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Recommendations Database

GAO’s recommendations database contains report recommendations that still need to be addressed. GAO’s priority recommendations are those that we believe warrant priority attention. We sent letters to the heads of key departments and agencies, urging them to continue focusing on these issues. Below you can search only priority recommendations, or search all recommendations.

Our recommendations help congressional and agency leaders prepare for appropriations and oversight activities, as well as help improve government operations. Moreover, when implemented, some of our priority recommendations can save large amounts of money, help Congress make decisions on major issues, and substantially improve or transform major government programs or agencies, among other benefits.

As of October 25, 2020, there are 4812 open recommendations, of which 473 are priority recommendations. Recommendations remain open until they are designated as Closed-implemented or Closed-not implemented.

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Subject Term: "Contract award"

8 publications with a total of 28 open recommendations including 1 priority recommendation
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Social Security Contracting: Relevant Guidance Should Be Revised to Reflect the Role of Contracting Personnel in Software Development
GAO-20-627, Jul 31, 2020
Director: William Woods
Phone: (202) 512-4841

1 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should ensure the Office of Acquisition and Grants, in consultation with the Chief Information Officer, revises relevant guidance to identify the role of contracting officials in the Agile software development process.

Agency: Social Security Administration
Status: Open

Comments: The Social Security Administration agreed with the recommendation but has not yet taken actions to implement it.
DOD Utilities Privatization: Improved Data Collection and Lessons Learned Archive Could Help Reduce Time to Award Contracts
GAO-20-104, Apr 2, 2020
Director: Timothy J. DiNapoli
Phone: (202) 512-4841

2 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment collaborates with the military departments and the Defense Logistics Agency to collect consistent information on the time to complete key steps in the pre-award contracting process for privatizing utility services. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Defense: Deputy Secretary of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: DOD concurred with the recommendation. In July 2020, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment noted that the Secretary of Defense has drafted an updated policy to direct military departments, their contract agencies, and Defense Logistics Agency-Energy to collect pre-award contract data and utilize DOD's Utilities Privatization Working Group to discuss and share data. According to DOD officials, the Department will finalize the policy by December 2021.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment collaborates with the military departments and the Defense Logistics Agency to develop a mechanism to store and archive lessons learned regarding the pre-award contracting process for privatizing utility services. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Defense: Deputy Secretary of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: DOD concurred with the recommendation. In July 2020, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Sustainment noted that the Secretary of Defense will collaborate with the military departments, to include the Defense Logistics Agency-Energy, to select and utilize an existing federal government information technology platform to collect, analyze, archive, and share key data, lessons learned, and best practices pertaining to pre-award contracting processes and oversight of utilities privatization contracts. The Department will select a platform by December 2021.
VA Acquisition Management: Steps Needed to Ensure Healthcare Federal Supply Schedules Remain Useful
GAO-20-132, Jan 9, 2020
Director: Oakley, Shelby Stephan
Phone: (202) 512-4841

11 open recommendations
including 1 priority recommendation
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Associate Executive Director of VA's NAC puts controls in place to better ensure the completeness of vendor FSS sales reporting. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation and is taking steps to implement it. In August 2020, VA reported that it has taken steps to better ensure the completeness of vendor FSS sales reporting, including by conducting more active monitoring of the sales data submitted by vendors. These steps are ongoing, but NAC has reported a decrease in the number of FSS contractors not reporting sales.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Associate Executive Director of VA's NAC assesses data on the participation of and items and services offered by veteran-owned small businesses in NAC's FSS program, in order to determine whether their program is meeting the needs of VHA contracting officers who use it given the Veterans First requirements they must meet. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation and is taking steps to implement it. In August 2020, VA reported that NAC has conducted additional outreach to veteran-owned small businesses regarding FSS participation, and plans to conduct analysis of these businesses' participation in FSS by the end of fiscal year 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Associate Executive Director of VA's NAC directs the FSS Director to develop a mechanism to consistently obtain and analyze VHA user feedback on the FSS program. (Recommendation 3)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation and has taken several actions to more consistently obtain VHA user feedback on the FSS program, including holding meetings with each VHA regional contracting office and participating in VHA integrated project teams and other recurring meetings. We have requested documentation of these activities, but VA has yet to provide it.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Associate Executive Director of VA's NAC provides FSS contracting staff with comprehensive FSS guidance. (Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation and NAC reported in August 2020 that it has taken steps to make existing guidance on the FSS program more accessible to FSS contracting staff. We have requested more documentation from VA to confirm that the guidance is comprehensive.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Associate Executive Director of VA's NAC develops an FSS-specific training program to include essential skills and processes to meet ongoing training needs for new and existing contracting staff. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation and NAC reported in August 2020 that it has implemented additional introductory training for new FSS contracting staff, as well as quarterly training events for all FSS contracting staff. We have requested additional documentation from VA on the content of the quarterly training.
Recommendation: The Administrator of GSA should work with the Secretary of VA to develop a memorandum of understanding outlining the roles and responsibilities of GSA and NAC for collaborating under GSA's delegation of authority to VA for the healthcare-related Federal Supply Schedules, including the processes through which the two organizations will coordinate and share useful tools and practices. (Recommendation 6)

