Procurement

Better Compliance With the Competition in Contracting Act Is Needed Gao ID: NSIAD-87-145 August 26, 1987

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed selected federal agencies' procurement practices to determine whether they complied with the provisions of the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984 (CICA).

GAO reviewed 104 contracts that agencies awarded on a competitive basis and found that: (1) although agencies generally failed to adequately follow CICA procedures, most of their decisions were appropriate; (2) agencies awarded contracts without justification and the contracts lacked the proper certification and approval; and (3) many of the justifications did not meet Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) standards. GAO also found that: (1) agencies did not comply with requirements relating to use of the Commerce Business Daily (CBD); (2) CICA seems to have had a positive effect on the level of competition in federal government procurement, since the percentage of competitively awarded agency contracts increased between 1983 and 1986; and (3) some agency officials believe that CICA has caused an increase in contract award processing time.

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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