Public-Private Competitions

Defense Department (DOD) unwillingness to provide GAO with the information it needs to meet congressional mandates may prevent the agency from providing Congress with timely and thorough information on competition at the air logistics centers being closed in Sacramento and San Antonio. GAO recognizes the sensitivity of DOD documents on solicitations, competitors' proposals, and the military's evaluation of the proposals, and GAO is prepared to discuss with the Air Force steps to safeguard them while GAO has access to them. In assessing the competition process for the C-5 aircraft workloads, GAO found that (1) the Air Force provided public and private sources equal opportunity to compete for the workloads without regard to where the work could be done; (2) the Air Force's procedures for competing the workloads did not appear to deviate materially from applicable laws or the Federal Acquisition Regulation; and (3) the award resulted in the lowest total cost to the government, given the Air Force's assumptions and conditions at that time. For the remaining workloads at Sacramento and San Antonio, DOD reports and other data do not support the military's contention that using a single contract with combined workloads is more logical and cost-effective than using separate contracts for individual workloads. Much remains uncertain about the upcoming competitions for the Sacramento and San Antonio depot maintenance workloads. Potential participants have raised several concerns about the conduct of the competitions. One concern centers on the impact of the statutory limit on the amount of depot maintenance work that can be done by non-DOD personnel. Another concern relates to the Air Force's proposed change in the overhead savings that DOD may factor into the cost evaluations.

GAO noted that: (1) its lack of access to information within DOD is seriously impairing its ability to carry out its reporting requirements; (2) GAO completed, with difficulty, its required report to Congress concerning DOD's determination to combine individual workloads at two closing logistics centers into a single solicitation at each location; (3) if DOD continues to delay and restrict GAO's access to information it needs to do its work, GAO will be unable to provide Congress timely and thorough responses regarding the competitions for Sacramento and San Antonio depot maintenance workloads; (4) in assessing the competition for the C-5 aircraft workloads, GAO found that: (a) the Air Force provided public and private sources an equal opportunity to compete for the workloads without regard to where the work could be done; (b) the Air Force's procedures for competing the workloads did not appear to deviate materially from applicable laws or the Federal Acquisition Regulation; and (c) the award resulted in the lowest total cost to the government, based on Air Force assumptions at the time; (5) much remains uncertain about the upcoming competitions for the Sacramento and San Antonio depot maintenance workloads; (6) potential participants have raised several concerns that they believe may affect the conduct of the competitions ; (7) one concern is the impact of the statutory limit on the amount of depot maintenance work that can be done by non-DOD personnel; (8) the Air Force has not yet determined the current and projected public-private sector workload mix using criteria provided in the 1998 Defense Authorization Act, but is working on it; (9) nonetheless, preliminary data indicates there is little opportunity to contract out additional depot maintenance workloads to the private sector; (10) another concern is the Air Force's proposed change in the overhead savings the Department may factor into the cost evaluations; (11) for the C-5 workload competition, overhead savings were considered for the duration of the performance period; and (12) however, for the Sacramento and San Antonio competitions, the Air Force is considering limiting overhead savings to the first year and possibly reducing the savings for the second year.