FAA Procurement: Competition for Major Data-Processing Project Was Unjustifiably Limited
IMTEC-90-71
Published: Jun 11, 1990. Publicly Released: Jul 11, 1990.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) acquisition approach for its Computer Resources Nucleus (CORN) project, focusing on whether a key design requirement may have unnecessarily limited competition.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Transportation | The Secretary of Transportation should direct the Administrator, FAA, to first fully specify FAA functional requirements that may need to be specified, including single entry of data, interrogation, accessing, and interchanging of data, and porting of software among different equipment. In doing this, if FAA determines that the procurement should have restrictive provisions, then it should justify their inclusion. FAA should then allow the vendors to propose systems that they believe will best meet its requirements. |
Closed – Implemented
FAA removed the restrictive single architecture requirement from the revised request for proposals.
|
| Federal Aviation Administration | FAA should plan to adequately test and evaluate vendors' proposals to determine how well they meet the stated requirements, at a reasonable cost and acceptable risk to the government. |
Closed – Implemented
FAA revision of its test plans resolved GAO prior concerns.
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