§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 31 U.S.C. 901(b)(2)(C) that have a Chief Financial Officer under 31 U.S.C. 901(a) must pick a non-career employee to be the agency’s Chief Acquisition Officer. The Chief Acquisition Officer’s main job is to manage how the agency buys goods and services. They must advise the agency head and others so buying supports the agency’s mission. They must watch and measure how buying programs perform, promote full competition to get the best value, use performance-based contracts, follow the law and set clear authority for buying decisions, run acquisition policy, make sure contracts for overseas contingency operations follow relevant policy, build and run a careers program to keep skilled acquisition staff, and assess and report on training and hiring needs as part of agency strategic planning. Every agency head must also name a senior procurement executive to run the agency’s procurement system and put agency procurement rules into practice. If there is a Chief Acquisition Officer, that person must either be the senior procurement executive or have the senior procurement executive report directly to them. Overseas contingency operations means military actions outside the United States and its territories that meet the definition of a contingency operation in 10 U.S.C. 101(a)(13).