Federal Spending Transparency: Actions Needed to Help Ensure Procurement Data Quality
Fast Facts
Quality data on federal purchases can help provide transparency about spending and inform public policy. The Office of Management and Budget offers guidance for agencies to certify procurement data. But only about half of the agencies we reviewed confirmed doing so, and even fewer had met requirements in OMB's guidance.
Similarly, the General Services Administration runs several systems that track procurement-related data from agencies. But some of these systems are outdated, and GSA doesn't have a plan or timeline to fully modernize them.
Our recommendations address these and other issues.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) is the government’s principal repository for procurement information, some of which is displayed on USAspending.gov, the official source of federal spending data. In fiscal year 2024, federal agencies reported about $755 billion in procurement obligations to FPDS. FPDS is part of the Integrated Award Environment (IAE), a suite of systems administered by the General Services Administration (GSA) that tracks federal award data. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides guidance to agencies for annually certifying the quality of the data they report to FPDS. Agencies do so through procurement data quality reports.
Of the 70 federal agencies that reported data to FPDS for fiscal year 2023, 36, or 51 percent, confirmed completion of procurement data quality reports.
Agency Completion of Procurement Data Quality Reports, Fiscal Year 2023
aOf these 34 agencies, 23 did not complete a report and 11 did not respond to GAO’s requests to provide copies of their reports, if any. These 34 agencies accounted for almost $2 billion, or about 0.26 percent, of the $759.2 billion in contract obligations reported to FPDS for fiscal year 2023.
In addition, the 24 agencies’ procurement data quality reports GAO reviewed did not meet all relevant OMB reporting requirements. For example, two did not certify that procurement data were timely entered into FPDS, and 19 did not submit their reports within OMB’s deadline. Implementing monitoring procedures would help OMB ensure that agencies are meeting OMB requirements, thus providing assurance about the quality of federal procurement data.
GAO also found that five selected agencies varied in the extent to which their verification and validation procedures and corrective actions help ensure procurement data quality. For example, one did not design a statistically valid sampling methodology, and three did not adequately develop or document corrective actions to address identified issues. While two have since addressed other issues GAO found, remaining issues could be addressed by enhancing sampling procedures and documenting corrective actions to help ensure that selected agencies adhere to OMB requirements and improve procurement data quality.
As of May 2025, GSA had consolidated and retired 10 of its 13 IAE legacy systems. However, GSA lacks a plan and timeline to modernize the remaining three systems, including FPDS. By finalizing a plan to complete the modernization of its IAE systems, GSA would help create a more streamlined, efficient, and integrated federal acquisition process.
Why GAO Did This Study
Ensuring procurement data quality helps agencies and policymakers make data-driven decisions, improve public trust, and promote the efficiency and effectiveness of government.
GAO was asked to review various aspects of data quality on USAspending.gov and its feeder systems, as well as the modernization of the IAE. This report examines, among other objectives, the extent to which (1) agencies completed procurement data quality reports consistent with relevant guidance; (2) selected agencies have procedures and corrective actions to help ensure procurement data quality in FPDS; and (3) GSA developed modernization plans for the IAE legacy systems, including FPDS.
GAO reviewed procurement data quality reports for fiscal year 2023, which were the most recently available at the time of its review. To understand agencies’ relevant policies and procedures, GAO obtained and reviewed agency documents. GAO also interviewed officials at GSA and the Departments of Defense (DOD), Energy (DOE), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Veterans Affairs (VA). GAO selected these agencies because they had the largest contract obligations. GAO also interviewed staff at OMB.
Recommendations
GAO is making 12 recommendations—five to OMB; three to GSA; and one each to DOD, DOE, HHS, and VA. GAO is recommending that these agencies take various steps, such as developing monitoring procedures and root cause analyses, to enhance their ability to ensure procurement data quality. GSA, DOD, DOE, HHS, and VA concurred with these recommendations. OMB did not provide comments on this report.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Office of Management and Budget | The Director of OMB should ensure that the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, in collaboration with the Administrator of GSA, specifies and notifies all agencies required under the FAR to complete and submit procurement data quality reports. (Recommendation 1) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Office of Management and Budget | The Director of OMB should ensure that the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, in coordination with the Administrator of GSA, defines the roles and responsibilities for both OMB and GSA related to collecting and tracking agencies' procurement data quality reports. (Recommendation 2) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Office of Management and Budget | The Director of OMB should ensure that the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy designs and implements procedures to monitor procurement data quality reports to help ensure that agencies address reporting requirements, including submitting reports timely. (Recommendation 3) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Office of Management and Budget | The Director of OMB should ensure that the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy updates and consolidates the office's guidance for improving federal procurement data quality to help ensure that all reporting requirements, information, and references included are current and streamlined. (Recommendation 4) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Department of Energy | The Secretary of Energy should ensure that the Office of Acquisition Management develops a sampling methodology, in consultation with appropriate experts, to help ensure that DOE's procurement data quality sampling procedures are statistically valid and meet OMB guidance. (Recommendation 5) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| General Services Administration | The Administrator of GSA should ensure that the Office of Government-wide Policy documents detailed sampling procedures to help ensure that procurement data quality sampling techniques are performed accurately, consistently, and in accordance with OMB requirements. (Recommendation 6) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Department of Health and Human Services | The Secretary of Health and Human Services should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Financial Resources' Office of Acquisition develops procedures that require the documentation and implementation of root cause analyses and corrective action plans for FPDS data elements with recurring low accuracy rates. (Recommendation 7) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Department of Veterans Affairs | The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction develops procedures that require the documentation and implementation of root cause analyses and corrective action plans for FPDS data elements with recurring low accuracy rates. (Recommendation 8) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Secretary of the Navy, in consultation with the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, develops and documents corrective actions and prepares root cause analyses for data discrepancies identified by the Navy's verification and validation process in accordance with DOD's Procurement Data Improvement & Compliance Plan. (Recommendation 9) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| Office of Management and Budget | The Director of OMB should ensure that the Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy develops, documents, and implements a process to periodically assess and, in coordination with agencies, timely remediate the challenges, barriers, and issues that affect agencies' procurement data quality. (Recommendation 10) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| General Services Administration | The Administrator of GSA should develop and implement a process, including time frames, to ensure effective, timely, and continuous two-way communication related to procurement data quality issues with agencies and governance groups. (Recommendation 11) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|
| General Services Administration | The Administrator of GSA should develop a modernization plan, including time frames, for the remaining IAE legacy systems. (Recommendation 12) |
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.
|