Defense Acquisitions
DOD Has Implemented Section 845 Recommendations but Reporting Can Be Enhanced Gao ID: GAO-03-150 October 9, 2002In April 2000, GAO reported on the Department of Defense's (DOD) use of Section 845 agreements, also referred to as "other transactions" for prototype projects. These are transactions other than contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements that generally are not subject to federal laws and regulations applicable to procurement contracts. In December 2000, DOD revised its Section 845 guide. The guide specifies when Section 845 agreements may be used and provides criteria for tailoring terms and conditions for each agreement. Officials from the military services and defense agencies have found the new guide useful and a significant improvement over the prior version. The Secretary of Defense has required a metric--the number of participating nontraditional defense contractors--which is measurable and directly related to each agreement. This metric is tracked and reported internally. DOD explored additional metrics, but concluded that the number of nontraditional contractors was the only one that was quantifiable and tied directly to Section 845 outcomes. DOD's annual report to Congress on Section 845 agreements consists of summaries on each agreement. However, the key metric--the number of nontraditional contractors--is not clearly presented in these reports, making it difficult to gauge DOD's progress in achieving success on this objective. Further, DOD is not regularly assessing reporting on the benefits derived from completed Section 845 projects. In the absence of such assessments, congressional and DOD decision makers lack a vital piece of information that would help them determine whether this flexible procurement authority is achieving expecting results.
RecommendationsOur 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:GAO-03-150, Defense Acquisitions: DOD Has Implemented Section 845 Recommendations but Reporting Can Be Enhanced
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Report to the Chairman and Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Armed
Services, U.S. Senate:
United States General Accounting Office:
GAO:
October 2002:
Defense Acquisitions:
DOD Has Implemented Section 845 Recommendations but Reporting Can Be
Enhanced:
Defense Acquisitions:
GAO-03-150:
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
DOD Revised Section 845 Guide as Recommended:
Number of Nontraditional Contractors Is Captured as a Performance
Metric:
Section 845 Reports Lack Sufficient Information:
Conclusion:
Recommendations for Executive Action:
Agency Comments:
Scope and Methodology:
Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Defense:
Appendix II:P Report of Other Transactions for Prototype Projects:
Figure:
Figure 1: Section 845 Agreements Awarded in Fiscal Year 2001:
Abbreviations:
DARPA: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency:
DOD: Department of Defense:
NIMA: National Imagery and Mapping Agency:
Letter:
October 9, 2002:
The Honorable Carl Levin
Chairman
Committee on Armed Services
United States Senate:
The Honorable John Warner
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Armed Services
United States Senate:
In April 2000, we reported on the Department of Defense‘s (DOD) use of
Section 845 agreements, also referred to as ’other transactions“ for
prototype projects.[Footnote 1] These are transactions other than
contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements that generally are not
subject to federal laws and regulations applicable to procurement
contracts. In that report, we recommended that the Secretary of Defense
(1) update DOD‘s Other Transactions Guide for Prototype Projects to lay
out the conditions and provide a framework for using Section 845
agreements and (2) establish and require the use of performance
metrics. The Senate report accompanying the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001[Footnote 2] directed the
Secretary to implement these recommendations by March 1, 2001. It also
directed us to report on DOD‘s compliance with our recommendations.
This report responds to that mandate. In addition, we determined
whether DOD is providing Congress with sufficient information on
Section 845 agreements.
Results in Brief:
In December 2000, DOD revised its Section 845 guide. The guide
specifies when Section 845 agreements may be used and provides criteria
for tailoring terms and conditions appropriate for each agreement.
Officials from the military services and defense agencies have found
the new guide useful and a significant improvement over the prior
version. For example, the current guide provides more details on the
appropriate use of terms and conditions such as intellectual property,
accounting systems, and cost-sharing arrangements between the
government and the private sector. DOD‘s new guide complies with our
April 2000 recommendation.
The Secretary of Defense has required a metric--the number of
participating nontraditional defense contractors--which is measurable
and directly related to each agreement. This metric is tracked and
reported internally. DOD explored additional metrics, but concluded
that the number of nontraditional contractors was the only one that was
quantifiable and tied directly to Section 845 outcomes.
