National Science Foundation
Status of the Business Analysis Plan Contract
Gao ID: GAO-03-832R July 10, 2003
In June 2002, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a 3-year, $14.8 million contract for a business analysis plan to support three key management areas at the foundation: its business processes, human capital, and information technology. The contract is to be completed by September 30, 2005, and is to result in seven deliverables, including a project plan to guide the contractor's work. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies, asked us to obtain information on (1) the status of contract funds budgeted to the key management areas and contract deliverables, and overall plans for the contract; (2) the extent to which the contract will address management issues previously reported by audit and oversight bodies; and (3) NSF's management of the contract and plans for integrating any recommendations made by the contractor.
As of May 31, 2003, NSF had spent about $1.9 million on the contract, with business processes and human capital management accounting for about 75 percent of the expenditures and information technology accounting for the remainder. Expenditure data by individual contract deliverable were unavailable because NSF did not estimate and is not tracking the costs of deliverables due from the contractor. NSF's current schedule for the contract reflects delays for early deliverables, including the first deliverable, the project plan. The contractor delivered a draft project plan to NSF on June 30, 2003, and NSF is working with the contractor to finalize it by July 15, 2003, over a year later than originally planned. Agency officials attributed delays of early deliverables primarily to funding limitations during fiscal year 2002 and the first half of fiscal year 2003. Despite the initial delays, NSF still expects the contract to be completed by its originally planned date. NSF plans to spend only the original base amount of the contract--$12.8 million--and does not have any current plans to use the additional $2 million it reserved for ad hoc analyses. The extent to which key management issues identified by audit and oversight bodies will be addressed under the contract is unknown. Over the past few years, audit and oversight bodies such as GAO, the Office of Management and Budget, and NSF's Office of the Inspector General have reported on various management issues at NSF, including issues related to budget performance, financial management, human capital, information technology, and award and project management. NSF's initial contract documents, such as its statement of work and request for proposals, contained provisions for the majority of these management issues to be included in the scope of the contract. The awarded contract requires the contractor to perform early survey work to determine the specific issues to address within the contract deliverables. Therefore, until the survey work and project plan are completed, the extent to which the key management issues will be addressed under the contract is unknown. Before and since the award of the contract, NSF contract management staff has kept senior-level officials apprised, through periodic briefings, of its plans for and progress on the contract. Some of these organizations also have provided advice and guidance on the contract. For example, the Business and Operations Advisory Committee encouraged the business analysis team to consider, among other things, how other government-wide efforts, such as enterprise architecture, might affect its work and recommendations. In addition, the committee encouraged the team to coordinate with other ongoing work at NSF that might have implications for the business analysis plan. Also, in the early stages of contract development, the Office of the Inspector General encouraged strong oversight of the contractor by NSF. To implement any recommendations resulting from the contract, NSF plans to work the recommendations through its normal chain of command.
GAO-03-832R, National Science Foundation: Status of the Business Analysis Plan Contract
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July 10, 2003:
The Honorable Christopher S. Bond:
Chairman, Subcommittee on:
VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies:
Committee on Appropriations:
United States Senate:
Subject: National Science Foundation: Status of the Business Analysis
Plan Contract:
Dear Mr. Chairman:
In June 2002, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a 3-year,
$14.8 million contract for a business analysis plan to support three
key management areas at the foundation: its business processes, human
capital, and information technology. The contract is to be completed by
September 30, 2005, and is to result in seven deliverables, including a
project plan to guide the contractor's work.
You asked us to obtain information on (1) the status of contract funds
budgeted to the key management areas and contract deliverables, and
overall plans for the contract; (2) the extent to which the contract
will address management issues previously reported by audit and
oversight bodies; and (3) NSF's management of the contract and plans
for integrating any recommendations made by the contractor. We provided
your staff with a formal briefing on our findings on May 14, 2003. A
copy of our briefing is enclosed.[Footnote 1]
In summary, we found the following:
As of May 31, 2003, NSF had spent about $1.9 million on the contract,
with business processes and human capital management accounting for
about 75 percent of the expenditures and information technology
accounting for the remainder. Expenditure data by individual contract
deliverable were unavailable because NSF did not estimate and is not
tracking the costs of deliverables due from the contractor. NSF's
current schedule for the contract reflects delays for early
deliverables, including the first deliverable, the project plan. The
contractor delivered a draft project plan to NSF on June 30, 2003, and
NSF is working with the contractor to finalize it by July 15, 2003,
over a year later than originally planned. Agency officials attributed
delays of early deliverables primarily to funding limitations during
fiscal year 2002 and the first half of fiscal year 2003. Despite the
initial delays, NSF still expects the contract to be completed by its
originally planned date. NSF plans to spend only the original base
amount of the contract--$12.8 million--and does not have any current
plans to use the additional $2 million it reserved for ad hoc analyses.
