An increasing number of companies entered the federal marketplace due to the multitude of procurement reforms over the last decade. The process of selling to the federal government was made more desirable, easier and simpler due to these reforms. However, in order to manage conformity with contract conditions and terms, there was an absence of an effective compliance program, organizational structure and knowledge by many companies that sell to the government. Prior to the enactment of the act in the year 1988, it was common to see government procurements for such things, like, two-hundred dollars toilet sears and six hundred dollars hammers.
Without the PIA, the procurement system of the United States survived for almost two-hundred years. Operation I11 Wind was resulted due to these practices, as exhaustive and long investigations were undertaken by the justice department of the United States. Since the beginning of the republic, scandals related to procurement were witnessed by the United States. However, with simultaneous raids of both offices of government and contractor, the Operation I11 Wind ended in the year 1988. The rampant exchange of confidential information related to procurement among government consultants, contractors and contracting personnel were uncovered by the Operation I11 Wind.
Two major flaws were exposed by the scandal. First, classified and sensitive information was acquired by the industry marketers and consultants who were focusing on their free-wheeling way. Second, contracts were steered improperly to preferred contracts by government officials. The PIA got enacted as Congress became involved with such major scandals. The PIA was a fairly immediate one in the response of the Congress to Operation I11 Wind. When more than 40 search warrants nationwide were executed by agents then Operation I11 Wind went public in the year 1988 and within the same year, the PIA was passed by the Congress. In the integrity of the federal procurement system to restore the confidence of the public was the main aim of the act’s designers.
