by listing information that gives companies an idea of what resources they need to pursue a business opportunity with the government.

Not all defense office forecasts are hard to access. Two won “honorable mentions” in the PSC ranking. Marine Corps Systems Command failed to give a forecast in 2021 but received a “fair” rating for improving its public information this year.

Naval Information Warfare Systems Command has maintained a consistent “good” rating — the top category — since 2019.

“While certain restrictions can prevent Department of Defense offices from making publicly available a fully populated forecast, NAVWAR stands out as a top component,” according to the scorecard.

Forecasts were missing from some defense and military agencies, including the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as well as the Missile Defense and Defense Logistics agencies.

Outside of the Pentagon, the General Services Administration received the highest score of any agency in the report for consistently updating opportunities and populating useful information to support companies’ decision-making. The GSA helps manage and support other federal agencies.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget, which oversees the GSA, “has emphasized the importance of good procurement forecasts as a key component of strengthening the diversity and resilience of the federal marketplace,” said Lesley Field, acting administrator for federal procurement policy at OMB.

The acquisition ecosystem, from those who award contracts to the businesses seeking them, is vast. One in every $10 of federal spending goes to contractors. Nearly 40,000 officers shepherd dollars through the 5 million contracts awarded last year.

Overall, two more agencies received “good” rankings in 2022 compared to 2021, while a dozen offices received a “fair” ranking, up from nine.

Last year’s top marks were awarded to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which received the first-ever perfect score.

Molly Weisner is a staff reporter for Federal Times where she covers labor, policy and contracting pertaining to the government workforce. She made previous stops at USA Today and McClatchy as a digital producer, and worked at The New York Times as a copy editor. Molly majored in journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

华盛顿——据专业服务委员会称，国防卫生局和其他五角大楼部门在向企业提供竞标联邦合同所需信息方面，是政府部门中最差的部门之一。

今年被评为“需要改进”的27个联邦机构中，约有三分之一隶属于海军、国防部和陆军。国防卫生局在公共服务委员会（PSC）每年编制并于本月发布的最新联邦商业预测记分卡中，评级从“良好”降至“需要改进”。

“国防卫生局 (DHA) 致力于通过负责任地管理纳税人的钱，为我们的作战人员和 960 万 TRICARE 受益人提供服务，并对此充满热情，”DHA 发言人在一封电子邮件中表示。“通过 DHA 行业日活动和机构预测的沟通，DHA 力求实现最佳的合同成果，并为军事医疗系统未来在健康和战备方面面临的挑战提供有效的解决方案。”

国防反情报与安全局和国防信息系统局的排名与去年相比没有提升。海军军事海运司令部也位列垫底。

“国防信息系统局 (DISA) 将继续落实各项建议，以改进我们对现有和潜在行业合作伙伴的采购预测，”国防信息系统局的一位发言人表示。

联邦承包商行业协会对政府下属的62个机构和下属机构的采购预测进行了评级，这些预测包括时间表、估算和其他投标所需的详细信息。美国政府每年在商品和服务上的支出超过6000亿美元，其中大部分用于国防。

“措辞得当、细节充分的预测能够带来更好的提案、更激烈的竞争和更短的授标决定时间，”公共服务委员会 (PSC) 负责政策的执行副总裁 Stephanie Kostro 在一份声明中表示。

这份创建于2019年的评分卡，旨在评估联邦机构在向企业提供的采购预测内容。它通过列出相关信息，帮助企业了解与政府开展业务合作所需的资源，从而展现潜在的商机。

并非所有国防部门的预测都难以获取。其中两个在公共服务委员会（PSC）的排名中获得了“荣誉提名”。海军陆战队系统司令部在2021年未能发布预测，但由于今年改进了公共信息发布，获得了“良好”评级。

自 2019 年以来，海军信息战系统司令部一直保持着“良好”评级——最高等级。

根据评分卡，“虽然某些限制可能会阻止国防部办公室向公众提供完整的预测，但 NAVWAR 仍然是最重要的组成部分。”

一些国防和军事机构缺少预测数据，包括国防高级研究计划局以及导弹防御局和国防后勤局。

在五角大楼之外，美国总务管理局（GSA）在报告中得分最高，因为它持续更新各种机会信息，并提供有用的资料来支持企业的决策。GSA负责管理和支持其他联邦机构。

白宫管理和预算办公室（负责监管美国总务署）“强调了良好的采购预测的重要性，认为这是加强联邦市场多样性和韧性的关键组成部分，”白宫管理和预算办公室联邦采购政策代理署长莱斯利·菲尔德表示。

从授予合同的机构到寻求合同的企业，采购生态系统十分庞大。联邦政府每10美元的支出中就有1美元流向了承包商。去年授予的500万份合同中，有近4万名官员负责管理资金流向。

总体而言，与 2021 年相比，2022 年获得“良好”评级的机构数量增加了两家，而获得“一般”评级的机构数量从 9 家增加到 12 家。

去年最高分授予了美国国际开发署，该机构获得了有史以来的第一个满分。

莫莉·韦斯纳是《联邦时报》的专职记者，主要报道与政府劳动力相关的劳工、政策和合同方面的新闻。她曾先后在《今日美国》和麦克拉奇报业集团担任数字内容制作人，并在《纽约时报》担任过文字编辑。莫莉毕业于北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校，主修新闻学。