During the Spring semester, students in our Acquisition Policymaking course (LAW 6513-20) work with Professor Mathew Blum (JD ’88) to learn how to influence acquisition policies through in-class exercises and coaching from practitioners. The course also provides students with the opportunity to pitch legislative, regulatory, policy, or other acquisition-related improvements of interest to policy officials. We spoke with Professor Blum about the course and the unique opportunity it provides for our students.
Could you please tell us about the role of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) and your position as OFPP’s Associate Administrator?
OFPP, which is part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is responsible for promoting economy and efficiency in Federal procurement through the development and implementation of government-wide acquisition policies. The Federal Government is the world’s largest buyer and the vast size of Federal procurement activity – more than $650 billion every year – makes it a powerful catalyst to further important priorities for our country, such as promoting a clean energy future, advancing equity and building generational wealth, and strengthening domestic supply chains. The branch I manage in OFPP develops policies and related work product to implement these and other priorities, in close coordination with Departments and agencies. This work product can take a variety of forms, such as proposed legislation, regulation, management memoranda, policy letters, handbooks, knowledge management portals, training tools, data dashboards, communities of practice (including support for agency acquisition innovation labs), and crowdsourcing campaigns.
Please describe your career path. How did you become interested in the government contracts field? What did you do prior to joining the OFPP?
I came to OFPP early in my career following a clerkship with the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals where I worked for Professor Schooner before he came to GW Law. I was intrigued by OFPP’s mission of figuring out how to use the levers of procurement to help the Federal Government operate at its best and meet the diverse and increasingly complex needs of our country. I think this interest was motivated, in part, by having grown up in the Washington Metropolitan area where I was exposed to many families, including mine, with dedicated career civil servants who saw the Federal Government as a problem solver.
Please tell us about the course you created – Acquisition Policymaking.
Acquisition Policymaking is an advocacy class where students learn how to persuade procurement policy officials in the Executive Branch to pursue an opportunity identified by the student to improve how the Government buys goods and services.
The main work product is a policy “pitch” — a brief, easy-to-digest presentation to inform and inspire action by policy officials. At the end of the course, the student will give a 20-30 minute oral pitch to an actual or former policy official, such as a member of the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council or an agency’s senior procurement executive. The student will present and answer questions about an opportunity for change, alternative ways to achieve the change, and discriminators the official can use to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative. Students will prepare a power-point presentation to serve as a roadmap for the oral pitch and a short written white paper that presents the pitch in narrative form.
To help students prepare their pitches, we’ll do several in class exercises and each student will be assigned to a policy practitioner, who will provide coaching as the student interviews interested stakeholders to pressure test her or his opportunity and alternatives.
What motivated you to create the course?
I want students to have the opportunity to learn how they can use their voices and values to influence the shape of policies that govern the way we use contractors to support agencies in performing vital missions on behalf of the American people.
I also want to raise up the profile of acquisition policymaking so students can consider the extent to which this type of work is something they might wish to consider engaging in at some point during their careers. As a life-long policy practitioner, I can say confidently that there is plenty of need for help from all the good minds at GW Law, who want to improve the laws, rules and policies that govern hundreds of billions in contract spending to support our warfighter, take care of our veterans, provide for a clean energy future, promote cybersecurity, strengthen our domestic supply chains, and pursue other priorities demanded of our Federal Government.
Why is acquisition policymaking an important component of our students’ educational experience at GW Law?
Lawyers often spend their time “downstream,” interpreting laws, rules, and policies that have been developed by others. Having “upstream” insight into the practical realities of how policies are developed can enhance a lawyer’s ability both to understand why the law, regulation or policy is shaped as it is and influence lawmakers, regulators, and policymakers to pursue improvements. In the context of Government contracting, these force multiplying skills can be used to influence activities involving more than $650 billion in annual spend, 130,000 contractors, 40,000 contracting officers, 3,000 buying offices, and millions of transactions.
What advice would you give a student considering a career in acquisition policymaking? How would a student or a recent graduate break into this field?
Good lawyering and policymaking have a number of talents in common, including good communication and analytical skills, the ability to persuade, and a strong sense of ethics. Lawyers are often sought out by acquisition policy officials to lead or support policy development efforts because so many of their skills are well-suited for this upstream work. And, a number of lawyers will work in policy offices so they can have a greater impact on the shape of policies they care about. Within the Federal Government, acquisition policymaking practitioners typically work under the direction of the agency’s senior procurement executive (SPE). Reaching out to a SPE or Deputy SPE may be a good way to learn about career opportunities in policymaking. (The Chief Acquisition Officers Council is in the process of updating its directory of agency acquisition executives, which can be found here.) Government contracting industry associations may be able to assist in identifying opportunities in the private sector, such as with a Government contractor or an advocacy group.
What have you enjoyed most about teaching at GW Law?
I am awed by the students’ intellectual curiosity, ingenuity, and passion for change – truly inspiring! The coaches and policy officials who worked with students on their policy pitches last year were impressed by the creativity and potential impact of the ideas they posed. I can’t wait to meet and work with the next class of students!