DOE Contracting: Better Performance Measures and Management Needed to Address Delays in Awarding Contracts
GAO-06-722
Published: Jun 30, 2006. Publicly Released: Aug 01, 2006.
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Highlights
The Department of Energy (DOE), the largest civilian contracting agency in the federal government, spends over 90 percent of its annual budget on contracts to operate its facilities and carry out its diverse missions. Federal law and regulations outline the steps DOE must follow in planning and carrying out the contract award process and emphasize the importance of awarding contracts in a timely manner. Several of DOE's recent contracts have taken much longer than anticipated to award. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which DOE has experienced delays in awarding contracts and factors contributing to delays, (2) the impacts of any such delays, and (3) the extent to which DOE has taken steps to address the delays.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Energy | To help ensure that DOE's contract award process for contracts that require a written plan and schedule is efficient and effective and that DOE is obtaining the best value for the government, the Secretary of Energy should ensure that performance measures for the timeliness of the department's contract awards include the entire contract award process from planning to contract award and include all of the department's contracts that require a written plan and schedule. |
Closed – Implemented
DOE will continue to track and monitor the acquisition process for its facilities management and other critical contracts from planning to award. DOE plans to review its Balanced Scorecard measures and consider benchmarking those against other federal agencies as applicable.
|
| Department of Energy | To help ensure that DOE's contract award process for contracts that require a written plan and schedule is efficient and effective and that DOE is obtaining the best value for the government, the Secretary of Energy should establish a more systematic way of identifying lessons learned from past and current contract awards and sharing those lessons and best practices with the staff involved in planning and managing the department's efforts to award its contracts. |
Closed – Implemented
DOE's Office of Procurement and Assistance Management, as part of its fiscal year 2007 Balanced Scorecard initiative, proposes to determine if there are better ways to identify and disseminate lessons learned and best practices for the acquisition process.
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Topics
Contract administrationContract oversightProcurement evaluationProcurement planningProcurement policyProcurement practicesSchedule slippagesInternal controlsTimelinessUntimely protests