Government Spends Less On High Risk Contracts, But Not Much Less

Agencies spent less on high risk types of contracts last year. But not much less. The Office of Federal Procurement Policy, in a report to Congress, says the figure was $28 billion in 2010, a billion less then the year before. The Office of Management and Budget has deemed labor-hours and time-plus-materials contracts to be high risk. For two years it has been telling agencies to avoid them in favor of fixed price contracts. While dollars for those types of contract fell, spending on cost-reimbursement contracts is still on the rise. Procurement chief Dan Gordon says, more accurate reporting might be the culprit, not agencies ignoring policy.