Agency: General Services Administration: Office of the Administrator
Status: Open

Comments: GSA concurred with this recommendation. In August 2020, GSA stated that it has met with VA and agreed to develop an interagency memorandum of understanding by December 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should work with the Administrator of GSA to develop a memorandum of understanding outlining the roles and responsibilities of GSA and NAC in collaborating under GSA's delegation of authority to VA for the healthcare-related Federal Supply Schedules, including the processes through which the two organizations will coordinate and share useful tools and practices. (Recommendation 7)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation. In August 2020, GSA stated that it has met with VA and agreed to develop an interagency memorandum of understanding by December 2020.
Recommendation: The Administrator of GSA should take steps to document its delegation of authority for the healthcare-related Federal Supply Schedules to VA. (Recommendation 8)

Agency: General Services Administration: Office of the Administrator
Status: Open

Comments: GSA concurred with this recommendation. In August 2020, GSA stated that it is working to develop updated delegation of authority and will provide further details by December 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Associate Executive Director of VA's NAC assesses the appropriateness of NAC's current timeliness goals for FSS contract awards and takes steps to comprehensively identify and address barriers to achieving them. (Recommendation 9)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation. In August 2020, VA reported that NAC has confirmed that existing timeliness goals are appropriate, and that NAC officials meet on a quarterly basis to discuss barriers to meeting these goals. We have requested more detail from NAC on the barriers they have identified and steps they are taking to address them so that we can assess whether they are comprehensive.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should ensure that the Associate Executive Director of VA's National Acquisition Center takes measures to ensure greater efficiency in the offer-intake process, such as providing additional guidance for vendors or by adopting a system that includes checks for completeness of required vendor documentation. (Recommendation 10)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation. In August 2020, VA reported that NAC has developed a checklist for assessing the completeness of submitted offers, and that new offers are currently processed in an average of two days. NAC is considering adoption of an automated offer intake system. We have requested additional details from NAC on the recent average offer processing time.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs should take steps to assess duplication between VA's FSS and MSPV programs, to determine if this duplication is necessary or if efficiencies can be gained. (Recommendation 11)

Agency: Department of Veterans Affairs: Office of the Secretary
Status: Open
Priority recommendation

Comments: VA concurred with this recommendation. In August 2020, VA stated that it is analyzing duplication of contracting across the department as part of its Category Management efforts, and expects to complete an internal report on this issue in early 2021.
Federal Contracting: Opportunities to Improve Compliance with Regulations and Enhance Tax Collections
GAO-19-243, Apr 15, 2019
Director: Rebecca Shea
Phone: (202) 512-6722

7 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Senior Procurement Executive for the Department of the Army should review the contracts we identified as being awarded to contractors that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR § 52.209-11 and (1) determine whether the contracting officer was required to consider the contractor's reported tax debt; if so, (2) determine the reasons controls to identify and refer these contractors to the SDO before contract award did not operate effectively; and (3) design or modify controls to help ensure compliance with applicable regulations. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Army
Status: Open

Comments: Army provided us information on their review of the contracts that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR ? 52.209-11. We are assessing Army's review of these contracts and will provide updated information when we confirm whether the agency's review, and any subsequent actions stemming from its review, are consistent with our recommendation.
Recommendation: The Senior Procurement Executive for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) should review the contracts we identified as being awarded to contractors that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR § 52.209-11 and (1) determine whether the contracting officer was required to consider the contractor's reported tax debt; if so, (2) determine the reasons controls to identify and refer these contractors to the SDO before contract award did not operate effectively; and (3) design or modify controls to help ensure compliance with applicable regulations. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Status: Open

Comments: HHS provided us information on their review of the contracts that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR ? 52.209-11. We are assessing HHS's review of these contracts and will provide updated information when we confirm whether the agency's review, and any subsequent actions stemming from its review, are consistent with our recommendation.
Recommendation: The Senior Procurement Executive for the Department of the Army should review the contracts we identified as being awarded to contractors that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR § 52.209-5. Specifically, the Senior Procurement Executive should determine whether each contract value was expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold when the solicitation was issued and, if so, (1) determine the reasons controls to identify and notify the SDO of these contractors before contract award did not operate effectively and (2) design or modify controls to help ensure compliance with applicable regulations. (Recommendation 5)

