Contract Management: Interagency Contract Program Fees Need More Oversight

摘要

Federal agencies are increasingly using contracts and acquisition services offered by other agencies and paying a fee for these services. These interagency contract service programs are being used in a wide variety of situations, from those in which a single agency provides limited contracting assistance to a soup to nuts approach in which the provider agencys contracting officer handles all aspects of the procurement. This increased use of interagency contracts has come about as a result of reforms and legislation passed in the 1990s, which allowed agencies to streamline the acquisition process, operate more like businesses, and offer increasing types of services to other agencies. Reliable information on the fees charged and revenues generated by interagency contract services can be helpful to the Congress and to federal executives when they make decisions about allocating federal resources, authorizing and modifying programs, and evaluating program performance.