Federal Contracting

Weaknesses exist in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) process for awarding competitive contracts. Among the 10 competitive contracts it reviewed, GAO discovered that NSF, when soliciting for proposals, sometimes did not clearly describe the work needed or identify the specific items that it would consider in evaluating the offerors' proposals. In addition, NSF sometimes either changed or improperly scored evaluation factors during the evaluation process. These weaknesses were mainly due to the NSF's overall lack of emphasis of contracting activity, including inadequate internal oversight of the contract award process. Insufficient guidance for preparing solicitations and evaluating offerors' proposals were also contributing factors. In addition, GAO discovered shortcomings in NSF's process for awarding noncompetitive contracts. Although agencies are allowed to obtain services from a sole source rather than through competition, the agency must justify the decision to do so in writing. The justification documents what efforts were taken to identify other potential offerors and what steps the agency plans to take to remover barriers to future competition. NFS did not meet either of these requirements for 6 of 11 noncompetitive contracts it awarded during fiscal years 1990 and 1991.

GAO found that: (1) there were one or more weaknesses in the procurement process for 6 out of 10 NSF competitive contracts reviewed; (2) NSF did not clearly describe to bidders the contract requirements, inform bidders of the bid evaluation factors, or conduct proper bid evaluations; (3) NSF bid evaluations were faulty because it changed or improperly scored the evaluation factors during the evaluation process; (4) NSF contracting weaknesses can be attributed to its overall lack of attention to contract administration, inadequate internal oversight of the contract award process, and inadequate guidance for preparing solicitations and evaluating bids; (5) weaknesses also exist in the NSF noncompetitive procurement process; and (6) although federal contracting legislation allows NSF to obtain services on a sole-source basis, NSF has not provided the required written justification for its sole-source procurements or stated what actions it plans to take to remove obstacles to future competition.

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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