Federal Acquisitions Process Article Review

Federal Acquisitions Article Review

The article Acquisition in U.S. federal agencies: Evidence from the world’s largest buyer by Girth and Keith (2018) investigates the role of research studies in developing policies that regulate the process of federal acquisitions. The article identifies the potential effects of changes to federal acquisition policies on government expenditure. According to the authors, altering federal acquisition policies create ripple effects in the regulations developed by state and local governments regarding acquisitions. As a result, such policy changes alter the competitive market for acquiring public goods and services and influence the economic performance of local businesses. Similarly, changing the process through which the government acquires goods and services with procurement contracts can affect the amount of revenue corrected by the government to cause lasting economic impacts. For this reason, the authors recommend developing federal acquisition policies that draw insight from research studies. The article emphasizes the role of research studies in providing insight during developing policies meant to regulate federal acquisition processes.

The article demonstrates how sound research can be used to avoid economic risks that result from ineffective policies. The authors identify that the development of ineffective acquisition policies brings serious implications to an economy, including erosion of trust among federal institutions and misappropriation of economic resources (Girth & Snider, 2018). Therefore, federal contracting policies and practices can be optimised through solid empirical and theoretical foundations. According to Coleman (2020), federal contracting requires the effective utilization of management, economics, and technological concepts. It is, therefore, important to draw insight from scholarly work to make informed acquisition policy decisions. According to the authors, each article that explores issues surrounding federal contracts provides unique perspectives to optimize policymakers’ decisions Girth & Snider, 2018). For instance, research studies provide useful insight into the relationship between supplier competition and contract performance. Such information may be used by policymakers to effectively appraise the performance of anticipated contracts based on the prevailing economic and market situation. Therefore, the article emphasizes the role of research in developing effective federal contract policies.

To demonstrate the role of scholarly attention in the development of acquisition policies, the article describes benefits that resulted from the enaction of significant changes in the federal acquisition that were based on insight drawn from studies. The Supreme Court, Congress, and the executive branch in the United States government enacted several changes to streamline federal acquisition policies in the country. Such changes include establishing the Small Business Runway Extension Act of 2018, which sought to encourage fair competition among suppliers Girth & Snider, 2018). The regulation was based on inferences made from studies that revealed the utilization of unfair competition strategies by large suppliers to cloud out small vendors from the market. According to the authors, the regulation transformed the market by allowing a longer period for small-scale suppliers to establish themselves and favourably compete in the open market Girth & Snider, 2018). The regulation has also allowed businesses to remain small for considerably longer to reduce the impact of unexpected and rapid growth a small business may experience. Success brought about by the application of the regulation is, therefore, a demonstration of the importance of considering scholarly work in policy development.

The authors demonstrate how scholarly works facilitate the establishment of effective federal acquisition policies. The authors describe how research provides policymakers with management, economics, and technological concepts to make informed decisions. To support its assertion, the article describes how the consideration of scholarly work enhanced the effectiveness of recent federal acquisition policies developed by the United States government.

References

Girth, A. M., & Snider, K. F. (2018). Acquisition in US federal agencies: Evidence from the world’s largest buyer.

Coleman, T. (2020). The Well-Rounded Contracting Professional. National Contract Management, 17-22. https://www.ficonsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/The-Well-Rounded-Contracting-Professional.pdf