Competition

Issues on Establishing and Using Federally Funded Research and Development Centers Gao ID: NSIAD-88-22 March 7, 1988

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the national defense role of federally funded research and development centers (FFRDC), specifically: (1) the relationships of FFRDC with their sponsoring agencies; (2) compliance with government-wide policy on establishing and placing work with FFRDC; and (3) exemption of FFRDC from competitive procurement requirements.

GAO found that: (1) because sponsoring agencies generally regarded FFRDC as objective, competent, flexible, and convenient, they generally did not place work with FFRDC on a competitive basis; (2) FFRDC generally carried out their research work within their charters; (3) the lack of competition limited the government's ability to know whether entities other than FFRDC could do work better or at less cost; and (4) some agencies successfully use Broad Agency Announcements to invite proposals for research.

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: Team: Phone:


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.