With the start of the new fiscal year (FY24), the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) launched its much-anticipated organizational realignment. The realignment breaks down regional stovepipes across FAS, creating a more customer focused structure to support federal agencies and industry partners serving those agencies. As FAS Commissioner Sonny Hashmi stated in a recent post, “Our regional based employees aren’t going away, but this shift in our structure will meet the growing demand from our customers that FAS respond holistically when it comes to contracting assistance.”
The realignment creates teams focusing on specific agencies, replacing the regional structure that focused on multiple customers within and across separate geographic regions. It also breaks down the long-standing regional contracting structure that supported the MAS program. In its place, the realignment focuses and centralizes MAS contracting management structure for the Office of Information Technology Category, the Office of Professional Services & Human Capital Categories, and the Office of General Supplies and Services Categories.
Breaking down stovepipes across the MAS program and creating teams that focus on specific customers creates an opportunity framework to make it “Dead Easy” for customer agencies and industry partners to do business with FAS. There are several areas where FAS can build on the realignment to make it “Dead Easy.” Here are three:
First, in moving away from the regional reporting structure, FAS can better support MAS contracting operations. A streamlined, centralized management structure will enhance training, guidance, and professional development of the MAS acquisition workforce. It also will provide a more effective framework for managing workload across the MAS program. In turn, this will lead to more consistent and sound negotiation and administration of MAS contracts.