NSPS's new government affairs representatives, John Palatiello and John Byrd, were part of a COFPAES delegation that was at the White House, meeting with the Obama Administration's Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) Administrator, Joe Jordan, to discuss QBS and related contracting issues.

Among the issues discussed was Federal agency compliance with the Brooks Act on surveying contracts, such as a current NRCS contract in Florida on which COFPAES/NSPS has filed a complaint that treats a professional boundary survey as a "bid" and a "commercial item"; the listing of surveying as an activity for competitive bidding on the GSA schedule contracts for Professional Engineering Services; a reverse auction on a recent contract by the Army at Fort Benning, Ga., on a service defined in the Georgia licensing law for surveyor act as the practice of surveying; and the negative impact design-build contracting has on small business, particularly specialty subcontractors such as surveyors.

OFPP officials committed to working with COFPAES on reform of these "Brooks Act"-related issues.