SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES Research Paper

SIMPLIFIED ACQUISITION PROCEDURES - Research Paper Example The whole process is often inefficient due to several documentation procedures that are often involved. The slow procurement processes are often disadvantageous to the government departments like the Department of Defense whose operations can be delayed with significance negative impacts on its mission attainment. In relation to this, the government through the congress intervened to develop procurement procedures that could be more efficient and cost-effective for relatively smaller purchases. The program was initiated in the early 1990s and has hard various improvements since then. The US General Accounting Office (GAO) has provided various reports that focus on the effectiveness of the program. This paper focuses on a 2001 report by GAO on the benefits of these new procurement procedures. The report indicated that the benefits of the procedures were not clearly demonstrated even though the executives believed in their effectiveness. Similar results were provided in another 2003 re port by GAO. 2. Simplified Acquisition by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) The Simplified Acquisition Procedures (SAPs) are procurement procedures authorized by the Federal Acquisition Regulations to speed up the procurement process to the benefit of the two or more parties involved. The SAPs allow for quick procurement procedures through accelerating the evaluation and selection of the contracting officers and removing unnecessary documentation procedures that can slow the procurement process (US GAO, 2001, p.2; GAO, 2003, p.2). The use of these procedures was authorized in 1994 by the Congress and at this time, it only applied for the purchases not more than $100,000. Further adjustments were made on the simplified acquisition procedures in the subsequent periods. In 1996, the Congress allowed an extension of these procurement procedures to the purchases up to $5 million worth of products or services (GAO, 2003, p.3). The program removed some of the procedural requirements involved in procurement when purchasing products worth this value in a bid to improve the operations at the business organizations and the federal agencies. The program was instituted to serve the government and the business industry in a number of ways. Firstly, the program aims at reducing the administrative costs at the federal agencies due to the improved procurement process (Straight, 2004, p.1). Various personnel involved in the usual procurement procedures make the agencies incur some huge operations costs. Secondly, the programs are aimed at improving efficiency and economy in contracting. The initiatives enable small business organizations to have a better access to the government contract since the tedious and costly procedures are not involved (Straight, 2004, p.1). The program ensures that the burden on the contracting agencies is reduced. 3. The conditions for use of simplified acquisition procedures according to the FAR It has been stated that the simplified acquisiti on procedures were extended to the purchase of items no not exceeding $5 million in order to improve the efficiency and economy of the procurement process. It is then inappropriate to apply the procedures in the situations that these desired objectives cannot be met. For instance, it will not be economical to apply the procedures for a procurement exceeding the stated value. Section 13.003 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation stipulates the federal agenc