Army Procurement: Restricted Competition for Water Purification Equipment Not Justified

NSIAD-87-129 Published: Apr 28, 1987. Publicly Released: May 12, 1987.

Highlights

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army's procedures in awarding and administrating contracts for the design, development, and production of 600 and 3,000 gallon-per-hour (GPH) reverse osmosis water purification units (ROWPU) to convert seawater and contaminated fresh water into potable water.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
Department of the Army	The Secretary of the Army should direct procurement officials to solicit full and open competition for the planned procurement of the 3,000 GPH ROWPU, unless an analysis shows that the risk of doing so outweighs the benefits envisioned by CICA.	Closed – Implemented The Army stated that full and open competition introduced high risk. The Army awarded the contract for 98 units. The next production contract will be by full and open competition.

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