DOD‘s annual report to Congress on Section 845 agreements consists of
summaries of each agreement. However, the key metric--the number of
nontraditional contractors--is not clearly presented in these reports,
making it difficult to gauge DOD‘s progress in achieving success on
this objective. Further, DOD is not regularly assessing or reporting on
the benefits derived from completed Section 845 projects. In the
absence of such assessments, congressional and DOD decision makers lack
a vital piece of information that would help them determine whether
this flexible procurement authority is achieving expected results.
We are making recommendations to the Secretary of Defense concerning
reporting to Congress on (1) the extent of nontraditional defense
contractor participation in Section 845 agreements and (2) the benefits
derived from completed projects.
In commenting on a draft of this report, DOD agreed to include in the
summary section of the annual report to Congress the number of new
agreements and the reason Section 845 authority was used. However, DOD
did not agree to include in the summary the total number of
nontraditional contractors. DOD agreed to make available to Congress
any studies that assess the use of ’other transaction“ authority for
prototype projects. DOD‘s written comments are in appendix I.
Background:
Congress has incrementally expanded the use and scope of ’other
transaction“ authority since first authorizing its use more than a
decade ago. In 1989, Congress gave DOD, acting through the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), authority to temporarily use
’other transactions“ for basic, applied, and advanced research
projects. In 1991, Congress made this authority permanent and extended
it to the military services. In 1993, Congress enacted Section 845 of
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, which
provided DARPA with authority to use, for a 3-year period, ’other
transactions“ to carry out prototype projects directly relevant to
weapons or weapon systems proposed to be acquired or developed by DOD.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 temporarily
extended DARPA‘s Section 845 authority and provided similar authority
to the military services and defense agencies. Congress subsequently
extended this authority‘s expiration date until September 30, 2004.
In an era of a shrinking defense industrial base and new threats, DOD
views ’other transaction“ prototype authority as a key to attracting
nontraditional defense contractors. Section 803 of the Floyd D. Spence
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 defined a
nontraditional defense contractor as an entity that has not, for at
least a period of one year prior to the date of entering into or
performing an ’other transaction,“ entered into or performed (1) any
contract subject to full coverage under the cost accounting standards
or (2) any other contract in excess of $500,000 to carry out prototype
projects or to perform basic, applied, or advanced research projects
for federal agencies.
DOD also views Section 845 authority as a way to test creative
procurement strategies--such as the use of teaming and consortia--with
traditional defense contractors and in industry areas not normally
associated with government contracts. Under this authority, new
business relationships, which could involve changes in traditional
business processes or intellectual property rights agreements, are
created to leverage commercial investments and to permit DOD to
influence the design, development, and availability of commercial
technologies to address national security needs.
In fiscal year 2001, the most recent year for which complete data are
available, DOD awarded 61 Section 845 agreements, totaling $392 million
in federal government funds. Contractors contributed another $97
million in cost-sharing funds.[Footnote 3] Figure 1 shows these
agreements by awarding organization.
Figure 1: Section 845 Agreements Awarded in Fiscal Year 2001:
[See PDF for image]
Note: The National Imagery and Mapping Agency did not award any Section
845 agreements in fiscal year 2001.
Source: Office of Defense Procurement.
[End of figure]
DOD is required to submit an annual report to Congress addressing both
research and prototype ’other transaction“ agreements awarded in the
preceding fiscal year.[Footnote 4] The report, which is prepared and
signed by the Director, Defense Research and Engineering, includes
input from the Director of Defense Procurement on Section 845
agreements. The report is to address (1) the technology areas in which
the work was focused; (2) the extent of cost sharing among federal and
nonfederal sources; and (3) how ’other transactions“ contributed to a
broadening of the technology and industrial base and fostered new
relationships and practices that support U.S. national security
interests.
DOD Revised Section 845 Guide as Recommended:
In December 2000, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and
Technology[Footnote 5] issued a revised guide that sets out the
conditions and framework for using Section 845 agreements.[Footnote 6]
The guide is effective for all solicitations issued after January 5,
2001, and provides a useful framework for tailoring the terms and
conditions appropriate for each agreement. DOD agreements officers view
the new guide as a significant improvement over the prior
version.[Footnote 7] Several key improvements are as follows:
* The previous guide contained very limited information on the terms
and conditions to be tailored when crafting a Section 845 agreement.
