GSA did not award and administer blanket purchase agreements for management consulting services in accordance with laws, regulations and guidance, and it got limited benefit from them, the agency’s inspector general has found.
Starting in 2007 GSA’s Public Buildings Service issued 12 orders for $1,846,178 against the consulting BPA with Adams-Gabbert to improve internal business processes. Then in 2008 it issued another BPA for program management and business process reengineering, issuing nine orders against it for $801,886.
However, management did not provide sufficient information to develop defined scopes of work and measurable deliverables or the oversight needed to ensure that costs did not exceed benefits, the IG said.
For example, it said six of the orders totaling $1.3 million violated competition requirements because they were awarded after the expiration of the BPA, the BPA was not re-competed after changes in the scope of work resulted in expenditures of $1.8 million compared to the BPA estimate of $101,790, and Adams-Gabbert subcontracted 45 percent of the billings although the offer did not propose use of subcontractors.
Further, Adams-Gabbert invoices under the initial BPA contained no information regarding work performed, and in July 2008 a PBS regional board member wrote in an email, “we don’t have a good feel for the tasks they are accomplishing."
PBS regional management responsible for the orders under these BPAs has been replaced and current PBS management acknowledged the deficiencies with the BPAs. It has implemented additional controls over contracting practices including the creation of a senior contracting officer position to facilitate management and oversight, according to the IG.
