Flaws in Contractor Support for the Department of Labor's Black Lung Program

Gao ID: PLRD-82-43 April 2, 1982

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the procurement process of the Department of Labor's contract with Electronic Data Systems Corporation as it pertained to the Black Lung Program and commented on the management of the Program.

Although official contract files appear to show competition in Labor's award of the contract to operate a system for paying black lung bills and benefits, GAO uncovered facts and circumstances which indicated that the competition may have lacked substance: the chairman of the technical evaluation panel had a negative predisposition toward one of the prospective contractors; two of the three prospective contractors became one company shortly after the contract award; and, during negotiations, the original request for proposals was amended which resulted in reducing competition by compressing the differences in the proposed prices and giving more importance to technical aspects. Labor engaged in inadequate contract administration practices and procedures. In a few instances, Labor permitted practices that left the government vulnerable to abuse. GAO observed a number of management problems, such as: a lack of coordination; backlogs of unpaid bills; duplicate payments; and unresolved issues prior to awarding a contract for a new automated payment system.

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.

Director: Robert M. Gilroy Team: General Accounting Office: Procurement, Logistics, and Readiness Division Phone: (202) 275-4268


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