Uncle Sam Needs You and Your White Paper

On December 16^th the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology asked other government agencies and the private sector for “[w]hite papers … used to identify and select areas of critical national need to be addressed in future TIP [Technology Innovation Program] competitions.” Is this a case of market research to avoid wasteful or abusive spending or an example of the government needing to be told what it wants? Are there competition and conflicts of interest concerns raised by this process?

This isn’t the first time that POGO has been informed about outside influence over government actions. We have heard stories about government agencies procuring goods and services based on industry submitted white papers (although we haven’t been able to create a burden-proof FOIA request to find such examples), agencies buying based on questionable advice from interested parties, and government spending based on executive and legislative branch earmarks.

I hope that NIST’s effort is in the best interest of taxpayers. I also hope that the government retains a civil service that is capable of making its own decisions and providing proper oversight of taxpayers dollars to eliminate, detect, and prosecute, if necessary, waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending. But I’m still left with one question: If the government is seeking advice about what to buy, and contractors are also supporting the government in the management and administration of contracts, who is really running the show?

-- Scott Amey

Comments

[Posted on: Jan 05, 2009 at 04:41 PM]

It's unbelievable the amount of wastd government spending every year. This is yet another fine example.

[Posted on: Jan 05, 2009 at 04:40 PM]

It's funny, you're supposed to be the watch dog? You don't understand the first thing about how the system works.

What do you want NIST to do, go out and issue an RFP for a Star Wars light sabre only to find out *surprise* no one knows how to make one? And how much money do you think they should waste finding out no one knows how to make one? Do you think $1 billion is enough? Of course, since our goverment geniuses pay for process and not for results this "light saber" program could go on for years not producing anything and no one would be at fault. After all, they followed the correct processes, right?

[Posted on: Jan 05, 2009 at 04:40 PM]

So, you're worried about the input of interested parties from the outside? What about the interested parties from the inside? For example: career pilots and generals who really want one--or two!--new fighters, or several classes of warships. Or new spy satellites when old ones will do. Same thing happens in the career ranks of big spending civil agencies such as USDA or NIH or CDC or DHS. Do you think they are objective and not prone to rice-bowling and feathering their nest? POGO's still stuck in the 1984 "four legs good, two legs bad" frame of mind, where contractors--maybe even all contractors--are always the villains, and the civil service is just hapless or victimized. Our problem as a society: the same problems in judgment, values, ethics, wasting public funds can take place in the government or industry or the many stakeholders and interest groups among the citizenry. Even POGO.