Interagency Contracting: Problems with DOD's and Interior's Orders to Support Military Operations
GAO-05-201
Published: Apr 29, 2005. Publicly Released: Apr 29, 2005.
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Highlights
In recent years, federal agencies have increasingly turned to interagency contracts--where one agency, for example, places an order under an existing contract for another agency--as a way to streamline the procurement process. Interagency contracting can offer benefits of improved efficiency, but this approach needs to be effectively managed. To learn more about some of the challenges of interagency contracting, we reviewed the process that the Department of Defense (DOD) used to acquire interrogation and certain other services through the Department of the Interior to support military operations in Iraq. On behalf of DOD, Interior issued 11 task orders, valued at over $66 million, on an existing contract. This report identifies breakdowns in the procurement process, contributing factors that led to the breakdowns, and the extent to which recent actions by Interior and DOD address these contributing factors.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should ensure that management reviews of Interior contracting offices emphasize and assess whether contracting officials are trained adequately and blanket purchase agreements (BPA) are used appropriately. |
Closed – Not Implemented
Part of this recommendation--pertaining to whether contracting officials are trained adequately--has been addressed in the Department of Interior's Acquisition and Financial assistance management review template. For example, the template for review of Interior's acquisition bureaus and regional offices includes an assessment of whether the bureau or region has inventoried its acquisition workforce and identified current and future weaknesses and needs in acquisition skills, and whether training is tracked and money is allotted for training needs, among other things. As of August, 2011, the agency was not able to provide evidence to demonstrate that management reviews of Interior contracting offices emphasize and assess whether BPAs are used appropriately. As a result we are closing this recommendation as not implemented, even though part of the recommendation was addressed.
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should ensure that performance measures for contracting officials provide incentives to exercise due diligence and comply with applicable contracting rules and regulations. |
Closed – Implemented
National Business Center (NBC) officials provided copies of two performance standards for contracting officials (GS-1102-13/12 and GS-1102-12 series) that are used for the contracting staff at NBC. These standards were revised in September 2007, after our review. In the standards, under Acquisition and Contract Administration, the person is evaluated on, among other things, his or her ability to "demonstrate compliance with applicable policies, standards, and requirements and maintain corrective action plans" and "advise and educate clients and AQD staff on Federal acquisition and contracting matters. Communicate clearly and concisely in discussions and meetings."
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should ensure that contracting officers' representatives are properly designated when contracts are awarded or orders are issued for other agencies and that they have met appropriate training requirements. |
Closed – Implemented
To address this recommendation, the National Business Center created a checklist policy in 2006 for different types of contract actions (negotiated contract, federal supply schedule order, task or delivery order, and simplified acquisitions) that includes two questions about COR appointments. One question, for example, is, "Has a FAC-COTR certified COTR been appointed in writing to monitor the contract and did the CO and COTR both sign the appointment letter?". The policy requires that the acquisition personnel initial and date each question to provide evidence in the file of who reviewed the item and on what date. A "FAC-COTR certified COTR" is a COTR that has received the proper training requirements, thus ensuring that the COTR has met training requirements.
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of the Interior should direct the National Business Center at Fort Huachuca to (1) establish a consistent methodology for conducting peer reviews of contracting actions and ensure that experienced and trained contracting officials perform the reviews; (2) ensure that reviews of BPAs are done annually, as required by the Federal Acquisition Regulation, to determine whether they still represent best value; and (3) ensure that the contracting staff are properly trained and effective mechanisms are in place to track the training. |
Closed – Not Implemented
To address part (1) of this recommendation, in October 2006, the National Business Center released a "Policy for Review and Approval of Contract Actions", which establishes a policy for peer reviews. The policy requires that the peer reviews be conducted by a qualified acquisition professional that has not participated in the preparation of the contract action. To address part (3) of the recommendation--ensuring that contracting officials are trained adequately and that training is tracked--has been addressed in the Department of Interior's Acquisition and Financial assistance management review template. For example, the template for review of Interior's acquisition bureaus and regional offices includes an assessment of whether the bureau or region has inventoried its acquisition workforce and identified current and future weaknesses and needs in acquisition skills, and whether training is tracked and money is allotted for training needs, among other things. Although the template is for all of Interior, since the National Business Center at Fort Huachuca is subject to these reviews, this is a mechanism to ensure that contracting staff are properly trained and training is tracked. As of August, 2011, the agency was not able to provide evidence to demonstrate that BPAs are reviewed annually. As a result we are closing this recommendation as not implemented, even though part of the recommendation was addressed.
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| Department of the Interior | The Secretary of Defense should develop a mechanism to track implementation of the new policy that establishes procedures for reviewing and approving the use of non-DOD contracts and to ensure that the military services and defense agencies have the opportunity to share information on how they are implementing it. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD agreed with the recommendation and plans to establish a community of practice to facilitate information-sharing among the services. Update from DOD's DAMIS system on May 22, 2006, shows that DOD posted all implementation policies on the website http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/specificpolicy/index.htm. One policy from March 27, 2006, requires DOD components to review all interagency agreements and provide the office of the Under Secretary of Defense with a report by July 15, 2006, among other requirements. In addition, during April 2005, under the Defense Acquisition University and in collaboration with GSA, DOD established the "Proper Use of Non-DOD contracts" community of practice. The CoP, which is available to both public and private sectors, is available at https://acc.dau.mil/usingnondodcontracts.
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Contract administrationContract performanceContractor violationsDefense procurementDepartment of Defense contractorsFederal procurementInteragency relationsMilitary operationsPerformance measuresProcurement practicesInternal controlsMilitary intelligenceService contractsPolicies and procedures