Contract Management:
New Authority for Severable Service Contracts
NSIAD-00-143R: Published: May 2, 2000. Publicly Released: May 2, 2000.
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Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) authority to award severable service contracts in fiscal years 1998 and 1999 under section 801 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998, focusing on: (1) the extent to which DOD used the authority in the last month of the fiscal year; and (2) whether contracts reportedly valued at about $1 million or more and whose work was performed entirely in the following fiscal year were abuses of section 801.
GAO noted that: (1) DOD reported using its section 801 authority for about 2,000 severable service contracts in fiscal year (FY) 1998 and FY 1999; (2) the total dollar value of these contracts increased from $148 million in FY 1998 to $841 million in FY 1999; (3) these contracts represented less than 1 percent of total DOD service contracts during that 2 year period; (4) about one-third (629) of the 2,0000 contracts were awarded in the last month of the fiscal year (September); (5) DOD awarded 266 of these contracts at year's end in FY 1998, and 363 at year's end in FY 1999; (6) in the seven high-value contracts GAO reviewed, GAO found no abuses of section 801 authority; (7) GAO reviewed contracts reportedly valued at about $1 million or more and whose work started in the following fiscal year to determine whether these contracts were for legitimate needs of the fiscal year in which they were awarded; (8) only one of the seven contracts was properly reported as using section 801 authority; (9) the award of this contract for work performed entirely in the following fiscal year was justified; (10) the other six contract actions should not have been reported by DOD as using section 801 authority; (11) five of the six contracts did not actually rely on section 801 authority and were not actions that needed to be reported to Congress; and (12) the last contract was a section 801 contract but was a FY 2000 action mistakenly reported as a FY 1999 action.
Feb 3, 2021
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Fixed-Price-Incentive Contracts:
DOD Has Increased Their Use but Should Assess Contributions to OutcomesGAO-21-181: Published: Feb 3, 2021. Publicly Released: Feb 3, 2021.
Jan 29, 2021
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Federal Real Property:
Additional Documentation of Decision Making Could Improve Transparency of New Disposal ProcessGAO-21-233: Published: Jan 29, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 29, 2021.
Jan 19, 2021
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Federal Rulemaking:
Selected EPA and HHS Regulatory Analyses Met Several Best Practices, but CMS Should Take Steps to Strengthen Its AnalysesGAO-21-151: Published: Dec 17, 2020. Publicly Released: Jan 19, 2021.
Jan 13, 2021
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Department of Energy Contracting:
Improvements Needed to Ensure DOE Assesses Its Full Range of Contracting Fraud RisksGAO-21-44: Published: Jan 13, 2021. Publicly Released: Jan 13, 2021.
Dec 16, 2020
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Data Governance:
Agencies Made Progress in Establishing Governance, but Need to Address Key MilestonesGAO-21-152: Published: Dec 16, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 16, 2020.
Dec 9, 2020
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2020 Census:
The Bureau Concluded Field Work but Uncertainty about Data Quality, Accuracy, and Protection RemainsGAO-21-206R: Published: Dec 9, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 9, 2020.
Dec 3, 2020
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2020 Census:
Census Bureau Needs to Assess Data Quality Concerns Stemming from Recent Design ChangesGAO-21-142: Published: Dec 3, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 3, 2020. -
2020 Census:
Census Bureau Needs to Ensure Transparency over Data QualityGAO-21-262T: Published: Dec 3, 2020. Publicly Released: Dec 3, 2020.
Nov 30, 2020
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Federal Buying Power:
OMB Can Further Advance Category Management Initiative by Focusing on Requirements, Data, and TrainingGAO-21-40: Published: Nov 30, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 30, 2020.
Nov 24, 2020
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Disaster Response:
Agencies Should Assess Contracting Workforce Needs and Purchase Card Fraud RiskGAO-21-42: Published: Nov 24, 2020. Publicly Released: Nov 24, 2020.
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