The National Science Foundation has taken steps to improve contacting practices there are opportunities to do more, GAO has said.
NSF generally used key contracting practices in each of the three phases of the acquisition process for contacts GAO reviewed, but the agency needs additional guidance on early acquisition planning as well as arrangements for contract audits, according to GAO-13-292.
It said the contracts all involved some degree of acquisition planning, but NSF’s guidance does not address appropriate time frames for early planning activities – without which NSF contract and program officials said they could not convince their colleagues of the need to initiate early planning activities.
NSF agreed with recommendations to supplement existing guidance on acquisition planning to address the time needed for the early stages of the process, and arrange for audits to be performed on major contracts, consistent with the terms of a memorandum of understanding with the NSF inspector general providing a process for arranging for contract audits.
