# Federal Procurement Controls Limit Contracting Risk

The article argues that federal procurement controls help prevent corruption, unfair competition, and costly performance failures, while acknowledging that added review and protest risk can slow delivery. The examples represented in the cluster include HealthCare.gov IT services, an Army artillery factory project described as failing to produce shells after $533 million in spending began in 2024, and the FAFSA redesign, where GDIT work began in 2023. The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation in Washington, D.C., is cited as a sole-source award, but the signal provides no award value or contractor. For procurement teams and industry, the central issue is how to preserve competition, technical validation, and accountability without adding avoidable delays.

- Agencies and contracting teams should document requirements, technical validation, and the basis for competition decisions; sole-source actions such as the Reflecting Pool renovation warrant clear supporting rationale.
- Contractors should prepare credible technical evidence and follow competition and conflict-of-interest rules, since these controls address risks that can affect award decisions and contract performance.
- The cited HealthCare.gov, Army artillery, and FAFSA examples underscore the importance of evaluating both award strategy and execution capability; the cluster does not establish that procurement controls caused or prevented the reported outcomes.
- Review and protest processes can extend acquisition timelines, so teams should account for scrutiny and schedule risk when planning procurements and proposing delivery timelines.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Defense & Military, Information Technology
**Topics:** Regulatory Compliance
**Published:** October 19, 2026

### Government Entities
- U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
- U.S. Navy (Navy)
- U.S. Army (Army)
- U.S. Department of Education (ED)
- 18F (18F)

### Vendors
- CGI Federal (awardee)
- General Dynamics ()
- General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) ()

### Sources
- [In Defense of Red Tape](https://www.liberalcurrents.com/in-defense-of-red-tape) - Liberal Currents