Need To Improve AID's Project Management and Contracting Practices and Procedures

Selected contracts and grants awarded by the Agency for International Development (AID) were examined to evaluate the planning of procurement requirements, compliance with procurement regulations, and monitoring and control of contracts.

The development of requirements for proposed procurements was not given sufficient attention because of AID haste in making awards. This sometimes resulted in delays in implementing contracts and contract modifications. AID sometimes used inappropriate or questionable contracting practices in the negotiation and award phase of the procurement process. Procurement policy calls for maximum competition but allows for noncompetitive negotiations under specified circumstances. AID used these exceptions rather extensively, and justifications for these exceptions prepared by the technical offices were seldom challenged by review levels of the agency. Several contracting officers stated that the technical offices and bureaus became too involved in the procurement process, and this limited competition. The technical offices and contract office should work as a team in the procurement process. Weaknesses in contract and grant monitoring led to: failure by a contractor to fulfill the contract objective, a change in contract scope, work on contracts after expiration dates, and contract-incurred cost in excess of the authorized amount.

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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