An Improved Automated System Would Better Identify Small Businesses Seeking Federal Contracting Opportunities

Gao ID: IMTEC-84-3 January 12, 1984

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Procurement Automated Source System (PASS), which provides federal agencies with information concerning small businesses competing for government contracts, to evaluate: (1) how well the system is functioning; (2) how much federal agencies and contractors use it to foster small business procurement opportunities; (3) the accuracy, relevancy, and timeliness of the system's information; and (4) what plans SBA has for the future of the system.

GAO found that: (1) the system is being used by a variety of agencies and prime contractors to obtain information concerning small businesses competing for federal contracts; (2) information generated by the system is often outdated and incomplete; (3) the system has operational problems, resulting in part from inefficient software; and (4) the SBA decision to correct the problems by redesigning the system has raised concerns that such action might be premature.

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.

Director: Walter L. Anderson Team: General Accounting Office: Information Management and Technology Division Phone: (202) 275-9675


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