DoD Loses Many Competitive Procurement Opportunities

摘要

DOD awarded an estimated $289 million in fiscal year 1979 contracts without obtaining available competition. Contracting officers often acquiesced to inappropriate noncompetitive procurement requests from headquarters or accepted, without adequate support, assertions made by technical and end user personnel. In all cases where competition should have been obtained, contracting officers failed to follow proper contracting procedures to make sure that only one company could satisfy the procurement request. GAO recommends that the Secretary of Defense clearly specify the factual support needed to justify noncompetitive procurements, develop service plans establishing objectives for improving competition, and implement a system for monitoring procurement office progress in achieving these goals. (Author)