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By Andrew=20
Mitchell
Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.com
Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.com
Buying warships is not the same as buying paper clips. Yet, as a team = of=20 university researchers recently found, the federal government often = applies the=20 same methods to acquiring weapons systems as it does to purchasing = office=20 supplies.=20
A member of that research team, Syracuse University's David Van = Slyke, spoke=20 on Monday's Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Jane Norris. Van Slyke, who = is a=20 Senior Research Associate at the Campbell Institute of Public Affairs, = noted=20 that the federal government is increasingly acquiring products whose = qualities=20 cannot be easily and clearly defined in advance or verified after the = product or=20 service has been delivered. These are known as "complex products," said = Van=20 Slyke.=20
One of the great dangers in purchasing complex products, he remarked, = is that=20 both parties can find themselves locked in. After all, he said, "there's = nobody=20 but the U.S. Government who's going to buy (an) integrated system of = Coast Guard=20 boats and planes." The danger, he added, is that "it can be too hard for = either=20 to change partners if things go wrong."=20
"There's no 10-step recipe for how to manage these complex = contracts," noted=20 Van Slyke, " and in many ways these are contracts that require a very = different=20 set of buying principles. They're much more relationship-oriented."=20
In other words, said Van Slyke, "when the government buys a complex = product=20 it's entering into a relationship with the seller, where they'll have to = find=20 ways to get answers to all those unknowns.... the unknown costs, the = unknown=20 performance parameters and the timelines."=20
Buying complex systems is "more than going to a parts store and = pulling=20 everything from the shelves and then putting it together with your = toolbox," Van=20 Slyke added. One problem, he said, is that contracting departments and = program=20 departments in agencies don't always work as a team.=20
The federal government will have to change its acquisition practices, = according to Van Slyke. In his opinion, every federal agency must = continually=20 reassess and modify its buying processes if it is to become a "smart = buyer of=20 complex products."=20
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On the Web:
IBM Center for the Business of Government - David Van Slyke's report -
(Copyright 2009 by FederalNewsRadio.com. All Rights Reserved.)=20
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