The Maritime Administration's Evaluation of the End Products of Research and Development Contracts with Private, Profitmaking Firms

In most cases, the end product of a Maritime Administration research and development contract is a report. Some of these are used internally by the Maritime Administration, but most are distributed to the shipping and related industries. Further distribution is achieved through the Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service. In March 1977, GAO reported that the agency did not have formal procedures for evaluating complete contracts and the results obtained. The agency has since required a final evaluation to be submitted to the Assistant Administrator for Commercial Development. Because the requirement for these evaluation reports is new for fiscal year 1977 contracts, no comments have been made on their effectiveness. In the absence of formal evaluations of contracts awarded in fiscal year 1975, information was obtained on the acceptability of their end products from agency officials. Comments were obtained on 15 completed contracts, and information was obtained on the status of 11 contracts still in process at September 30, 1977.