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Army
Status: Open

Comments: Army provided us information on their review of the contracts that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR ? 52.209-5. We are assessing Army's review of these contracts and will provide updated information when we confirm whether the agency's review, and any subsequent actions stemming from its review, are consistent with our recommendation.
Recommendation: The Senior Procurement Executive for the Department of Energy should review the contracts we identified as being awarded to contractors that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR § 52.209-5. Specifically, the Senior Procurement Executive should determine whether each contract value was expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold when the solicitation was issued and, if so, (1) determine the reasons controls to identify and notify the SDO of these contractors before contract award did not operate effectively and (2) design or modify controls to help ensure compliance with applicable regulations. (Recommendation 6)

Agency: Department of Energy
Status: Open

Comments: The Department of Energy (DOE) provided us information on their review of the contracts that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR ? 52.209-5. We are assessing the DOE's review of these contracts and will provide updated information when we confirm whether the agency's review, and any subsequent actions stemming from its review, are consistent with our recommendation.
Recommendation: The Senior Procurement Executive for HHS should review the contracts we identified as being awarded to contractors that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR § 52.209-5. Specifically, the Senior Procurement Executive should determine whether each contract value was expected to exceed the simplified acquisition threshold when the solicitation was issued and, if so, (1) determine the reasons controls to identify and notify the SDO of these contractors before contract award did not operate effectively and (2) design or modify controls to help ensure compliance with applicable regulations. (Recommendation 7)

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Status: Open

Comments: HHS provided us information on their review of the contracts that reported qualifying federal tax debt under FAR ? 52.209-5. We are assessing HHS's review of these contracts and will provide updated information when we confirm whether the agency's review, and any subsequent actions stemming from its review, are consistent with our recommendation.
Recommendation: The Administrator of the General Services Administration should coordinate with the appropriate System for Award Management users, such as agency procurement officials, to identify potential updates to facilitate contracting officers' identification of contractors that report qualifying federal tax debt under the § 52.209-11 representation and § 52.209-5 certification. (Recommendation 10)

Agency: General Services Administration
Status: Open

Comments: GSA concurred with this recommendation and stated it would work with the procurement community to identify potential approaches to draw contracting officers' attention to qualifying federal tax debt information reported by contractors is the System for Award Management under the FAR ? 52.209-5 certification and ? 52.209-11 representation. We will assess these actions after they have been completed.
Recommendation: The Commissioner of the IRS should evaluate options to obtain comprehensive contract payment data above the existing Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation (FPDS-NG) reporting threshold of $10,000, including assessing the costs and benefits of changing the current threshold for contracts that agencies are required to report to the IRS through Form 8596 information returns to be consistent with the existing reporting threshold for FPDS-NG, determine whether regulatory revisions are necessary, and change the reporting threshold, if appropriate. (Recommendation 12)

Agency: Department of the Treasury: Internal Revenue Service
Status: Open

Comments: IRS concurred with this recommendation and stated that it is reviewing the potential benefits and costs that would result from implementing this recommendation. We will assess these actions after they have been completed.
Defense Contracting: DOD Should Clarify Criteria for Using Lowest Price Technically Acceptable Process
GAO-19-54, Nov 13, 2018
Director: Timothy J. DiNapoli
Phone: (202) 512-4841

2 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting , addresses how contracting officials using the LPTA process should apply the Section 813 criterion regarding procurement for goods that are predominantly expendable in nature, nontechnical, or have a short life expectancy or shelf life as revisions to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) are considered. (Recommendation 1)

Agency: Department of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: DOD agreed with this recommendation and issued supplemental guidance in September 2019. The guidance does not clarify what goods qualify as being predominantly expendable in nature, nontechnical, or have a short life expectancy or shelf life. It states contracting officers should check with the requiring activity to make this determination. However, since there is no clear definition of these terms, requiring activities will not have any better insight how to apply this criterion than contracting officers. We maintain that DOD needs to clarify how these terms should apply to goods..
Recommendation: The Secretary of Defense should ensure that the Director, Defense Pricing and Contracting addresses how contracting officials using the LPTA process should apply the Section 813 criterion regarding full life-cycle costs, including for operations and support as revisions to the DFARS are considered. (Recommendation 2)

