The Office of the Chief Acquisition Officer (OCAO) was established on June 4, 2004.  The mission of this office is to strengthen GSA's acquisition activities and provide federal agency customers with acquisition services in support of their missions.  OCAO reports directly to the GSA Administrator.

As members of the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council: with NASA and the Department of Defense, we write the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the rule book for all federal agency procurements.  OCAO's Office of Acquisition Policy also writes and revises the General Services Acquisition Manual (GSAM), GSA's internal rules on how to buy goods and services.  The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) staff publishes the CFDA, which lists all federal agencies' assistance programs.

OCAO's Office of Acquisition Systems manages several GSA-specific and governmentwide acquisition systems.  (1) It hosts and manages the Integrated Acquisition Environment (IAE), the e-government initiative that allows citizens to access comprehensive government procurement information.  The IAE is comprised of ten databases, including:  FedBizOpps (an online posting of solicitations over $25,000), the Central Contractor Registration database (CCR), the Federal Procurement Data System (Next Generation) -- FPDS-NG -- a repository of all federal contract and grant actions over $3,000, and the Excluded Parties List System.  (2) It also manages OCAO's Acquisition Planning Wizard (APW), Center for Acquisition Excellance, Cooperative Administrative Support Units (CASU) and the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).

The Office of Acquisition Integrity, through the Suspension and Debarment Division, reviews referred cases to determine whether a firm or individual is presently responsible to contract with the federal government.  Companies and individuals referred are entitled to due process, and those found not to be presently responsible (in accordance with FAR criteria) are suspended or debarred and listed in the Excluded Parties Listing System (EPLS).  The Procurement Management Review Division within the Office of Acquisition Integrity ensures that GSA-wide contracting performance complies with acquisition policy and regulations.

Through the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI), we help civilian agencies develop their acquisition workforce by implementing the Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) program.  This program reflects common standards for contracting professionals in all civilian agencies, and is modeled on the successful Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) standards.  The goal of FAC-C is to standardize the education, training, and experience requirements for all civilian agency contracting professionals.

We also assist contracting professionals in all civilian agencies with:

• compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and policies;
• full and open competition for contract awards;
  
• acquisition workforce management; and
• accountability for acquisition decision-making.

OCAO is a member of all GSA Contracting Officer Warrant Boards, and participates in Board meetings; we also review and concur on warrant and certification requests.  The Acquisition Workforce Division fosters professional development of the GSA acquisition workforce, which includes GS-1102 series associates and Contracting Officers, as well as GS-1105 associates, Contracting Officers' Representatives/Contracting Officers' Technical Representatives, Program and Project Managers, and other associates.

FAR Staff by Assignment

The shortcut to this page is www.gsa.gov/chiefacquisitionofficer.