Department of Energy: Improved Oversight Could Better Ensure Opportunities for Small Business Subcontracting
GAO-05-459
Published: May 13, 2005. Publicly Released: May 24, 2005.
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Highlights
Federal policy requires that small businesses receive the maximum practicable subcontracting opportunity for providing goods and services to large businesses that contract directly with federal agencies. The Department of Energy (DOE) annually directs almost $20 billion to the 34 "facility management contractors" of which $3.3 billion was redirected to small business subcontractors in fiscal year 2004. DOE negotiates annual small business subcontracting goals with individual contractors and monitors their achievements. GAO was asked to (1) determine the usefulness of the data that DOE uses to monitor subcontracting performance and (2) discuss the actions that DOE has taken to address any problems with the contractors' subcontracting efforts.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Energy | To ensure that facility management contractors comply with SBA guidelines and follow a consistent practice for calculating and reporting small business subcontracting goals and achievements, the Secretary of Energy should direct the appropriate officials responsible for DOE's Small Business Office and procurement organizations to ensure, through regular oversight and review activities, that facility management contractors comply with DOE's March 2005 guidance on small business procurement goals. |
Subsequent to the March 2005 guidance, DOE and NNSA procurement executives and the Director of the Small Business Office issued a memo to all procurement officers, contracting officers and DOE field office managers. This June 2005 memo emphasized the importance of accurate reporting of small business subcontracting data, and directed the recipients of the memo to ensure that all contractors complied with the SBA goaling guidelines.
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| Department of Energy | To ensure that DOE has useful data for managing its small business subcontracting program and for measuring and comparing contractors' performance in pursuing the maximum practicable opportunity for small business subcontracting, the Secretary of Energy should direct the appropriate officials responsible for DOE's Small Business Office and procurement organizations to use, for internal management purposes, data on facility management contractors' annual small business subcontracting achievements calculated as a percentage of the obligated dollars facility management contractors received that year on their contract with DOE. |
In its "60-day" letter to OMB and the Congress, DOE committed to developing an internal management report listing the contractors' subcontracting achievements as a percent of the annual contract funding after it receives fiscal year end data from the government-wide e-SRS system. Furthermore, in a June 2005 memo from the Deputy Secretary of Energy to the Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, DOE also agreed that it would do this calculation for internal management purposes.
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| Department of Energy | To improve DOE's oversight of the small business subcontracting program and to provide the maximum practicable opportunity for small businesses to subcontract at DOE sites, the Secretary of Energy should take steps to strengthen oversight of the program, including issuing guidance clarifying the roles, responsibilities, and necessary interactions among DOE small business office, program office, and procurement officials responsible for managing the small business subcontracting program. |
DOE has issued several guidance documents to clarify the roles and responsibilities associated with small business subcontracting. In September 2007, DOE issued a revised acquisition letter (AL-2007-11) to provide updates on small business programs. At the same time, information on roles and responsibilities was incorporated into the DOE Acquisition Guide as a new chapter 19. Furthermore, DOE's Small Business Office issued "Guidance on the Department of Energy Subcontracting Program" in September 2006 which included a section on roles and responsibilities.
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Topics
Contract administrationContract oversightContract performanceData collectionData integrityFacility managementFederal procurementMonitoringReporting requirementsSmall businessSmall business contractorsSubcontracts