This is the accessible text file for GAO report number GAO-02-331 
entitled 'Defense Acquisitions: Collection and Reporting of 
Information Technology Purchases' which was released on January 28, 
2002. 

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United States General Accounting Office: 
GAO: 

Report to Congressional Committees: 

January 2002: 

Defense Acquisitions: 

Collection and Reporting of Information Technology Purchases: 

GA0-02-331: 

United States General Accounting Office: 
Washington, DC 20548:  

January 28, 2002: 

Congressional Committees:  

The Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2001[Footnote 1] directed the Secretary of Defense to collect specific 
procurement data[Footnote 2] on the purchase of information technology 
(11) products and services made by the military services and defense 
agencies in excess of $100,000. The act specified that data collection 
was to begin on October 30, 2001, and the Secretary was to issue his 
first annual report to the Armed Services Committees of the Senate and 
the House of Representatives by March 15, 2002. Section 812 also 
directed us to issue a report to the congressional defense committees 
by January 31, 2002, assessing the progress the Department of Defense 
(DOD) is making in complying with the act. This report responds to 
that mandate.  

Results in Brief:  

DOD is making good progress in meeting congressional requirements. To 
date, it has modified appropriate data collection systems to enable 
them to collect and report all mandated data. Defense components and 
civilian agencies have begun collecting all of the mandated data. DOD 
has also implemented controls to maintain data integrity. Lastly, DOD 
officials see no obstacles to issuing the Department's first report on 
IT data collection efforts by the March 15, 2002, deadline. 

We are not making recommendations in this report. In commenting on our 
draft, DOD agreed with our findings. 

Background:  

The Senate Armed Services Committee Report[Footnote 3] on the fiscal 
year 2001 defense authorization bill expressed concern that DOD had 
insufficient data available to effectively support management 
decisions regarding its purchases of IT products and services. 
[Footnote 4] As DOD was planning to spend $20.3 billion on IT in 
fiscal year 2001, the Committee stated that it was imperative that DOD 
have visibility over how these funds are spent. 

The Conference Report[Footnote 5] associated with the act noted that 
the requirements for collecting the mandate data would be met by 
incorporating new data elements into the existing Defense Contract 
Action Data System (DCADS). This is DOD's data collection system for 
reporting contract actions to the Federal Procurement Data System 
(FPDS). 

Subsequent to Defense Acquisition Regulations Council approval, the 
Contract Reporting Committee of the Council initiates all changes to 
DCADS. The primary instrument used in collecting procurement data from 
defense contracting offices worldwide is the Individual Contracting 
Action Report (DD Form 350). This form must be completed and forwarded 
monthly to the Washington Headquarters Services' Directorate for 
Information, Operations and Reports (DIOR)[Footnote 6] for all 
procurement transactions in excess of $25,000. DIOR is responsible for 
compiling and preparing procurement reports for the Department. 

Some civilian agencies will also collect the mandated data because 
they make IT purchases with DOD funds. Such agencies report similar 
procurement data to the FPDS on an Individual Contract Action Report 
(Standard Form 279). 
 
Existing Data Collection Systems Modified to Meet Mandated 
Requirements: 

DOD began to initiate changes to the existing data collection systems 
shortly after the act became law on October 30, 2000. Prior to the 
act, DOD, and civilian agencies that purchased IT products and 
services for DOD, collected most of the mandated data in the existing 
DCADS and FPDS systems. During the past year, these systems were 
modified to collect centrally all mandated IT procurement data 
elements and facilitate reporting. In making these changes, the 
Contract Reporting Committee first revised the Defense Federal 
Acquisition Regulation Supplement to capture all mandated IT data on 
the DD Form 350.[Footnote 7] Second, the Committee worked with the 
FPDS Steering Committee to revise the FPDS Reporting Manual. These 
revisions to the manual modified the Standard Form 279--the civilian 
counterpart to the DD Form 350—so that civilian agencies could collect 
the mandated IT data. 

Military services and defense and civilian agencies began collecting 
all mandated IT data on October 1, 2001. As in the past, Army, Navy, 
Air Force, and the Defense Logistics Agency will collect IT data 
independently through DCADS and forward this data to DIOR monthly. All 
defense agencies except the Defense Logistics Agency will continue to 
report similar data through the Army. 

Data Monitoring Efforts:  

DIOR has establishing an ongoing monitoring program to maintain 
integrity in the collecting and reporting of IT data. Its efforts 
include performing edit checks and tests of all incoming data, 
requesting and analyzing feedback from field activities, and analyzing 
data in preparing congressionally-mandated annual reports. DOD 
officials told us that this type of monitoring is routinely performed 
whenever changes are made to the DCADS system. DOD officials told us 
that all of these tasks have been completed at the Office of the 
Secretary of Defense, the military services, and defense and civilian 
agencies. 

