Defense
Telecommunications Management Gao ID: IMTEC-93-26R April 28, 1993Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the status of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Defense Commercial Telecommunications Network (DCTN) contract. GAO noted that: (1) DOD has established a plan to replace major portions of the DCTN contract by 1996, but the plan is optimistic; (2) DOD has divided its requirements into multiple procurements in an attempt to speed up its acquisition process; (3) based on the length of time involved in similar federal contracts, it is optimistic that a replacement contract can be awarded before the current contract expires; and (4) if DOD cannot award a contract before the current contract expires, it may have to extend its current contract on a sole-source basis, which would reduce cost savings gained from a competitively awarded contract.