GSA Procurement

Quality Assurance for Common-Use Items Should Be Improved Gao ID: GGD-87-65 June 29, 1987

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the General Services Administration's (GSA) Federal Supply Service's (FSS) Quality Approved Manufacturer Agreement Program (QAMA).

GAO found that: (1) none of the federal facilities that it visited reported all identified quality defects to the GSA complaint system; (2) although the complaint reporting instructions appear in federal regulations, the GSA supply catalog, and other publications, supply personnel were unaware of the reporting procedures or found them confusing; (3) the reporting instructions were incomplete, inconsistent, and difficult to understand; (4) administrative contracting officers (ACO) did not determine whether agencies received acceptable replacements for defective items; (5) warehouse surveillance to identify defective items was not always timely; (6) contractors' quality control systems did not always meet minimum federal requirements; and (7) preaward surveys did not always include contractors' past quality performance histories.

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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