Army's Contracting Out of Installation Support Functions at Fort Gordon, Georgia

GAO was requested to review the Army's contracting practices at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Specifically, GAO reviewed the Army's comparison of the cost of doing work in-house with the cost of contracting out. GAO was instructed to identify any significant errors in the development of estimated in-house costs, giving primary attention to direct labor costs.

Although GAO identified the need for several adjustments to the cost comparison, it believes that contracting out is still more economical and will result in annual savings of about $5.7 million. Some allegations of impropriety in the cost comparison were also investigated. It was generally found that the charges could not be substantiated due to lack of documentation or were based on misunderstandings of the cost comparison report. Furthermore, it was determined that, even if the allegations were true, the effect would not have been significant enough to reverse the decision to contract out the support function.