Air Force ADP

Lax Contract Oversight Led to Waste and Reduced Competition Gao ID: IMTEC-93-3 November 19, 1992

In handling contracts for data processing services at more than 120 bases worldwide, Gunter Air Force Base in Alabama has shown a pattern of mismanagement and inappropriate actions that has led to the purchase of millions of dollars in unneeded equipment and services. These contracts were valued at more than $8.6 billion as of June 1992. Gunter could not control nearly $1 billion in contracts because it failed to establish an effective way to account for orders, deliveries, and payments. Additionally, it inappropriately limited competition by purchasing equipment and services that were not within the scope of the contract but should have been competed. Gunter wasted millions of dollars by buying equipment that was not justified either by valid user requirements or by convincing cost/benefit analyses. The Office of the Judge Advocate General advised against these actions, but Gunter officials proceeded anyway. The Air Force further limited competition in awarding a $612 million follow-on contract. It improperly aggregated sole-source and competitive requirements and awarded a sole-source contract to UNISYS for products that in some cases could have been procured competitively. Further, Gunter will probably be forced to award another sole-source contract to UNISYS when the Standard Base Level Computing contract ends in 1997 unless it takes prompt action to create a competitive environment.

GAO found that: (1) SSC had a pattern of mismanagement and inappropriate actions; (2) SSC did not establish effective mechanisms and procedures to track orders, deliveries, and payments on the Phase IV contract; (3) SSC inappropriately used the Phase IV contract to purchase equipment and services that were not within the scope of the contract, did not satisfy documented or validated user requirements, and did not properly justify expenditures; and (4) the Air Force continued its commitment to a single vendor for all its base-level computing needs, which discouraged competition and resulted in a sole-source award for the Standard Base Level Computing (SBLC) follow-on contract.

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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