Federal Advertising Contracts: Agencies Have Discretion in Setting Work Scope and Requirements
Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed federal advertising contracts awarded to advertising firms, focusing on: (1) the discretion that federal agencies have in determining a contract's scope of work and the contractor requirements for awarding advertising contracts; (2) whether contractor requirements in the solicitations for contracts were consistent with the scope of work described in the solicitations for the advertising contracts with first-time obligations in fiscal years 1998 and 1999 that were awarded to large advertising firms through full and open competition; and (3) whether there was required documentation for the sole-source justification and approval for the advertising contracts with first-time obligations in fiscal years 1998 and 1999 that were awarded through sole-source procedures.