Cost Effectiveness of Dual Sourcing for Production Price Competition Is Uncertain

In response to a congressional request, GAO studied dual-source procurement as a method of obtaining competition in the production of supplies and equipment in the Department of Defense (DOD) and six civil agencies during fiscal year 1981. This method of procurement involves two or more sources concurrently producing the same product for the same buying office, with award of the larger share of quantities usually going to the lowest price source.