The current guide provides additional details on the appropriate use of
terms and conditions such as intellectual property, accounting systems,
and cost sharing. It instructs agreements officers not to view
previously issued agreements as a template or model, but to rely on
their skill and experience and to consider Federal Acquisition
Regulation clauses and commercial business practices, as well as prior
’other transactions,“ when formulating agreements. The current guide
also requires an acquisition strategy that identifies and discusses the
rationale for using a Section 845 agreement.
* The previous guide did not define ’nontraditional“ contractors. The
current guide defines the term, based in part on the definition in
Section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2001. It also requires that information on these entities be collected.
DOD considers nontraditional defense contractors to be ’business
units,“ which can be any segment of an organization or an entire
business organization that is not divided into segments.
* The previous guide listed eight examples of benefits to be considered
under Section 845 agreements, including attracting business entities
that normally do not do business with the government. However, it did
not identify a specific metric that should be used on all Section 845
agreements. The current guide clearly states that DOD will track, as a
metric, the participation of nontraditional defense contractors.
DOD also included a draft audit policy in the revised guide. According
to DOD officials, the impetus for including a draft audit policy came
from two DOD Inspector General reports. The first, a 1997 report,
questioned the adequacy of audit coverage on DARPA‘s ’other
transactions“ for research.[Footnote 8] Although ’other transactions“
agreements for research included an audit clause, the report noted that
agency officials intended to require audits only if they suspected
fraud. The Inspector General argued that without final cost audits,
agency officials could not ensure compliance with the statutory
requirement pertaining to cost-sharing provisions. In a 1999 follow-up
study on cost-sharing, the Inspector General raised similar concerns
about prototype projects and included recommendations regarding audit
policy for ’other transactions“ for prototype projects.[Footnote 9]
On August 27, 2002, DOD issued a final rule codifying the definition of
a nontraditional defense contractor and setting forth the conditions
for using Section 845 agreements consistent with Section 803 of the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001. The notice
accompanying the final rule stated that the audit policy is being
discussed and will be addressed by a separate rule.
Number of Nontraditional Contractors Is Captured as a Performance
Metric:
After exploring a number of performance indicators for Section 845
agreements, DOD selected one quantitative performance metric--the
extent of nontraditional contractor participation--which is tracked by
the Office of Defense Procurement. Officials believe that this metric
is key because involving firms that do not traditionally do business
with DOD increases DOD‘s opportunity to leverage commercial technology
investments and to take advantage of commercial business processes,
such as using an integrated team approach rather than a traditional
prime-subcontractor structure. Congress also has encouraged the
participation of commercial firms in the development of defense systems
and has recognized the critical contributions of nontraditional
participants in areas such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in
today‘s national security environment.
DOD contracted with RAND, a nonprofit institution, for a study to
assess the overall effectiveness of the Section 845 acquisition
approach and to explore the possibility of using additional
metrics.[Footnote 10] In addition to this effort, a DOD working group,
composed of officials from across DOD, considered the types of metrics
that could be used to assess the effectiveness of Section 845
agreements. These two efforts identified several difficulties, as
follows:
* Traditional metrics--such as cost growth, schedule slips, and
performance shortfalls--are inappropriate for Section 845 projects that
are inherently risky.
* A ’path not taken“ cannot be measured; that is, when a Section 845
agreement is used rather than a procurement contract, a statistical
comparison between the two acquisition approaches cannot be made.
* Too many variables and too few Section 845 agreements would limit the
results of a quantitative analysis.
* Few Section 845 projects have been completed, limiting the results to
date.
RAND concluded that important new technological capabilities--a
desirable benefit of ’other transaction“ agreements--mostly come from
segments of major firms that formerly focused on commercial projects
but are now willing to apply their skills to the development of
military prototypes. RAND also pointed out that there are other
benefits associated with the flexibility inherent in this authority.
For example, the flexibility to change project plans based on mutual
agreement between DOD and industry managers, with minimal documentation
or administrative burden, provides more powerful opportunities to cope
with the problems and opportunities that occur when developing new
systems and components. However, RAND emphasized the difficulties in
developing quantifiable metrics that would be accepted as credible.
In its effort to focus on collecting information on nontraditional
contractors, DOD uses the Report of Other Transactions for Prototype
Projects (DD Form 2759), which is completed by the agreements officer.
