GAO and Federal Government ADP Procurement

The General Accounting Office (GAO) has increased the scope of its audit activities in the last few years in an attempt to improve procurement and management of the Government's automatic data processing (ADP) resources. GAO has also received a steadily increasing number of bid protests involving ADP procurements. Both individual ADP procurements and general policies and procedures have been reviewed in an attempt to test their efficiency and economy. The revolving fund specially created by the Brooks Act to facilitate the financing of the acquisition of Government ADP equipment should eventually be fully utilized for Government ADP equipment purchases and leases and for operation of Federal computer centers. Neither of these objectives has been achieved to date. There is a need for standardization in ADP management to improve the economy and efficiency of Government ADP operations. Issues that have been presented in bid protests involving ADP procurements include a bid provision disclaiming implied warranties of the merchant's ability and fitness for a particular purpose and excluding the bidder from liability to the Government for consequential damages; procurement that called for a facilities management services contract to cover an agency's ADP needs for an 18-month period; and the technical acceptability of a proposal for a large-scale scientific computer system.