The report will look at whether GSA’s reorganization improved management of the Multiple Award Schedules program and the effectiveness of the management tools GSA has in place, he said. Mismanagement of the schedules program led to a series of contracting scandals five years ago. The scandals prompted GAO to add interagency contracts to its High Risk List.

In addition, the report will address concerns raised by the congressionally charted Acquisition Advisory Panel in a 2007 report, Needham said. The panel found that agencies weren’t competing orders placed through established interagency, multiple awards contracts. In addition, the panel raised concerns that there were too many interagency contracts competing with each other and hampering the government’s abilities to get a good price.

Needham spoke at the Coalition for Government Procurement’s fall conference today.

This was the second conviction for David Safavian, who served as chief of staff at the General Services Administration under President George W. Bush. His 2006 conviction was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 2008. He was tried again and convicted in December.

The case stemmed from allegations that Safavian lied to GSA ethics officials when he had asked for advice on whether he could accept a 2002 golf trip to Scotland from Abramoff. Safavian did not disclose that Abramoff had business dealings with the agency.

Safavian later oversaw federal contracting policy at the Office of Management and Budget but abruptly quit before his 2005 arrest.

According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said Safavian won’t have to report to jail until after his pregnant wife delivers their child.

GSA’s new Public Building Service commissioner, Robert Peck, responded to Bond, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., in a letter last week.

In the Oct. 9 letter, Peck explained that plans to close Bannister are still on the table, but GSA has changed its approach to obtaining new space. GSA is scrapping the proposal submitted to Congress last year to replace Bannister with a “lease-construction” project, where a private developer builds space to the government’s specifications and then leases it to the government. GSA has turned away from this plan because further research shows it will be cheaper in the long-term for GSA to build and own a new federal building downtown.

Peck wrote:

Neither leasing space, nor a lease-construction project is our preferred option. Fiscal analyses show that building and owning a federal building is the lowest long-term cost solution. Kansas City also has sufficient federal agencies in leased space to support incurring additional federal ownership of space. Accordingly, we are prepared to begin site selection and design for a new federal building in Kansas City’s central employment area as soon as we can secure the requisite congressional approvals and funding.

Peck also noted that before entering a lease-construction agreement, the agency first must hold a competition to see if suitable space is already available. Because Kansas City has many office building vacancies, a lease-construction project would likely turn into a lease, Peck said.

Despite these assurances,  it appears Bond is not satisfied. According to today’s Kansas City Star, he has not lifted the hold on Johnson’s nomination.  Bond’s spokeswoman Shana Marchio told the Star “we need answers on the how and when this project will move forward,” adding that “without those answers, we cannot know how to evaluate the message from GSA.”

Confused?

It turns out that while federal agencies are hiring more workers, they’re also getting rid of thousands of buildings they no longer need. The number of buildings in the federal inventory declined nearly 9 percent in 2008, or roughly 70 million square feet, according to a report posted today by the General Services Administration.

GSA attributes the decrease to a reduction of 36,000 military housing units and 4,000 warehouses by the Air Force and Navy.

Since the two offices share a common mission of developing procurement policies, merging them will better coordinate these efforts, improving the agency’s ability to manage taxpayer dollars, GSA said in a statement to Federal Times.

I’m flying out this afternoon from Washington, but before I do I thought I’d share a few interesting facts that come directly from Becky Rhodes, deputy associate administrator of govermentwide policy at the General Services Administration, which is hosting the conference:

• 1,490 people were registered to attend the conference as of July 17, which is up slightly from the 1,449 people who attended last year’s event.
• 38 percent of attendees are new to FedFleet, which Rhodes attributed to significant employee turnover at agencies.
• 164 exhibitors will showcase their goods or services, up from 145 last year.
• 22 agency meetings will be taking place during the conference, up from 16 last year.
• While most of the conference is devoted to vehicle fleets, 25 hours of training are devoted to aviation fleet managers.

“After six decades we’re just hitting our prime,” Acting Administrator Paul Prouty said in the statement.

With billions in Recovery Act dollars flowing out of agencies today, GSA stands ready to “help green the government, move America toward energy independence, increased transparency and accountability and much, much more,” he said.

To celebrate the agency established by President Harry Truman in 1949 to centralize the procurement of goods, services and office space for the federal government, FedLine gives you the following fun facts about GSA:

• GSA has 11,792 full time employees.
• GSA handles 11 percent of the government’s procurement spending.
• GSA manages 8,600 government-owned and leased buildings and more than 425 historic properties.
• It also manages 213,000 government vehicles.

These and other recommendations are outlined in a report finalized by the Multiple Award Schedule Advisory Panel today. The 15-member panel was formed last year by former GSA Administrator Lurita Doan to suggest ways to improve the federal supply schedules program, also known as the multiple-award schedules program. The panel is made up of industry officials, procurement experts and agency officials. 