Reporting of IT Data:  

As of January 14, 2001, a DIOR official said he saw no obstacles to 
prevent the Department from issuing the first report on its IT data 
collection efforts by March 15, 2002, as mandated in the act. The 
Secretary of Defense will issue this report to the Committees on Armed 
Services of the Senate and House of Representatives. DIOR officials 
envision the report as presenting a status of the Department's efforts 
to implement section 812 of the act as well as most IT procurement 
data for fiscal year 2001. Subsequent reports will contain IT 
procurement data for all elements mandated by the act. 

Agency Comments:  

In providing oral comments on a draft of this report, DOD agreed with 
our findings. 

Scope and Methodology: 

To determine the extent to which DOD had implemented congressionally-
mandated changes, we met with members of the Contract Reporting 
Committee of the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council and DIOR 
officials. In addition, to determine implementation status at the 
military services and defense agencies, we met with officials from the 
Army, Navy, Air Force, and Defense Logistics Agency. 

To ascertain that applicable changes have been made to facilitate the 
collection of IT data, we reviewed the revised Defense Federal 
Acquisition Regulation Supplement and DOD's revised Individual 
Contracting Action Report (DD Form 350). We also reviewed the revised 
FPDS Reporting Manual and the revised FPDS Individual Contract Action 
Report (Standard Form 279). 

We did not validate the DCADS and FPDS systems or edit checks related 
to IT purchases, nor did we review any mandated IT data that was 
collected by the military services and defense agencies. 

We conducted our review between November 2001 and January 2002 in 
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

We are sending copies to the Secretaries of Defense, the Army, the 
Navy, the Air Force; the Director, Defense Logistics Agency; and the 
Director, Office of Management and Budget. We will also make copies 
available to others upon request. 

Please contact me at (202) 512-4125 or Catherine Baltzell at (202) 512-
8001 if you have any questions regarding this report. Major 
contributors to this report include William M. McPhail. 

Sincerely yours, 

Signed by: 

David E. Cooper: 
Director: 
Acquisition and Sourcing Management: 

List of Congressional Committees: 

The Honorable Carl Levin: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable John Warner: 
Ranking Minority Member: 
Committee on Armed Services: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Bob Stump: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Ike Skelton: 
Ranking Minority Member: 
Committee on Armed Services: 
House of Representatives: 

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable Ted Stevens: 
Ranking Minority Member: 
Subcommittee on Defense: 
Committee on Appropriations: 
United States Senate: 

The Honorable Jerry Lewis: 
Chairman: 
The Honorable John P. Murtha: 
Ranking Minority Member: 
Subcommittee on Defense: 
Committee on Appropriations: 
House of Representatives: 

[End of section] 

Appendix I: Information Technology Data Mandated to Be Collected:  

The Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2001, section 812, subsection (b) states that the Secretary of Defense 
must collect the following data for each purchase of IT products or 
services made by a military department or defense agency in excess of 
the simplified acquisition threshold—-currently $100,000. 

* The products or services purchased. 

* Whether the products or services are categorized as commercially 
available off-the-shelf items, other commercial items, non-
developmental items other than commercial items, or other 
noncommercial items or services. 

* The total dollar amount of the purchase. 

* The form of contracting action used to make the purchase. 

* In the case of a purchase made through an agency other than the 
Department of Defense: 
- the agency through which the purchase is made and; 
- the reasons for making the purchase through that agency. 

* The type of pricing used to make the purchase (whether fixed price 
or another type of pricing). 

* The extent of competition provided in making the purchase. 

* A statement regarding whether the purchase was made from: 
- a small business concern,
- a small business concern owned and controlled by socially and 
economically disadvantaged individuals, or. 
- a small business concern owned and controlled by women. 

* A statement regarding whether the purchase was made in compliance 
with the planning requirements under sections 5122 and 5123 of the 
Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (40 U. S. C. 1422 and 1423). 

[End of section] 

Footnotes: 

[1] P.L. 106-398, section 812. 

[2] See appendix I for list of data to be collected. 

[3] Senate Report 106-292. 

[4] Historically, DOD IT purchases from civilian agencies were 
included in government-wide data as civilian agency procurements. 

[5] House Report 106-945. 

[6] Washington Headquarters Services is a DOD agency. 

[7] Instructions for completing the DD Form 350 are in DFARS Part 
253.204-70. 

[End of section] 

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