OMB POLICY STATEMENTS
OMB Stops Government Acquisition Contracts
The OMB has temporarily stopped the General Services Administration’s use of government acquisition contracts until there is a complete review of the process. The GSA is normally allowed to issue preapproved contracts under the OMB’s authority. These contracts are normally used with IT consulting, but were not approved this year due to the high number of contracting controversies in the news throughout the government this year.

“The executive agent status for GSA would be renewed in the near future, the OMB official said, and similar rules have yet to be renewed for NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Commerce Department.

A GSA official declined to speculate on how the temporary hiatus to the governmentwide contract rule would affect its contract activity, but the agency has notified employees not to issue new orders against its governmentwide contracts.”