(App. II contains a sample form.) According to the DOD guide, when
funding actions are taken, the agreements officer must record
information on whether the prime or subcontractor awardees are
traditional contractors, nontraditional defense contractors, or non-
profit organizations. The agreements officer also must record the names
and addresses of significant nontraditional defense contractors. The
summary information is sent to DOD‘s Office of Defense Procurement,
where it is aggregated.[Footnote 11]
According to the DD 2759 reports for Section 845 agreements awarded in
fiscal year 2001, 16 nontraditional prime contractors and 29
significant nontraditional subcontractors participated in a total of 61
agreements. Nontraditional participants included commercial business
units of U.S. traditional firms as well as foreign corporations.
Section 845 Reports Lack Sufficient Information:
Congress requires DOD to report annually on all ’other transaction“
projects--for research as well as prototypes--awarded in the preceding
fiscal year. While the Section 845 portion of the report addresses the
issues set forth in the congressional reporting requirement, it does
not present the number of nontraditional contractors in a clear,
straightforward format, such as a summary table. Because information on
nontraditional participants--DOD‘s key performance metric--is not
summarized, it is difficult for Congress to assess how successful DOD
has been in achieving this metric. The annual report includes a 1-or 2-
page summary of each project that discusses (1) government and
contractor cost contributions, (2) the reason for using the Section 845
authority, and (3) how the agreement contributed to a broadening of the
technology base or fostered relationships and practices that support
U.S. national security interests. In the fiscal year 2001 report, these
individual summaries totaled 152 pages. In a fiscal year 2000
supplemental report to Congress, DOD did present a narrative summary of
the number of nontraditional contractors; however, this was the only
occasion when the information was clearly imparted.[Footnote 12] DOD
officials stated that they are reluctant to add another reporting
element and that the current report format meets congressional
requirements. They added that they view the number of nontraditional
contractors as secondary to the agreement-level information presented
in the report.
DOD also is not regularly reporting on or assessing the benefits
derived from completed Section 845 agreements. In 1996, the Under
Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology requested a
comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of completed agreements with
the expected benefits at the time of award. However, this attempt to
compile ’lessons learned“ was abandoned because many DOD officials
believed that the results were parochial and not useful across the
department. A draft version of the current Section 845 guide included a
requirement for an assessment of completed agreements, but the
requirement was not incorporated in the final version because DOD
officials believe that another reporting requirement was not likely to
produce a meaningful assessment of Section 845 results. DOD officials
commented that the law only requires them to report on projects awarded
in the previous fiscal year. They acknowledged, however, that periodic
assessments of the benefits derived from completed agreements could be
useful.
Conclusion:
By updating the Section 845 guide and requiring the number of
nontraditional contractors to be measured as a performance metric, DOD
has implemented our April 2000 recommendations. However, the reporting
on the benefits derived from this alternative acquisition approach
could be improved. A summary table in the annual report to Congress,
setting forth the number of nontraditional contractors brought in under
Section 845 agreements during the preceding year, would provide a clear
picture of the extent to which DOD‘s performance metric is being
achieved. The current report format, consisting of summaries of each
agreement, requires the reader to review each summary sheet in order to
determine how the Section 845 authority was used--including the number
of nontraditional contractors participating in the agreement. Thus, its
usefulness to Congress is limited.
Further, in the absence of regular assessments of the benefits derived
from completed projects, DOD and the Congress lack vital information on
the results the government is deriving from this flexible procurement
strategy. The experience that DOD has gained from the use of Section
845 authority can be useful to Congress as it makes decisions about
subsequent extensions of this authority to DOD and in future
congressional deliberations.
Recommendations for Executive Action:
We recommend that the Secretary of Defense:
* incorporate in the annual report to Congress summary information on
the extent of nontraditional contractor participation and
* periodically report to Congress the results of studies on the
benefits derived from completed Section 845 projects, including how key
private sector participants contributed to the results.
Agency Comments:
In written comments on a draft of this report, DOD agreed to
incorporate in the summary of the annual report to Congress information
on the number of new agreements and to break out the reasons for using
the authority. However, DOD did not agree with our recommendation to
include the number of nontraditional contractors in the annual report,
stating that a raw count does not necessarily indicate the extent of
nontraditional contractor participation and that it is secondary
information derived from a separate reporting system. We agree that a
raw number alone can be misleading. However, we do not understand why
DOD is reluctant to publish the total number of nontraditional
contractors--along with the other information to be reported--when
those numbers are being internally collected and when this is the key
performance metric DOD has established. Including the number of
nontraditional contractors, along with the other information DOD has
agreed to provide, would give Congress a more complete basis on which
to assess the achievements gained through the use of Section 845
authority.
