Obama Takes on Contracting Abuses

March 10, 2009

Last week, President Obama ordered new guidelines for contracting in federal agencies. In a memorandum sent to the heads of all executive departments and agencies, he ordered a government-wide review of federal contracting procedures to be completed by July 1 with new guidelines to be in place by September 30. The president declared, "We will stop outsourcing services that should be performed by the government," noting that annual spending on private contracts had doubled to more than $500 billion during the Bush administration. The new guidelines will set criteria for contracting out public services, limit allowable circumstances for no-bid contracts, and assess agencies' ability to properly manage contracts given the shrinking federal workforce tasked with contracting oversight. Read more on the White House blog.