Computer Procurement

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Navy's second Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM II) acquisition, focusing on whether the: (1) Navy complied with applicable acquisition regulations; (2) Navy considered the needs of all CAD/CAM users; (3) Navy established adequate contract administration controls; (4) correct Navy organizations conducted the acquisition; (5) Navy fully disclosed the acquisition in its budget requests and followed normal budget processes; and (6) Office of the Secretary of Defense provided adequate oversight.

GAO found that the Navy's CAD/CAM II acquisition approach: (1) focused on equipment standardization across commands and reduced unit costs through large-scale contracts; (2) did not ensure acquisition of the most feasible, cost-effective, and low-risk system available; and (3) did not comply with Department of Defense (DOD) acquisition management regulations requiring the establishment of user needs, evaluation of alternative solutions, and development of a management plan before defining a system solution. GAO also found that: (1) CAD/CAM II acquisition has progressed slowly because of difficulties in resolving management issues and program office and managerial changes; (2) the Navy supplemented formal budget submissions with exhibits which did not separately identify all CAD/CAM funding, and information papers which omitted or inaccurately categorized CAD/CAM purchases; (3) the DOD Major Automated Information Systems Review Council has not yet reviewed the acquisition because of its delayed progress; and (4) DOD and Navy computer-aided acquisition and logistics support organizations provided adequate oversight to ensure adherence to certain technical standards.

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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