DOD concurred with our second recommendation but stated that it would
oppose the establishment of a regular reporting requirement. We are not
advocating a new reporting requirement; however, we believe that
periodic assessments of completed Section 845 projects would provide
Congress useful information on the benefits the department is deriving
from use of this authority.
Scope and Methodology:
To assess the comprehensiveness of DOD‘s new Section 845 guide, we
compared it to the November 1998 guide that was in effect during our
prior review. To determine the adequacy and usefulness of the revised
guide and the performance metrics used, we interviewed officials in the
Office of Defense Procurement and in the Office of Acquisition
Initiatives--Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology and Logistics; Washington Headquarters Services‘
Directorate for Information Operations and Reports; the headquarters
offices of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; DARPA; and NIMA. We also
reviewed reports prepared by DOD‘s Office of the Inspector General,
RAND, and GAO. In addition, we reviewed various directives,
memorandums, publications, correspondence, and legislation concerning
Section 845 authority.
To determine the number and value of fiscal year 2001 Section 845
agreements and the number of agreements having nontraditional defense
contractors, we analyzed data compiled by the Office of Defense
Procurement. In addition, at each military service and DARPA, we
reviewed the Reports of Other Transactions for Prototype Projects (DD
Form 2759) for all agreements awarded in fiscal year 2001. We did not
validate or verify the information reported on these forms, including
whether the cited nontraditional defense contractors met the definition
in Section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2001.
To determine whether Congress is receiving adequate information on the
number of nontraditional defense contractors participating in Section
845 agreements and whether DOD is assessing the benefits derived from
completed projects, we reviewed the Section 845 portion of the annual
reports for fiscal years 1999 through 2001 and the supplemental reports
provided to Congress in fiscal years 1999 and 2000. We also reviewed
DOD‘s guidance and memorandums and held discussions with officials from
the Office of Defense Procurement.
We conducted our review between April and August 2002 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.
We are sending copies of this report to interested congressional
committees; the Secretaries of Defense, the Army, the Navy, and the Air
Force; the Director, DARPA; the Director, NIMA; and the Director,
Office of Management and Budget. We will also make copies available to
others upon request. In addition, the report will be available at no
charge on the GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov.
Please contact me at (202) 512-4841 or Michele Mackin at (202) 512-4309
if you have any questions regarding this report. Other major
contributors to this report were William M. McPhail, Rosa M. Johnson,
and Kenneth E. Patton.
David E. Cooper
Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management:
Signed by David E. Cooper:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Comments from the Department of Defense:
Report is now numbered GAO-03-150.
OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE:
3000 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON, DC 20301-3000:
ACQUISITION, TECHNOLOGY AND LOGISTICS:
SEPTEMBER 17, 2002:
DP/CPA:
Mr. David E. Cooper:
Director, Acquisition & Sourcing Management U.S. General Accounting
Office:
441 G Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Mr. Cooper:
This is the Department of Defense (DoD) response to the GAO draft
report, ’DEFENSE ACQUISITION: DoD Has Implemented Section 845
Recommendations but Reporting Can be Enhanced,“ dated August 12, 2002
(GAO Code 120138/ GAO-02-946). Our response to the recommendations, and
additional comments are enclosed.
In the interest of assessing the merits of this important authority,
the Department contracted with RAND for a review of other transaction
prototype projects. This review confirmed the merits reported in annual
report submissions, but was not able to assess completed projects as
few were completed at that time. We are initiating our own review where
we will be conducting a random sampling of prototype and other research
agreements to assess the merits of this special authority.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the subject final report.
My point of contact is Teresa Brooks at 703-695-8567 or
teresa.brooks@osd.mil.
