Chief Acquisition Officers Council (CAOC) 2024 Acquisition, Program Management, Small Business and Procurement Equity, and Sustainable Acquisition Excellence Awards Request for Nominations As the largest buyer of goods and services in the world, the United States Government relies heavily on its acquisition workforce to implement strategies to provide strategic advice to their customers, deliver best value supplies and services, and effect the best solutions to help agencies accomplish their missions. The Better Contracting Initiative (BCI) was rolled out in November 2023 to continue our efforts to take an enterprise approach to buying common goods and services and to seek better value through the use of a four-pronged strategy:1
Leveraging data across federal agencies to get lower prices and better terms.
Negotiating common enterprise-wide software licenses.
Saving money and avoiding waste by getting contract requirements right the first time.
Getting better value from sole source and other high-risk contracts.
The Chief Acquisition Officers Council (CAOC) is seeking nominations for the 2024 Acquisition, Program Management, Small Business and Procurement Equity, and Sustainable Acquisition Excellence Awards to recognize acquisition professionals who contribute to outstanding improvements in acquisition through the BCI strategies or other notable efforts. Nominations are being solicited for Federal employees engaged in team or individual activities that led to excellent results in any of the following acquisition areas in FY 2023.
1 FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Better Contracting Initiative to Save Billions Annually | OMB | The White House
The deadline for nominations is July 31, 2024. All nominations must be submitted through the online form at AE2024-Award-Submission
Acquisition Excellence Award – Two Awards
One award will be given to an individual and one award will be given to a team. The awards can be in any of these categories.
Category #1 - Innovation: Developed an innovative solution for acquisition, a pathway to drive innovation, or an acquisition practice that is helping to accelerate internal capacity to facilitate innovative solutions. Innovative solutions can be in any acquisition areas, such as 1) facilitating or co-facilitating a service acquisition workshop with integrated project team members, 2) learning fast and iterating on a practice, 3) adopting or adapting innovative strategies such as those described in the Periodic Table of Acquisition Innovations, the Digital Services Playbook, or the Acquisition Innovation Hub, including to promote awards to socioeconomic and other small businesses, 4) developing innovative acquisition training and development for the workforce, or 5) developing or adapting new strategies or tools to maximize the acquisition of Made in America goods.
Category #2 - Category Management: Demonstrated excellence and success in category management practices, including, but not limited to: 1) implementing category management practices that advance equity in procurement, especially increasing awards to socio-economic small businesses; 2) increasing spend under management and cost avoidance due to the utilization of category management solutions, 3) implementing effective supplier engagement and demand management strategies, or 4) using the principles of category management to create strategies and incentives that facilitate new or stronger opportunities for domestic sourcing, manufacturing, and/or advancing sustainable procurements.
Category #3 - Data and Technology: Used emerging technology and/or applied data analytics results and insights to improve the overall acquisition lifecycle and achieve efficiencies in the agency or across the federal enterprise. Demonstrated success in business processes, policies, and/or workforce, such as, but not limited to, (1) implementing reductions in burden, (2) amending policies based on evidence-based analytics, (3) developing innovative business processes resulting from identification and use of data, and (4) using emerging technologies to create efficiencies in programs, policies, and practices.
Lisa M. Wilusz Program Management Excellence Award – One Award
An award will be given to either an individual or a team.
This award is in honor of Lisa M. Wilusz, the Director of the Office of Procurement and Property Management at the Department of Agriculture, who passed away in April 2017. Lisa had over 20 years' experience in the federal government and at USDA was responsible for providing leadership, oversight, and policy in the areas of procurement, property management, environmental stewardship, and employee safety.
Program Management: Demonstrated success in balancing the many factors that influence cost, scope, and schedule, while controlling risks. In addition, ensuring overall positive performance of the program, as well as its respective sub-programs and projects by using critical thinking and innovative techniques to solve management or oversight challenges in direct alignment with the organization's strategic goals. Success should be demonstrated by (1) specifically describing the nominee as utilizing at least five of the standards and principles listed in Table 12 of OMB memorandum M-18-19 , Improving the Management of Federal Programs and Projects through Implementing the Program Management Improvement Accountability Act (PMIAA) , and why having competency in these areas was critical to success, (2) completing a major project of program within 5% of the original cost and schedule estimates, (3) successfully integrating climate risk management into agency capital planning and program management policies and procedures. procedures, or (4) successfully implementing Office of Personnel Management (OPM) memorandum on Position Coding Guidance and Competency Model (August 2, 2023).
