Additional actions are needed to improve reporting on and planning for the use of civilian intelligence community contracting personnel, GAO has said.
It said limitations in the IC’s inventory of contract personnel hinder the ability to determine the extent to which the eight civilian IC elements (including the CIA and DNI) conduct an annual inventory of core contract personnel including contractor numbers and costs.
GAO identified shortcomings in the inventory limiting the comparability, accuracy, and consistency of the information reported by the civilian IC elements as a whole.
For example, changes to the definition of core contract personnel and data shortcomings limit the comparability of the information over time, according to GAO-14-204.
It said civilian IC elements used various methods to calculate the number of contract personnel and did not maintain documentation to validate the number of personnel reported for 37 percent of 287 records reviewed.
The IC CHCO generally agreed with recommendations to improve the inventory data’s reliability and transparency and revise strategic workforce planning guidance, and develop ways to identify contracts for services that could affect the government’s decision-making authority.
