The Government Accountability Office has called on the
Department of Defense to issue guidance to the Department
of Homeland Security for its use of special acquisition
agreements known as “other transactions,” so as to
promote its successful use.
The purchase authority, authorized for a pilot program
under the homeland security act and similar to special
authorities granted to DoD, is designed to help DHS
acquire technology from entities that typically don’t
do business with the government, according to GAO-05-136.
GAO also recommended in its report to Congress that DHS
develop a training program for other transactions and
start compiling data from current projects to plan others.
DHS policy should direct contracting staff to consider
the use of independent audits to ensure that contractor
payments are accurate, as well as to develop ways to
gather and analyze data related to these transactions
to use in future solicitations, it said.
