Pricing of Two Army AN/APR 39 Contracts Awarded to E-Systems, Inc.

Several contracts awarded to E-Systems, Inc. for an Army AN/APR 39 were reviewed. The sources of materials used by E-Systems and other bidders were examined as well as vendor quote information to determine whether vendors were quoting different prices for the same items and why.

On the sole-source modification the contracting officer did not require the contractor to fully support or explain the basis for its labor hour estimates. Labor and material costs were overstated because supporting cost or pricing data were not current, complete, and accurate. E-Systems accounting practices used to account for a portion of engineering hours violated cost accounting standards. On the advertised contract, E-Systems' bid included material costs which were much less than other bidder's. In cases where suppliers quoted material prices to both E-Systems and other bidders, similar prices were quoted for similar quantities. Finally, the E-Systems bid on the advertised contract understated anticipated costs by more than $1 million and, thus, can be considered a buy-in.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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