Agency: Department of Defense
Status: Open

Comments: DOD agreed with this recommendation and issued supplemental guidance in September 2019. This guidance states it is up to the requiring activity to document that the lowest price reflects the full life cycle costs. However, through our work it was unclear to those we interviewed how to determine a full life cycle costs for services. The guidance cites DoD Instruction 4140.01, DoD Supply Chain Material Management Policy for further guidance on how to determine life cycle costs for services. This policy does not clarify how life cycle costs should be applied to services. We maintain that DOD needs to clarify how this requirement should be implemented by contracting officers as the guidance issued does not do this.
Reverse Auctions: Additional Guidance Could Help Increase Benefits and Reduce Fees
GAO-18-446, Jul 18, 2018
Director: Timothy J. DiNapoli
Phone: (202) 512-4841

2 open recommendations
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Recommendation: The Secretary of the Navy should: assess why reverse auctions that are conducted using existing contract vehicles have only one bidder at higher rates than reverse auctions conducted on the open market; determine what factors indicate that conducting reverse auctions is appropriate when using existing contract vehicles; and provide this information to contracting officials so that they can consider it when developing their acquisition strategies.(Recommendation 4)

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy
Status: Open

Comments: DOD agreed with this recommendation and stated that the department expected to complete actions to address it by the end of calendar year 2018. In August 2019, Navy officials told us that they had reviewed data on reverse auctions to determine a root cause of single bidders, and describing the factors that indicate that conducting a reverse auction are appropriate. However, they had not yet provided this information to contracting officials as of July 2020.
Recommendation: The Secretary of the Navy should: document and provide information to contracting officials that describes available reverse auction providers and platforms, and any associated fee structures; and provide guidance, as appropriate, to contracting officials to ensure that they compare the options that are available to them when considering whether to use reverse auctions. (Recommendation 6)

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy
Status: Open

Comments: DOD agreed with this recommendation and stated that the department expected to complete actions to address it by the end of calendar year 2018. In August 2019, Navy officials stated that memorandum of understanding with reverse auction providers, including fee information, are distributed to contracting officials. However, as of August 2020, they had not provided us with evidence that they had distributed a memorandum related to the primary reverse auction provider currently used by the Navy.
Service Contracts: Agencies Should Take Steps to More Effectively Use Independent Government Cost Estimates
GAO-17-398, May 17, 2017
Director: Marie Mak
Phone: (202) 512-4841

2 open recommendations
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Recommendation: To ensure that IGCEs contain key information consistent with good cost estimating practices, the Secretaries of Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and Labor should revise or clarify guidance to require that IGCEs document data sources, methodology, and assumptions, and take steps to help ensure that guidance is followed by, for example, providing training or issuing reminders to officials to include this information when developing IGCEs.

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Status: Open

Comments: HHS agreed with the recommendation and stated that it will revise guidance on independent government cost estimates. As of September 2020, despite numerous requests, we still have not received any information on steps HHS has taken to address this recommendation.
Recommendation: To ensure that IGCEs are optimized as a tool in the procurement planning process, the Secretaries of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, and Labor should take steps to ensure that, when appropriate, contracting staff document differences between IGCE and final contract award value in the contract file.

Agency: Department of Health and Human Services
Status: Open

Comments: HHS agreed with the recommendation and stated that it will revise guidance on independent government cost estimates. As of September 2020, despite numerous requests, we still have not received any information on steps HHS has taken to address this recommendation.
Navy Shipbuilding: Need to Document Rationale for the Use of Fixed-Price Incentive Contracts and Study Effectiveness of Added Incentives
GAO-17-211, Mar 1, 2017
Director: Michele Mackin
Phone: (202) 512-4841

1 open recommendations
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Recommendation: To help ensure the Navy thoroughly considers the relative benefits of using FPI contracts for shipbuilding versus other contract types, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Secretary of the Navy to conduct a portfolio-wide assessment of the Navy's use of additional incentives on FPI contracts across its shipbuilding programs. This assessment should include a mechanism to share proven incentive strategies for achieving intended cost, schedule, and quality outcomes among contracting and program office officials.

Agency: Department of Defense: Department of the Navy
Status: Open

Comments: In providing comments on this report, the agency concurred with this recommendation. As of July 2020, the Navy had commissioned a study of its use of additional incentives on fixed-price incentive contracts across its shipbuilding programs. The Navy plans to socialize this report with the shipbuilding program executive offices so that they can share lessons learned across the shipbuilding enterprise. The estimated completion date for this effort is the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020. Following completion of that effort, in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, the Navy plans to provide recommendations regarding the use of additional incentives on fixed-price incentive contracts across its shipbuilding programs.