The panel said requiring vendors to offer the government their best prices was of “questionable” value. That’s because agencies using the supply schedules can obtain deeper discounts through negotiations and competition.

The panel also recommended that GSA:

• Develop a market research tool to capture and share the prices buyers obtained for their orders. The tool will help other buyers determine if the prices they’re quoted are fair and reasonable.
• Regularly review pricing on federal supply schedule contracts to ensure they reflect market changes.
• Require firm-fixed pricing for orders that combine products and services, known as solutions.
• Periodically consult with agencies and industry to ensure federal supply schedule offerings are relevant to customer needs.
• Determine if the length of a GSA schedule contract should be shorter than the current 20-year maximum.

Martha Johnson, President Barack Obama’s choice to lead GSA, said at her confirmation hearing this month that she would consider recommendations made by the panel.

Winners of the 2009 White House Closing the Circle Awards — handed out Wednesday during the middle of the three-day 2009 Federal Environmental Symposium East in Bethesda, Md. –  are demonstrating best practices in areas such as recycling, green purchasing and fuel conservation.

The big winner was the Air Force, which received four awards for initiatives under way at local bases and headquarters. The Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office in Denver was the biggest individual winner, taking home two awards.

A complete list of the winners — along with some of their accomplishments — is after the jump.

Environmental management systems

Defense Supply Center, Richmond, Va.
Why it won: Increased number of alternative fuel vehicles, cut energy use in half by replacing florescent lights, contracted for a greenhouse gas emissions study

Federal Aviation Administration’s Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, Oklahoma City, Okla.
Why it won: Reduced non-hazardous industrial waste by recycling cardboard, cut gasoline use by purchasing electric vehicles and driving less, cut water consumption

Recycling

Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas
Why it won: Diverted more than 8,000 tons of solid waste in 2008 through recycling and reuse programs, saving base more than $1 million

General Services Administration’s National Capital Region, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Recycled 8,400 tons of paper and 283 tons of cans and bottles in 2008, saving 27,300 cubic yards of landfill space

Alternative fuel and fuel conservation in transportation

Air Force’s Material Support Division, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Purchased more than 1,000 low speed electric vehicles in 2008 and opened four new E-85 refueling stations

Treasury Department, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Last year, cut overall fuel use by 2.6 percent, increased alternative fuel use by 1.8 percent, reduced total miles driven by 3.1 percent and cut number of vehicles by 4 percent

Water/pollution prevention

Army’s Fort Hood, Texas
Why it won: Established a community program for recycling electronics at the base, eliminating more than 320,000 pounds of electronic waste from entering landfills, and saved $150,000 by collecting used fuel and oil for recycling

Energy Department’s Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Why it won: Saved $277,000 in operating expenses by replacing Freon with non-ozone depleting solvent for chip cleaning operations and saved $800,000 in disposal costs by developing new crusher operation for drums contaminated from radioactive waste

Green purchasing

Robins Air Force Base, Ga.
Why it won: Purchased $610,000 in green products last year and saved $160,000 by using a paint gun filtration system for F-15 aircraft that reduces waste solvent usage by 83 percent

U.S. Postal Service, Washington, D.C.
Why it won: Rolled out new agencywide green purchasing plan and purchased about $90 million in recycled or environmentally preferable products in 2008

Electronics stewardship

Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 8 Office, Denver, Colo.
Why it won: Recycles 100 percent of non-reusable electronic equipment, which in 2008 saved 2.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, cut 190,000 kilograms of greenhouse gases and reduced 13,400 kilograms of solid waste

Sustainable design/green buildings

Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
Why it won: Air Force Weather Agency headquarters building earned the Air Force’s first gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program

Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 8 Office, Denver, Colo.
Why it won: New regional headquarters building was certified gold by LEED by incorporating features such as a vegetative roof and an under-floor air distribution system

Sowing the Seeds for Change innovation award

Forest Service Deer River Ranger District, Chippewa National Forest, Minn.
Why it won: Made a reality television program to demonstrate how employees can work together to green their operations, generating ideas that have saved $32,000 to date

National Institutes of Health Office of Research Facilities, Bethesda, Md.
Why it won: Developed a protocol for safely handling hazardous materials during laboratory demolition projects that allows hazardous materials to be captured and non-hazardous materials to be recycled

The General Services Administration announced today that it ordered 14,105 vehicles from the big three automakers, using $210 million in stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

That’s on top of the 3,100 hybrid vehicles GSA purchased in April for $77 million. Another order for $15 million in advanced technology buses and electric vehicles will be made by Sept. 30, GSA said.

The new vehicles will replace older models that are less fuel efficient. Of the total vehicles purchased so far, 7,924 are Fords, 6,348 are from General Motors and 2,933 are Chrysler vehicles.