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Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service

FY17 Service Contract Inventory Report and FY18 Planned Analysis

I. Background 

The Service Contract Inventory is a tool designed to help agencies develop a better 

understanding of how contracted services are being used to support mission and operations, and 

to determine whether contractor skills are being utilized in an appropriate manner. Section 743 of 

Division C of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Public Law (P.L.) 

111-117, requires civilian agencies to prepare an annual inventory of their service contracts. It 

also requires that civilian agencies analyze their inventory to determine if the mix of Federal 

employees and contractors is effective or requires rebalancing. 

Prior to issuing their inventories, civilian agencies are required to submit a planned analysis to 

the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP). 

This document, created by the Office of Procurement and Operational Support, fulfills that 

requirement for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). 

II. Scope

For FY17, FMCS chose to analyze Support Service Product and Service Codes (PSCs). These 

PSCs (shown below) were chosen as they represented the majority of dollars spent on services in 

FY17 (IT and Telecom). The total obligation value of the reviewed contracts was $3,151,267.26. 

PSC PSC Description # of 

Contracts 

Reviewed

FY17

Obligations

% of 

Obligations 

Reviewed

D304 IT and Telecom – Telecommunications

and Transmission

3 $221,515.08 7.03% 

D308 IT and Telecom – Programming 1 $181,800.00 5.77%

D316 IT and Telecom – Telecommunications

Network Management 1 $337,030.32 10.70% 

D318 IT and Telecom – Integrated

Hardware/Software/Services 2 $268,690.10 8.53% 

D319 IT and Telecom – Annual Software 

Maintenance Service Plan 3 $154,863.67 4.91% 

III. Methodology 

After reviewing the 42 service contracts that were awarded by FMCS in FY17, a total of 10 

contracts were analyzed by the Senior Contracting Officer. All aspects (pre-award and post 
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award) of each contract was reviewed within the agency’s procurement system and in FPDS-NG. 

In addition, the Senior Contracting Officer spoke with the Contracting Officer Representative

(COR) for each contract to 1) gain a clear understanding of what service was provided by the 

contractor, 2) verify that the service was completed in accordance with the terms and conditions 

of the contract and 3) verify that the performance of the service met all Government standards 

and objectives. 

IV. Findings

It is FMCS’ final determination that the services performed under the analyzed contracts are not 

Inherently Governmental Functions, Functions Closely Associated to Inherently Governmental 

Function, or Critical Functions. 

§ 743(e) Review Responsibilities FMCS review results

(i) Each contract in the inventory that is a 

personal services contract has been entered into, 

and is being performed, in accordance with 

applicable laws and regulations. 

No contractors are performing personal 

services contracts.

(ii) The agency is giving special management 

attention, as set forth in FAR 37.114, to 

functions that are closely associated with 

inherently governmental functions. 

No contractors are performing functions

closely associated with inherently 

governmental functions. Management is 

careful to ensure that all requirements 

of FAR 37.114 are being met. 

(iii) The agency is not using contractor 

employees to perform inherently governmental 

functions. 

No contractor employees are 

performing inherently governmental 

functions. 

(iv) The agency has specific safeguards and 

monitoring systems in place to ensure that work 

being performed by contractors has not changed 

or expanded during performance to become an 

inherently governmental function. 

Each contract is assigned a qualified

COR who continuously reviews and 

monitors contractor performance to 

ensure that work being performed by 

contractors does not change.

(v) The agency is not using contractor 

employees to perform critical functions in such a 

way that could affect the ability of the agency to 

maintain control of its mission and operations. 

Contractor employees may at times

perform important functions, but FMCS 

has concluded that it has sufficient 

internal expertise both to maintain 

control of its operations and to manage 

the contractors that are supporting the 

federal employees. 

(vi) There are sufficient internal agency 

resources to manage and oversee contracts 

effectively. 

FMCS’ knowledgeable and efficient 

Office of Procurement and Operational 

Support, along with a variety of 

qualified CORs, allows contracts to be 

effectively managed and overseen.
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V. Actions Taken or Planned 

Based on the above findings, FMCS has determined that no contractors are being used for 

services where it would be more appropriate to use Government employees. In addition, it 

should be noted that the various FPDS-NG reporting errors found during the previous year’s 

analysis were not found during this year’s analysis. This should be attributed to the refresher 

training that was provided in FY18 to all contracting personnel. FMCS will continue to provide 

ongoing training and will also continue to carefully manage and monitor its contracted work in 

accordance with all laws, regulations, and policies, including the guidance set forth in OFPP 

Letter 11-01. 

VI. Accountable Officials

Official responsible for the development of 

agency policies, procedures and associated 

training with OFPP Policy Letter 11-01 

addressing the performance of inherently 

governmental and critical functions 

Cynthia D. Washington

Head of Contracting Activity (HCA) 

Director, Office of Procurement and 

Operational Support 

Official responsible for ensuring appropriate 

internal management of service contract 

inventories. 

Cynthia D. Washington

Head of Contracting Activity (HCA) 

Director, Office of Procurement and 

Operational Support

VII. Planned Analysis for FY18 

In accordance with OMB guidelines and recommendations, FMCS plans to analyze the below 

PSCs from the FY18 inventory. These PSCs are different than the PSCs analyzed for FY17 and, 

instead, will focus on FMCS’ newest and largest requirements which affect the agency as a 

whole. 

PSC PSC Description FY17 Obligation

D307 IT and Telecom – IT Strategy and Architecture $1,056,046.20

D310 IT And Telecom – Cyber Security and Data Backup $71,000.00

R408 Support – Professional: Program Management/Support $130,135.20

R410 Support – Professional: Program Evaluation/Review/Development $250,328.00

Total FY17 Obligations: $1,507,509.40