§1702 Chief Acquisition Officers and senior procurement executives

Summary

Heads of certain executive agencies named in 31 U.S.C. 901(b)(1) (except the Department of Defense) or 901(b)(2)(C), who have a Chief Financial Officer under 31 U.S.C. 901(a), must appoint or name a non‑career employee as the agency’s Chief Acquisition Officer. The Chief Acquisition Officer’s main job is to manage the agency’s buying and contracting work and to advise the agency head and other officials so the agency can meet its mission. The Chief Acquisition Officer must watch and evaluate acquisition programs, promote competition to get the best value, increase use of performance-based contracts, make acquisition decisions that follow the law, set clear authority and accountability, run agency acquisition policy, check that overseas contingency operation contracts follow policy, build a trained acquisition workforce, assess needed acquisition skills, make hiring and training plans, and report progress to the agency head. The agency must also designate a senior procurement executive who runs procurement; if there is a Chief Acquisition Officer, that person must be the senior procurement executive or the senior procurement executive must report directly to them. Overseas contingency operations means military operations outside the United States and its territories that meet the contingency operation definition in 10 U.S.C. 101(a)(13).