Further Improvements Needed in Department of Defense Oversight of Special Access (Carve-Out) Contracts

Gao ID: GGD-83-43 February 18, 1983

GAO completed a review of the security requirements and administration of Department of Defense (DOD) carve-out contracts as part of its continuing review of national security information. Carve-out contracts are those special access contracts for which the Defense Investigative Service (DIS) has been relieved of security inspection responsibility and the cognizant DOD component is responsible for security inspections and administration.

GAO found that an ever-increasing number of carve-out contracts has become a problem for contractor security administrators because the contracts result in a multiplicity of security requirements, in addition to those prescribed by the DOD Industrial Security Manual. The exact number of carve-out contracts is unknown, but GAO estimated that there are probably several thousand such contracts; some contracts were given carve-out status for reasons other than security, and other carve-out contracts were not inspected by anyone.

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.

Director: Martin M. Ferber Team: General Accounting Office: National Security and International Affairs Division Phone: (202) 275-5140


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