Sincerely,
Deidre A. Lee:
Director, Defense Procurement:
Signed by an official for Deidre A. Lee:
Enclosure: As Stated:
GAO DRAFT REPORT - DATED AUGUST 12, 2002 GAO CODE 120138/GAO-02-946:
’DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS: DoD Has Implemented Section 845 Recommendations
but Reporting Can be Enhanced“:
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE COMMENTS TO THE RECOMMENDATIONS:
RECOMMENDATION 1: The GAO recommended that the Secretary of Defense
incorporate in the annual report to Congress summary information on the
extent of nontraditional contractor participation. (p. 10/GAO Draft
Report):
DOD RESPONSE: Partially concur. The summary for the annual report to
Congress will be expanded to identify, for the prototype ’other
transaction“ (OT) agreements, the number of new agreements and the
breakdown among the three reasons authorized by statute for use of
prototype OT authority. Since one of the authorities is the
’significant participation of nontraditional Defense contractors,“
this would result in identifying transactions entered into for this
reason but avoids focusing solely on one use of the authority (e.g.,
nontraditional Defense contractors). Consistent with the GAO report‘s
focus on the use of 10 U.S.C. 2371 authority for prototype projects,
the breakdown information will only be provided for prototype projects
since other authorized and reported uses of 10 U.S.C. 2371 authority
are not subject to these same statutory conditions.DoD does not concur
with including in the annual report a total count of nontraditional
Defense contractors, as a raw count does not necessarily indicate the
extent of nontraditional contractor participation and is secondary
information derived from a separate reporting system.
RECOMMENDATION 2: The GAO recommended that the Secretary of Defense
periodically report to Congress the results of studies on the benefits
derived from completed section 845 projects, including how key non-
government participants contributed to the results. (p. 10/GAO Draft
Report):
DOD RESPONSE: Concur. The Department will make available to any
interested parties in Congress any studies that assess the use of OT
authority for prototype projects. We would oppose the establishment of
a regular reporting requirement on the outcome of prototype OTs.
Enclosure:
[End of section]
Appendix II: Report of Other Transactions for Prototype Projects:
[See PDF for image]
[End of section]
FOOTNOTES
[1] U. S. General Accounting Office, Acquisition Reform: DOD‘s Guidance
on Using Section 845 Agreements Could be Improved, GAO/NSIAD-00-33
(Washington, D.C.: April 7, 2000).
[2] Senate Report 106-292.
[3] Section 803 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2001 established a requirement that when a nontraditional
contractor does not participate to a significant extent in a prototype
project, the nonfederal parties must pay at least one-third of the
project‘s cost. In the absence of this arrangement, the Senior
Procurement Executive (as defined by 41 U.S.C. Sec. 414 [3]) must
provide a written justification for the use of an ’other transaction.“
[4] 10 U.S.C. Section 2371(h).
[5] This position is now the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.
[6] The Office of Defense Procurement prepared the guide, Other
Transactions (OT) Guide for Prototype Projects. This office is
responsible for policy, guidance, and oversight of ’other transactions“
for prototype projects, while the Director, Defense Research and
Engineering performs similar functions for ’other transactions“ for
research.
[7] An agreements officer has authority to enter into, administer, or
terminate ’other transactions.“
[8] Office of the Inspector General, Department of Defense, Award and
Administration of Contracts, Grants, and Other Transactions Issued by
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Report No. 97-114
(Washington, D.C: Mar. 28, 1997).
[9] Office of the Inspector General, Department of Defense, Cost
Charged to Other Transactions, Report No. D-2000-065 (Washington, D.C.:
Dec. 27, 1999).
[10] RAND‘s National Defense Research Institute, Assessing the Use of
’Other Transaction“ Authority for Prototype Projects (Documented
Briefing), (Santa Monica, CA: 2002).
[11] DOD eventually will record this type of information
electronically. The Washington Headquarters Services‘ Directorate for
Information Operations and Reports has primary responsibility for
developing an operational database for Section 845 projects and is the
focal point for data collection. Problems have arisen because some
agencies have computer firewall systems that interfere with their
ability to input data and access reports from this database.
[12] This supplemental report was requested in Senate Report 106-50 on
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000.
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U.S. General Accounting Office
441 G Street NW,
Room LM Washington,
D.C. 20548:
To order by Phone:
Voice: (202) 512-6000:
TDD: (202) 512-2537:
Fax: (202) 512-6061:
To Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in Federal Programs:
Contact:
Web site: www.gao.gov/fraudnet/fraudnet.htm E-mail: fraudnet@gao.gov
Automated answering system: (800) 424-5454 or (202) 512-7470:
Public Affairs:
Jeff Nelligan, managing director, NelliganJ@gao.gov (202) 512-4800 U.S.
General Accounting Office, 441 G Street NW, Room 7149 Washington, D.C.
20548:
