Procurement Commission Recommendations on Competitively Awarding Government Contracts

The Commission on Government Procurement was created in November 1969 to study and to recommend to the Congress methods "to promote the economy, efficiency, and electiveness" of procurement by the executive branch of the Federal Government. The Commission's study was completed and its four-volume report was submitted to the Congress in December 1972.

This article summarizes and explains the rationale behind some of the Commission's recommendations on competitive methods of awarding contracts and proposes certain modifications to the recommendations. It is based on a speech by the author before the American Bar Association's National Institute on the Report of the Commission on Government Procurement, Washington, D.C., May 31, 1973.