Arlington, Va. (Nov. 23, 2020) The Professional Services Council (PSC) submitted comments in a November 16, 2020, letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) proposed rule titled, Use of Acquisition 360 to Encourage Vendor Feedback, published in the Federal Register on September 15, 2020. The proposed rule would revise the FAR to encourage use of voluntary feedback mechanisms, where appropriate, to support continual improvement of the acquisition process. These mechanisms were developed through a voluntary online survey to elicit industry feedback.

“PSC supports the proposed rule and recommends additional criteria for upholding the integrity and lasting value in implementing best communication practices,” said Alan Chvotkin, PSC Executive Vice President and Counsel. “Our recommendations to expand the survey in scope and dissemination would facilitate more effective communication between government and industry.”

“Acquisition 360 is a tool that, if implemented with full 360-degree published feedback from stakeholders, would assess the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal procurement process,” Chvotkin concluded.

PSC’s comments on the 2020 proposed rule align with its comments submitted on March 1, 2017 supporting the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled Effective Communication between Government and Industry.  PSC’s 2017 comments included recommendations that evaluation methods encourage broad stakeholder participation and also capture stakeholder feedback from the full pre-and-post contract award cycle.

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