Federal acquisition is at the threshold of great change as America prepares to meet the challenge of rebuilding our economy while orchestrating a new balance between business, free markets, regulation and oversight.
Few raised the alarm as eroded checks and balances failed to warn of an impending Wall Street collapse led by the financial industry. Market efficiency demanded only the need to classify, track and take credit for the money (real or not). Gone were the inefficient barriers of long term business planning, community responsibility, ethics, regulatory review and oversight. In their place are clean financial audits without any understanding of price competitiveness, value received or conflicts of interest inherent in how goods were represented, bundled and sold. Federal spending has, in many cases, followed the lead of our stock markets and banks. Regulations have become moot and oversight sidelined in the name of efficiency and speed. The news is filled with stories of massive cost overruns and government failures in managing its own business and acquisition practices. Unlike commercial entities, our Government is charged with protecting the interests of generations of citizens; not with simply seeking short term efficiencies focused on profit for itself and a few select vendors. It is time for the government to be a leader in change.
Re-establishing oversight in Federal spending is complex and requires a revitalized acquisition process. Acquisition leaders must be acknowledged as independent peers to their finance and information technology colleagues. Appropriately elevated to serve a meaningful role within the Federal Agency executive team, they must transform Federal Procurement into a mission solution partner while ensuring a fair, transparent and objective competitive environment based on merit as well as price. Such a transformation allows the government to once again take advantage of small and mid-sized business innovation by offering them a seat at the competitive table. Investment in small business is a direct investment in the health of our local economies. The opportunity to align government spending with America’s known power of entrepreneurial success and the average citizens’ expectations of efficiency and fairness is here.
Knowledge-driven technology enables Federal acquisition professionals to couple compliance, oversight and transparency with mission goals. Today’s acquisition professionals must focus resources on solving strategic business issues; they can no longer be relegated to the back office. Technology tools that provide a strong safety net of oversight and compliance will arm them with the time and information they need to focus on collaborative, iterative and agile solutions to agency mission needs. DSI offers agile, knowledge-driven acquisition solutions which focus on solving the complex. We invite you to speak with our acquisition professionals and judge for yourself the nature of our groundbreaking governance, technology and solutions approach. Daniel E. Carr
Founder and CEO
Distributed Solutions, Inc. |