The extent to which key management issues identified by audit and
oversight bodies will be addressed under the contract is unknown. Over
the past few years, audit and oversight bodies such as GAO, the Office
of Management and Budget, and NSF's Office of the Inspector General
have reported on various management issues at NSF, including issues
related to budget performance, financial management, human capital,
information technology, and award and project management. NSF's initial
contract documents, such as its statement of work and request for
proposals, contained provisions for the majority of these management
issues to be included in the scope of the contract. The awarded
contract requires the contractor to perform early survey work to
determine the specific issues to address within the contract
deliverables. Therefore, until the survey work and project plan are
completed, the extent to which the key management issues will be
addressed under the contract is unknown.
Before and since the award of the contract, NSF contract management
staff has kept senior-level officials apprised, through periodic
briefings, of its plans for and progress on the contract. The NSF
organizations that have been involved in monitoring or oversight
activities of the business analysis plan contract include:
a steering committee for the contract, chaired by the contracting
officer's technical representative and consisting of senior-level
management and nonmanagement staff in all program areas covered by the
contract;
senior management officials, including the Director and Deputy Director
of NSF and the heads of most research directorates and staff offices;
the Business and Operations Advisory Committee, which advises both the
Director of Budget, Finance and Award Management and the Director of
Information and Resource Management;
the National Science Board's Audit and Oversight Committee; and
NSF's Office of the Inspector General.
Some of these organizations also have provided advice and guidance on
the contract. For example, the Business and Operations Advisory
Committee encouraged the business analysis team to consider, among
other things, how other government-wide efforts, such as enterprise
architecture, might affect its work and recommendations. In addition,
the committee encouraged the team to coordinate with other ongoing work
at NSF that might have implications for the business analysis plan.
Also, in the early stages of contract development, the Office of the
Inspector General encouraged strong oversight of the contractor by NSF.
To implement any recommendations resulting from the contract, NSF plans
to work the recommendations through its normal chain of command. For
some recommendations requiring agencywide change, NSF's Office of
Integrative Activities, which is responsible for integrating many
crosscutting issues across the agency, will develop an implementation
strategy and devolve the actual implementation to the relevant division
or office. For other crosscutting recommendations, NSF will decide on a
case-by-case basis whether to assign development of an implementation
strategy to an existing working group or create a new one. NSF plans to
request additional appropriations, as necessary, to cover the cost of
implementing any recommendations resulting from the contract. For
example, NSF already has requested $1 million in its fiscal year 2004
budget request to implement human capital recommendations anticipated
from the contractor.
We provided a draft of this report to the Director of NSF for comment.
In response, we received oral comments from the NSF contracting
officer's technical representative responsible for managing the
contract and from other senior management officials including the Chief
Human Capital Officer and Chief Financial Officer. The NSF officials
generally agreed with the information presented in our report and
provided some clarifying comments that we incorporated as appropriate.
Our methodology is discussed in the enclosed slides. We performed our
work from January 2003 through June 2003 in accordance with generally
accepted government auditing standards.
- - - - --:
We are sending copies of this report to the Director of NSF. In
addition, this report will be available at no charge on the GAO Web
site at http://www.gao.gov.
If you have any questions about this report or need additional
information, please contact me at (202) 512-3841. Key contributors to
this report were David P. Bixler, Michael E. Gilbert, and Lynn M.
Wasielewski.
Sincerely yours,
Robin M. Nazzaro:
Director, Natural Resources and Environment:
Signed by Robin M. Nazzaro:
Enclosure:
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[End of section]
(360302):
FOOTNOTES
[1] We have updated our briefing slides to reflect current expenditure
data and a revised estimated project plan completion date discussed in
this report.