2 The standards and principles include: change management; stakeholder engagement and coalition building; contracting and acquisition management; customer service; financial management; human capital management; information management; performance management; portfolio management; process improvement; project management; requirements development and management; risk management; and strategic planning.
Small Business and Procurement Equity Excellence Award – Two Awards
One award will be given to an individual and one award will be given to a team. The awards can be in either of these two categories.
Category #1 - Effective Collaboration and Small Business Engagement: Engaged in collaboration between the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU), the program management office, the contracting office, and small businesses that led to awards that were successful from a small business, acquisition, and mission perspective. Particular emphasis will be placed on collaborative activities that increase trust and confidence between the stakeholders described above and advance at least two of the following objectives: (i) strengthening a specific supply chain with small business growth potential using cross-agency and industry engagement, (ii) introducing a new innovation in small business contracting practices, (iii) taking advantage of small business best practices -- such as those addressed in OFPP's July 2022 Memorandum, Strategies for Meeting and Exceeding the Small Disadvantaged Business Goal for Fiscal Year 2022
Category #2 - Equity in Procurement: Advanced the breadth and depth of diversity in the supplier base while advancing sound contracting stewardship principles that support increased participation in competitions and awards to socioeconomic small businesses and engagement with other underserved groups, such as individuals with disabilities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Minority Serving Institutions. Successful strategies include testing and sharing efforts, scaling activities, and/or sustaining progress with an emphasis on actions discussed in OMB Memoranda M-22-03 , Advancing Equity in Federal Procurement M-23-11 , Creating a More Diverse and Resilient Federal Marketplace through Increased Participation of New and Recent Entrants. Particular attention will be given to the extent to which actions to achieve mission objectives are advanced through robust collaboration and partnerships between multiple stakeholders – such as contracting officers, small business directors, AbilityOne Representatives, category management leads, industry liaisons, acquisition innovation advocates, program managers and management offices, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility officials, and agency labor advisors – both at the transactional and functional levels.
Sustainable Acquisition Excellence Award – One Award
An award will be given to either an individual or a team.
Advancing Sustainable Acquisition: The nominee should have promoted the inclusion of climate and/or environmentally conscious practices in the acquisition lifecycle driving both the government and supplier base to more sustainable solutions. Successful strategies may include maximizing environmental benefits and cost savings through use of full lifecycle cost methodologies; supporting resilient supply chains; driving innovation; incentivizing markets for sustainable products and services; and promoting environmental stewardship with an emphasis on the goals discussed in OMB memo M-22-06 , Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability. Nominations could also include the development and/or implementation of innovative procurement models that advance the use of carbon free electricity (CFE), increase procurement of zero emission vehicles and equipment, and enable performance contracting to decarbonize buildings.3
3 The Office of the Chief Sustainability Officer launched the Presidential Federal Sustainability Awards Program in March 2023. There are 10 award categories, many including “Building Sustainable Supply Chains” and “Buying Clean” contain strong acquisition connections. Those submitting nominations for the Environmental Stewardship In Acquisition Award are strongly encouraged to review and also submit a nomination in the relevant Presidential Federal Sustainability Award category through your agency's nomination process.
Judging Process
Nomination packages will be evaluated against the following criteria:
Criterion #1 - Results: The team or individual demonstrated results that exceeded original expectations.Criterion #2 - Impact: The impact of the effort was substantial and provided significant value to the agency and/or other beneficiaries.Nominations will be accepted through July 31, 2024. All nominations must be submitted through the online form at AE2024-Award-Submission
Nominations will be judged using a two-step process:
Step 1: The initial nominations will be judged by senior government professionals and narrowed down to the highest rated nominations.Step 2: A panel of executive judges will select the winners.Select nominees will have their nominations publicized on OFPP’s Innovation Hub on the Acquisition Gateway. Nominees will be contacted and approval obtained before the nominations are posted.
The awards will be presented at Imagine Nation ELC 2024 in October 2024. If you have additional questions regarding the awards, please contact Joanie Newhart, Associate Administrator of Acquisition Workforce Programs, Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) at jnewhart@omb.eop.gov
